The Dungog Warriors season is over after a 28 to 18 defeat at the hands of Hinton in the minor semi final of the C-grade Newcastle & Hunter Rugby League Competition at Raymond Terrace on Sunday.
For the second week in succession Dungog have seemingly been able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory with missed opportunities and poor defensive patches leading to their elimination.
The Warriors could not have got off to a poorer start on Sunday, with a dropped ball in the first set of the match putting Hinton on the attack, which they capitalised on by brushing off some would be defenders and scoring a soft try to take a 4-0 lead.
Dungog quickly regained their composure and Brad Johnson scored after running onto a good pass from Dave Henderson. Lee Nevin converted and the Warriors led by 6 to 4.
Dungog’s goal line defence was one of their strengths for most of the regular season, but of late has been very soft and Hinton exploited this when they regained the lead with a very basic converted try.
The lead changed again midway through the half when Dave Henderson broke the defence and found Lee Nevin who scored a converted try. Hinton were back in front soon after when they scored after running the ball on the last tackle for a 14 to 12 lead.
Then came possibly the turning point of the game. Ashley Evans broke through the defence and positioned his support on a clear passage to the line, but the catchable pass went to ground and a certain try went begging.
From the scrum win Hinton worked the ball down into Dungog’s half and scored a unconverted try right on half time and instead of leading by 4 at the break, the Warriors were trailing by 18 to 12.
Dungog levelled up the scores early in the second half when Chris Evans ran onto a good ball from Fletcher Celand to score. Neither team was able to crack each other’s defence in next 20 minutes before a soft try form dummy half put Hinton’s nose in front 22 to 18.
Dungog tried valiantly to bridge the gap, but they seemed to rely too much on individual brilliance rather than team work to get over the line. With time running out, Hinton’s dummy half sealed their victory when he caught the Dungog defence out with a try on the last tackle which ended the Warriors season.
Whilst it is disappointing with the Warriors early exit, coach Dave Henderson has done a great job with the relatively young side, which should only get better with experience.
The best for Dungog on Sunday were Wes Neilson, who was outstanding in just his second game back from major surgery, Ashley Evans, Lee Nevin and Fletcher Celand.
All that remains for the 2009 season is the Warriors presentation night which is on Saturday, September 19.
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