Girls Junior League Tag
Kicxstart Motorcycles and Power Equipment Junior League taggers played in the grand final qualifier on Saturday against Cabonne. The start of the game had Parkes working tirelessly in defence with the girls having to defend three sets in a row on the line. Cabonne finally broke through grabbing the first points of the day. This was the start of a never-ending barrage of attack from Cabonne.
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The girls were tiring and missed a couple of tags resulting in Cabonne securing a solid lead. Lily Heraghty made smart metres from Dummy Half and Grace Milne’s defence was spot on. Nell Smith and Sharla Parker Lee were trying hard in the middle tagging well. Jorja Simpson darted out from dummy half and possibly scored her easiest try for the year, finding a tiny gap to secure Parkes first points of the day. Cheyenne Kelly converted resulting in Parkes being down six to Cabonne 14 at half time.
Parkes stepped up their game in the second half with Cheyenne Kelly stepping her way over the line with the help of some great lead up work by Charley Jones and Bronte Thompson. Conversion was unsuccessful so Parkes were still trailing 10-14. Josie Heraghty and Ellie Toohey made the tags out wide that had to be made all game. Jazz Terrill made some great runs and Erin Fernando was unlucky not to break the line with her awesome step. Izabella Terrill made solid meters running the ball up hard.
Cabonne got lucky from a kick return scoring a great try. Time seemed to be running out for the Parkes girls with them still chasing ten points and only having 13 mins on the clock. This is when the girls luck changed. Jorja Simpson got a great ball from Bronte Thompson and weaved her way over the line. Bronte Thompson converted leaving the girls four points down and 8 mins on the clock.
The girls held tight in defence, scattering, diving and making some amazing tags. With only 4 mins left on the clock Jorja Simpson took off in desperation looking for any opportunity. With her trade mark in and away she found Cabonne defence open up with nothing between her and the try line. Parkes were back. Scores locked at 20-20 and a kick to come. Captain Lily Heraghty showed what a great leader she is by offering to take the kick to put Parkes in the lead.
She showed composure and confidence nailing it right between the posts. Parkes 22 to Cabonne 20 with two minutes left on the clock. Cabonne tried but found Parkes defence was solid and knocked the ball on. With only seconds left Parkes ran home winners. The girls showed grit, determination and great mental strength. Good luck girls in your Grand Final. Parkes will take on West Wyalong this Saturday. Well deserved, girls!
Senior League Tag Girls
The Parkes Services and Parkes Spaceman Senior League Tag girls will play West Wyalong in the Grandfinal on Saturday at Condobolin.
Under 14s
Sportspower Under 14’s fought hard last Saturday but were beaten by West Wyalong in one of the toughest games of the season. It started with a West Wyalong kick followed by strong hard runs from Parkes leading to a change over. Defence fought back with solid tackles from Dustin Ticehurst, Maia Hanega, Finnley Neilsen, Tyson Richardson and Kane Slavin with the support of Austin MacGregor and Col Rauchle down the sideline. Toby Miller gained possession for Parkes.
A penalty gave Parkes six again and Finnley Neilsen, using his strength to roll over players and place the ball down, opened the scoring for the game. Michael Riley converted and Parkes were on the board 6 nil. Parkes made good ground but a lost ball in the tackle gave West Wyalong possession. Three penalties against Parkes put West Wyalong on the try line but an intercept by Austin MacGregor had everyone cheering as Parkes drove the ball forward.
The kick was successfully caught by West Wyalong as they started their attack. Unfortunately more penalties resulted in a West Wyalong try and successful conversion evening the score. West Wyalong took advantage of every opportunity with the ball and after another penalty chose to kick giving them a two point lead. A West Wyalong error gave Parkes possession with Jason Wright over the line but held up. Each team continued their sets with Parkes’ Tyson Richardson making a break and scoring followed by a successful conversion by Michael. With only two and a half minutes left in the first half Parkes had to maintain composure however another two penalties were given away and West Wyalong were over to even the score at half-time.
As both teams returned to the field you could see they were hungry for points ensuring tackles were hard and solid, wrapping up the ball each time. Dropped balls and penalties continually changed the play. Dustin Ticehurst determination to score was evident as he ran with players falling off him. He was nearly over when West Wyalong finally brought him down.
Tyson Richardson looked for a gap to score unfortunately conversion was unsuccessful. West Wyalong kick was successfully retrieved by Parkes and quick play saw Parkes gain ground Tyson Richardson took off to the corner jumping over the defense line to score. Another missed conversion from a difficult point of the field meant Parkes had the lead 20-12.
Next set saw Bailey Bowd, Kade Crisp, Ben Cooper, Jai Thompson, Zayne Ehsman and Toby Miller work hard in defence. Unfortunately West Wyalong soon scored and converted closing the gap. Wilson Duffy had good hands as he took the kick and running the ball up for the next set of plays. A lost ball gave West Wyalong possession. A break away player was stopped by Toby Miller and hand over to Parkes saw the boys drive quickly followed by a kick and chase which saw Austin MacGregor over but unfortunately an off side ruling saw the points disallowed. Both teams fought hard both in attack and defence with West Wyalong scoring in the last five minutes. Parkes worked hard but it wasn’t to be. West Wyalong had won 24 – 20.
A fantastic effort from all players, well done and bad luck boys!