Bulldogs fall short against Bears

Another wayward showing from the Gunnedah Bulldogs resulted in back-to-back losses in Group 4 rugby league, as they slipped to a 20-16 defeat against the North Tamworth Bears at Jack Woolaston Oval last Sunday.

Gunnedah’s second consecutive defeat followed four wins and a draw, while Norths broke a two-game losing streak.

The two teams found themselves level on points with Boggabri; one point behind the second-placed Moree and four points behind Werris Creek.

Gunnedah’s defeat was somewhat overshadowed by interchange player Thomas Randall’s situation, after he was concussed and subsequently transported to hospital in an ambulance.

In the opening seconds of the second half, Randall hit the deck as he attempted to make a tackle and was unable to rise.

Play was halted for about 20 minutes, with players and officials waiting for the paramedics.

Gunnedah suffered a couple of other injuries on the day while the team was already below full strength.

Having squandered a 20-0 lead against Boggabri, the Bulldogs blew a 12-0 lead last Sunday.

Giving away field position, dropping off tackles, and not taking opportunities were the aspects which coach Sean Hayne identified.

“Basic mistakes,” he said.

“After we scored points we’d drop the ball on the second tackle, (from a) kick-off (we) let someone run 80 metres, (and we) let a few soft tries in.”

The game had a stop-start pattern as each team received about 10 penalties, with the count favouring the Bears in the first 55 minutes before the Bulldogs had a favourable run in the final 25 minutes.

On the last tackle of the first set of the game, Gunnedah halfback Sam Taylor’s spiralling bomb induced an error from the Bears before Bulldogs fullback Dylan Lake pounced for the opening try near the uprights.

Lake set up the next try as his kick bounced unpredictably, before Wil Patterson burst onto the ball and provided Taylor with another easy conversion.

The momentum soon changed as the Bears forced an error and then received a penalty. Norths profited, as Lynken Dickson delayed his pass to Ethan Kelly who charged over for an unconverted try.

Norths replacement Voniani Nauli made a huge run from the restart before the Bears capitalised on another penalty, with Ethan Collins powering onto a short pass and crashing over the tryline in a tackle.

Gunnedah maintained its 12-10 lead until half-time, but wasted several chances to expand the margin.

Just after play resumed, the incident involving Randall caused a delay while the players and officials waited for an ambulance to arrive.

The Bears turned over possession almost straight away when play resumed, and then a period of erratic play unfolded.

Norths replacement Joshua Sweeney left the field as his face was covered in blood from a head cut, and soon the hosts hit the lead with a try to Livinai Tuicakau.

Gunnedah crucially failed to send the ball over the sideline from a penalty, before withstanding pressure from Norths.

Speculative play from the Bulldogs on the last tackle included a chip-kick, but then a try was disallowed.

Following a couple of mistakes from Norths, clever blindside play from Gunnedah’s Callum Hayne resulted in Sunia Naruma sending Mckye Tucknott across in the left corner to put the Bulldogs back in the lead with 10 minutes left.

After the next penalty, Gunnedah raided and looked certain to score but an error occurred with a try beckoning. Instead of holding a handy 22-14 lead, the Bulldogs found themselves behind 20-16 with five minutes remaining after Norths captain Mitch Sheridan made a clever dart from acting-half and popped the ball to a trybound James Cooper.

Gunnedah received another penalty before a knock-on occurred in the red zone, and in the dying seconds the Bulldogs played some enterprising football until their hopes of a winning try were dashed when a kick was defused.

In reserve grade, the ‘mercy rule’ was utilised after the visitors blew the hosts off the park.

The Bulldogs led 30-0 at half-time before extending the scoreline to 62-0 with a little under 10 minutes left, prompting the full-time siren to sound prematurely.

Trent White nabbed four of Gunnedah’s 11 tries while Bailee Crowe scored one try and landed nine goals.

Gunnedah’s reserve graders moved to fifth spot on the ladder; one win ahead of Norths.

In the U18s, Gunnedah’s Cooper Blair scored a hat-trick as the Bulldogs salvaged a 26-all draw after the teams tallied five tries apiece.

Gunnedah’s U18s found themselves in fifth place on the six-team ladder.

Gunnedah’s U18s have a bye this Sunday while the first and reserve grade teams host Kootingal-Moonbi at Kitchener Park.

(Note: scoring details and ladder positions were documented according to the Play Rugby League website).