Mid West League: Orange Warriors score late to beat CSU by two points in season opener

CSU went down 14-12 to the Orange Warriors in their round one match at Diggings Oval, the visitors snatching the win in the dying minutes after the Mungoes knocked on.

It was a conclusion which mirrored much of what had previously unfolded between the pair.

"I think every single try, every try from both teams, came off the back of an error, there were just constant errors," Flanagan said.

"There was this one period I do remember distinctly when I was out on the field, it was a 10-minute period where I swear to Christ there would have been 40 errors between the two of us - it was just humiliating.

"There were almost the most errors that the Mungoes, at least in the time I've played with them, have ever made."

After a scoreless first half, CSU nabbed its opening try via Joe Heien. He came off the bench and found space on the left.

From there the Warriors pushed ahead, but with 10 minutes to go after a breakaway try from centre Jacob Watkin, CSU was back in front.

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It was a lead which did not last long. A knock-on handed the Warriors back the ball and they were good enough to find the match winner.

Though it was far from the slick sort of football the students are capable of producing, Flanagan did take heart from the effort his side put in to defence.

If they are able to match that sort of mettle with more patience and better execution in attack, the captain-coach knows the wins will come.

"At the end of the day, and I think the Warriors would agree, it was won with luck," Flanagan said.

"We weren't exactly happy with the way started for the year. There were some good signs, there were moments when we'd complete our sets and look really on form and there was some great defence.

"It was just a bit complacency, we need to gel together more and cut those errors out. We know what we need to do now, that was the good thing about it, we know what we did wrong and what we need to fix.

"Warriors were really tough, there was a period where we just kept passing them the ball, but we really stuck in there in defence. We were able to hold them out, hold them out, we weathered three or four sets in our own 20 which is a really good sign of where we can be in defence.

"We know that when we are on, we can do what we need to do. We can attack strong, keep our shape, our defence can be strong."

In good news for CSU, it is expected that halfback Lachie Wilson is not far off returning from an ankle injury. The Mungoes host Oberon this Saturday.

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