Orange City slump to hand Rugby first victory of season

ORC recruit Jacob Ryan was the star of the show for Rugby as he linked up with Lachlan Coad - with both players scoring 40 runs - to get their side to 9-187 at the Sportsground, before Ryan took 2-8 in eight overs to restrict the Warriors to 111 all out.

Sam Macpherson had a great outing with the ball, taking 4-20, while Seth Norris picked up several key wickets in his figures of 3-15.

It's a big confidence builder for a side that's got a big road ahead of them to try and repeat last season's effort of reaching the finals.

Ryan, who has made a name for himself mostly with the ball, said it felt great to make inroads with the willow and finish his innings unbeaten.

"It was great to finally get some points on the board and it feels great to contribute," he said.

"When I went in to bat we would have been around 110 and then we go it up to 187, and the majority of that was with Lachie and I.

"The batting has always been there for me, it's just a confidence thing. Lately I've been moved up the order since we've had other people come into the squad, and that's given me more time to bat."

Ryan claimed the big wickets of Jarryd Seib (1) and Shaun Grenfell (0) to get Rugby's defence off to a brilliant start.

Shaun Churchill (37) and Daniel Burchmore (22) gave the Warriors hope of a comeback before they were both clean bowled by Norris.

Ryan said it was a rewarding day in the field.

"Bowling tight and having a good economy is something that brings on wickets," he said.

"It's great when you're able to lock down one end.

"On paper we've got a great team. It's just unfortunate that we haven't been able to put the runs on yet. Hopefully we can keep things rolling on into Christmas."

Coad wasn't planning on playing too much cricket this season and has been happy to just fill in for the first grade side whenever he was needed.

He helped give Rugby some hope of setting a modest total after Ryan Peacock (27) had made a start and then linked up with Ryan to put the team into a much stronger position.

"I hate seeing that team short so I'm happy to help when they're in that spot. I've had three games so far, including a Bonnor Cup game," he said.

"The wicket in this game was a bit wet but we slogged it out and we knew that we needed a competitive score around 200. They probably weren't at full strength but if we only got around 130 or 140 we would have felt like we were in trouble.

"We really had to win this one. If we can now win against Colts before the bye then that's 18 points heading into Christmas."

The match was just the second game at the redeveloped Sportsground to play out to completion, following last round's St Pat's-CYMS game.

Coad said it's a venue that makes for a interesting game.

"I really enjoyed it there. It forced you to play smart cricket and you had to work the ball around," he said.

"It can be hard to get the ball away for a boundary because they've still got the drainage lines there so you need to work it around the slow wicket."