The Forster Tuncurry Hawks took on Taree City Bulls in four grades in brilliant conditions at Harry Elliott Oval over the weekend.
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The women needed to win to cement their spot in the top five and didn’t let the crowd down.
The Hawks raced away to a quick lead with tries to Lisa Bullivant, Talara Morris and Alli Edwards.
The Bulls rallied and held the Hawks out for a long period and then scored just before half time to trail the Hawks by 16-4.
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After half time the Bulls continued where they left off and applied pressure to the Hawks defence, but fullback Molly Duggan kept shutting down any line breaks that occurred.
A frustrated Bulls team then couldn’t hold possession and the Hawks were over again when Grace Camilleri ran across field and then straightened up to go over and score.
Talara Morris then started to dominate play, picking up a try and the ever reliable Mel Finlayson went over for the final try for the Hawks to run out winners by 26 to 10.
Tries to Bullivant, Morris, Camilleri, Edwards and Finlayson, with Morris taking three goals.
The Hawks under 18 side were looking to the top five and desperately needed to force a win against a bigger Bulls team.
The young Hawks team started well with a try to Ramsey Maberly-Smith near the uprights after trailing Sam Whitbread and receiving an offload.
From the resultant kick-off the Hawks turned over possession and the Bulls made them pay with a try.
Both teams then had opportunities but couldn’t complete their sets.
Finally, with two minutes to half-time the Hawks speedster, Winston McBride made a break down the right edge and went over to score getting the Hawks out to a 10-4 lead.
After the break both teams again couldn’t hold possession and a piece of Max Buderus skill near the line stepped off his right and tipped onto Max Elliott who went over.
With seven minutes to go, Jake Curnow sealed the win with a try to take the Hawks out to 18-4.
With one Hawks player in the sin bin the Bulls got a late consolation try to close out the game Hawks 18-8.
Tries to McBride, Maberly-Smith, Elliott and Curnow and Buderus got one goal.
Reserve grade ran out to cheers and it end up being one of those games where everything went their way, score, penalties and scrums.
Coach, Kyle Carmody was first to put points on the board with a flashing run down the left sideline.
Not to be outdone his centre partner Des Donnelly scored next.
Finally, a bulldozing Brock Lowry knocked over three Bulls defenders to score.
Keegan Dodd converted and the Hawks led 14-0.
Carmody then couldn’t be contained and scored his second try to go into the break at 20-0.
After the break Jake Bolt scored down the Bulls right edge to put the game out of the Bulls reach.
The ‘Prince of Centres’, Des Donnelly then put the icing on the cake with his second try to close the game out 28-0.
Tries went to Carmody three, Donnelly two, Bolt one, Lowry one, Bolt got one goal and Dodd got two.
First grade then came out to try and upset the Bulls.
The Bulls held all the early ball possession and completed their sets. This had the locals defending for much of the first half.
The Hawks had a couple of good raids down the right edge but kept losing their footing at the last move into daylight, with groans from the crowd at the lost opportunities.
The Hawks lost their elusive dummy-half Riley Glover and not long after Matt Thomas had a head clash with Chris Simon which left the young front-rower worse for wear.
Then a further knee strain left the Hawks bench with one reserve.
Undaunted by their situation after half-time the Hawks rallied and were making 60 metres off a set and the Bulls had no answer to the roll-on.
The Hawks were rewarded with a couple of tries for their first 15 minutes of the second half. It was pleasing to see forwards, Lowry, Backo, and Coulton eating up the metres.
This allowed young under 18s, Elliott and Whitbread to make their way into the match and show that they could complete against a solid Bulls pack.
The Hawks lost possession and the Bulls put on a few more tries before the Hawks bagged a third try to round out their scoring efforts.
It was a gutsy effort, and one that locals never gave up in and showed grit against a more experienced pack.
It was good to see young Max Buderus guide play around the field and showed that he had time to work with the ball.
Another under 18, Aaron Hill took up the dreaded fullback role and showed some good footwork and has all the skills of his father and uncle.
Good to see Thomas Dooker also get some tough carries in which the predominantly young team needed to see.
Three form four grades was a good result for the club and will see the Hawks club contest the finals series in a couple of grades with only two games left in the regular season.