It takes a hell of an effort to travel to Molong in round one and put together a 20-point victory, but that's exactly what Jessie Durning's Trundle Boomers did on Saturday as the defending Woodbridge Cup premiers put the hosts to the sword.
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The Bulls took a 10-6 lead into the break before a monsoon of Boomers' tries sealed the deal, the visitors completing a 30-10 victory in style.
Trundle had a host of influential performers as five-eighth Brad Watt bagged a hat-trick, while Durning was monstrous with the ball in-hand, but the best player on the park for the Boomers was old faithful... Adam Hall.
The veteran's fingerprints were all over the triumph as he took the game by the scruff of the neck with half an hour to go, setting up three of the four second-half tries.
The first piece of brilliance came in the way of a 40-20 in the 55th minute, the ensuing attacking set resulting in a Dan Wallace try as Trundle took a 12-10 lead.
Just 15 minutes later, Hall poked his nose through a tired Molong goal-line defence before flicking it to hooker Mark Coombs who scored alongside the sticks.
A Durning line-break on the very next set allowed Brad Watt to score his second in the 72nd minute as the floodgates were well and truly open at 24-10.
With three minutes to go, a rampaging Adam Hall added another try assist to his tally, putting Watt over the line with a freakish off-load.
Boomers' captain-coach Jessie Durning wasn't sure how much Hall would play this season, but he's glad he pulled the boots on in round one.
"That was an unfit Hally today," Durning laughed.
"He usually does that for 80 minutes. We were a few blokes short this week and he put his hand up to play... I'm glad he did."
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Not only was Hall immense, the entire team showed a huge amount of bravery, something Durning was stoked with.
"It's just grit.... you honestly couldn't start a season better than that," he said.
"They're [Molong] going to be the benchmark and after we stuck with them for 60 minutes, I was confident the young blokes could get it over them."
Molong skipper Todd Barrow was understandably disappointed after the contest, but knows there's plenty of time to make amends.
"It was a pretty scrappy game... I think our conditioning let us down in the end," Barrow said.
"I thought we had all the running at the end of that first half but we just didn't come out of the sheds. We'll lick our wounds and keep going."
As for the quality of the opposition, it didn't come as a surprise to Barrow.
"They've been good for a long time now," he said.
"We were expecting a tough game and they just kept coming.
"They were too good for us and we've got plenty to work on.
"I think everyone needs to get to training," said a bullish Barrow.
Trundle have the bye this weekend before hosting Canowindra on April 24.
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Jake Humphreys
Sports nut at the Central Western Daily.
Sports nut at the Central Western Daily.
