Rovers unlucky not to upset defending premiers

The Rovers went into round one with a couple of key late withdrawals including pack leader Michael McNamara, Daniel Roberts, Ben “Ronny” Tamsett and Chris “Gopher” Mason.

In an exciting and fiery game, the Rovers were dominant for the majority of the affair with a couple of critical decisions going against them late in the game.

Meanwhile the Roverettes had their first win of the regular season and their third straight win when they defeated the North Canberra Bears in a thriller by 18-16.

As expected the Bears came out of the blocks against the Rovers in the first ten minutes and scored two quick tries to lead 10-0.

The Rovers were then able to stabilise the game and get back into the grind with the competition hotshots.

The Rovers were offered a couple of opportunities attacking the Bears line midway through the first half and were able to capitalise through Captain/Coach Josh Burns who scored on the left edge after a well-executed attacking ploy exposed the Bears defence.

During the next set, the Rovers forwards led by Murray Armour, Mitch Clarke and Tom Carnell were able to get the team out of yardage brilliantly which allowed halfback Burns to hit a 40/20.

Further pressure on the bears line late in the half seen Mick Hinds cross the line after a nice inside ball from Josh Burns.

Scores were level at 10, all after Andrew Burns converted the kick.

The second stanza saw both teams engage in a tight contest for the first ten minutes.

Boorowa were starting to dominate through the middle and on their strong edges, when Andrew Burns stepped passed two defenders before offloading nicely to brother Josh for his second try of the game.

The Rovers continued attacking the Bears line, but an unfortunate long pass was intercepted by the Bears who raced the length of the field to score and even the game at 16 all. 

Boorowa’s completion rate was good and with their forward pack making excellent yardage continued to pile pressure onto the Bears line.

Hooker Trent Garrett, slipped a lovely inside ball to Steven Death who scored under the posts, only to have a very late and questionable forward pass call.

In the last nine minutes Boorowa battled against a couple of unlucky decisions and some mistakes and went down in the last minutes by 22-16.

During the post-match function, the North Canberra Bears coach indicated that “the better team lost today”.

A sentiment echoed by a large contingent of Rovers supporters.

Whilst disappointed in the narrow defeat Coach Burns was proud of his troops saying, “The Bears were very lucky to get away with that one, I’m proud of the way our blokes stood up against competition heavyweights. We will learn a lot from the loss.” 

Amongst the best players for the Rovers were Murray Armour (3 points), Matt Batt (2 points) and Mitch Clarke (1 point). Tom Carnell, Steven Death and Andrew Burns were also strong.

In other George Tooke results last week, Crookwell 70 thrashed Gunning 0, Bungendore 42 hammered ADFA 0, UC Grizzlies 16 narrowly beat Boomanulla 12 whilst the local derby saw Harden 30 beat Binalong 6.

In other League tag results Bungendore 92 slaughtered ADFA 0, Boomanulla 24 beat UC Grizzlies 0, Harden 50 beat Binalong 6 and Crookwell 36 made it a long day for Gunning  0.

The Boorowa Roverettes league tag from all reports were exceptional winning their third straight game and a more comprehensive report on this match will be available next week as the girls have the bye this coming Saturday.

Matches in both the George Tooke and league Tag this weekends sees the following contests.

ADFA host Boomanulla, Binalong host North Canberra, Gunning are at home against the UC Grizzlies whilst the matches of the round will see Harden host Crookwell.

Boorowa and Bungendore have the bye.

For local league fans starved of footy this weekend, Harden may be the place to be.

See you at the footy.