WITH members of the club’s 1975 premiership-winning squad on hand at a 40-year reunion, Dubbo CYMS gave everyone in Group 11 a reminder of why they are favourites to win the 2015 Group 11 title with a 46-30 win over arch-rivals Dubbo Macquarie at Apex Oval on Saturday.
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In typical local derby fashion, it was a willing contest from the start as players from both sides had to be separated after just 35 seconds.
The opening stages were a preview to what was a willing 80 minutes of action, with Macquarie keen to engage in some physicality that had CYMS rattled for almost the entire first half.
But in the end it was the Fishies’ scintillating backline that shone as they piled on 36 points in 23 minutes of action to turn an eight-point deficit into an unassailable 28-point lead by the middle stages of the second stanza.
“I thought we were good in patches and bad in patches. We’ll take the two points but we have a bit to work on,” a bloodied CYMS skipper Luke Jenkins said after the match.
“We knew they would come hard at us because it was a local derby and we had a premiership reunion on that they would have liked to spoil.
“Things were pretty rough and tough out there but when we got our chances we took them, especially in the middle stages of the match and we did what was needed.”
There was a pall of sadness over the ground in the lead-up to the match following news of the death of Tom O’Connor on Friday afternoon.
O’Connor was a member of Macquarie’s team that lost to CYMS in that 1975 decider and his sudden passing rendered many of those in attendance in a state of shock.
Spurred on by that, Macquarie came out hard and despite conceding tries to Scott Burgess and Marshall Sing, they countered through a brace of four-pointers from Brody Chapman and one from Jade Hooper to build an 18-10 lead after 35 minutes.
But just when it looked like the Raiders would take an advantage into the sheds the Fishies struck through electric fullback Kieran Shipp and Burgess to lead 22-18 when the siren sounded.
Those tries changed the momentum of the match, and while the first 10 minutes of the second half was an arm-wrestle, an Alex Bonham try from dummy-half in the 51st minute opened the flood gates.
Sing bagged his second two minutes later before Shipp (58th minute) and Jyie Chapman (62nd minute) capped an amazing period that saw the score blow out to 46-18.
To their credit Macquarie didn’t throw in the towel, and they rallied late with tries to Phil Combridge, Ash Widders and Claude Gordon to leave the final score 46-30 in favour of the Fishies.
“Those lapses in the middle stages cost us again,” Macquarie coach Guy Meredith said.
“I thought our first 30-35 minutes was pretty good but somehow we went into half-time behind and they got on a roll.
“We had some penalties go against us that got them into position, and they’re a good side that was able to make the most of that.
“I thought we competed hard though and I was really impressed that the boys didn’t chuck it in late. We scored the last three tries and we can hopefully take that as a positive into next week.”
Macquarie’s next match will be on the road against Parkes while CYMS will remain at Apex Oval when they host the Wellington Cowboys.
o DUBBO CYMS 46 (Marshall Sing 2, Scott Burgess 2, Kieran Shipp 2, Alex Bonham, Jyie Chapman tries; Luke Jenkins 7 goals) def DUBBO MACQUARIE 30 (Brody Chapman 2, Jade Hooper, Phil Combridge, Ash Widders, Claude Gordon tries; Gordon 3 goals)
