A scintillating attacking display helped Oberon High School claim the Country Rugby League Small Schools under 16s title on Wednesday.
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The Oberon side came out all guns blazing in the match against Cootamundra’s Sacred Heart High School at Apex Oval and, somewhat incredibly, had three tries disallowed inside the first eight minutes.
Sacred Heart rallied in the second stanza but it was too little, too late as Oberon went on to score a 30-12 win.
“We’ve got a few young ones in the side and they all stepped up and showed a bit of heart,” coach Nick Bender said.
“We’ve got some really good players. There’s a few Western Rams players in there and that helps out.
“They all love it and play together on weekends, that helps a lot.”
After failing to turn dominance into points early on, Oberon were eventually awarded a try to lively fullback Cazian Griffiths.
Centre Phoenix Cooper-Bryant crossed shortly after to set-up a 10-0 lead and then a brilliant run from Griffiths led to hooker Jake Foley darting over.
Right before half-time, Foley was again quick out of dummyhalf to grab a second following a fine run from halfback Tyler Colley, who was named man of the match for a stellar showing.
In the second half, Sacred Heart’s Nick Holt took it on himself to drag his side back into the game.
On two occasions when seemingly nothing was on, the strong centre burst through tackles and junked his away across the line to score.
It gave the Cootamundra school side a lift but, as they had shown early in the first half, the Oberon players weren’t phased.
Barnstorming prop Harry Sullivan got across the line and Cooper-Bryant nabbed a second before Colley scored a well-deserved try right on full-time to ice the victory.