Western Rams bag thrilling victory over Riverina Bulls in second round of Laurie Daley Cup at Grenfell

The Orange CYMS halfback scored one try, laid on another for skipper Lachlan Lawson and produced a thumping kick for touch that gifted the Rams valuable territory, yardage Kurt Hancock's men then turned into points to help turn a narrow, two-point advantage at the break into what would be a match-winning 24-8 lead for the home side.

Riverina fought back and two tries within a couple of minutes of each other - the second an 80-metre pearler finished off by backrower Joseph Roddy - certainly had Western's bench on the edge of its seat.

But a late four-pointer to fullback Tyrone Tattersall capped Western's maiden win of the 2022 under 18s country championships.

On top of his try and try-assist, Murphy sliced through for a couple of line-breaks and booted four goals in a well-rounded outing for the star half, who played in the number 6 jersey outside of Parkes junior Jamie Thorpe.

Rams coach Kurt Hancock was full of praise for his side's spine, with the dual threat at dummy half - Aidan Bermingham and then Mick Smith off the bench - playing particularly well, too.

"He's playing some good footy, Nick is, and Tyrone Tattersall got into the game today too. We had some good shape there on the left. All of a sudden we're talking about spine doing some good things, and if they're positive nine times out of 10 you're going to be winning the game," Hancock said.

"It was a step in the right direction. Every problem they threw at us we solved as a team."

The two sides went try-for-try throughout the opening 35 minutes Hancock described as "a real grind", Cooper Ferrari and Rory Quarmby both barging their way over for tries for Western with Murphy's boot the only difference as the hosts kicked ahead 10-8 at the break.

Where they lacked intensity throughout the second half in an opening round loss to the South Coast Illawarra Dragons last week, Western started beautifully in the second stanza at Grenfell.

Hudson Brown looked to have the Rams' first points of the new half but referee Anthony Pond called it back for a forward pass.

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The hosts didn't have to wait much longer to crack the Bulls defence again, though, Murphy producing a deft ball of his right hip to send Lawson through a yawning gap to score.

Murphy missed the conversion, a relatively easy chance too, and with the Riverina boys bouncing back and mounting plenty of pressure, it had the potential to be a telling error.

But Western held strong, and after absorbing plenty of pressure from the Bulls the Rams then went bang-bang through firstly Murphy - his a 45 metre sprint after scooping up a loose Riverina pass - and then winger Jake Roberts in the corner to race to a 24-8 lead with 10 minutes to go.

The Bulls jagged a couple of late tries to make the final minutes of the contest fairly tense, but that pressure value was well and truly released after Tattersall sliced through to score virtually on the bell.

The Rams hit the road again next week, travelling to Kirkham Oval, Camden where they'll play the Macathur Wests Tigers next Sunday.

Hancock said next week's trip to the Macathur region will be another tough one.

"It's a tough age group. It's really level pegging, but if we can play flat and fast and support the ball, we showed we're a real handful," he added.

WESTERN RAMS 30 (Cooper Ferrari, Rory Quarmby, Lachlan Lawson, Nick Murphy, Jake Roberts, Tyrone Tattersall tries; Nick Murphy 3 goals) def RIVERINA BULLS 20 (Eddie Tiaina 2, Kye Wright, Joseph Roddy tries; Will McDermott 2 goals)