In a moving reminder that footy is only a game, the Clarence Town Cobras players paid tribute to Anzac Day and the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice, by wearing a specially designed jersey to honour them.
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But it was more than symbolism with the jerseys raffled and money raised going to charities for former servicemen and women and their families.
Tribute paid, it was on to the footy and the Cobras could not have asked for a better start to the season smashing the Tea Garden Hawks 46-12 on a wet Sunday at Clarence Town Oval.
The visitors opened the scoring in the 10th minute when their lock bumped off several would be Claro defenders to score under the posts for a 6-0 lead.
Claro’s woes worsened soon after when their young fullback had to retire from the game with badly split lip which resulted in Will Palermo shifting from wing to fullback.
The Cobras rallied and when Foot combined nicely with McGuiness to score they were back in the game at 6-6.
Five minutes later Cal Gorman put Claro in front when he stormed on to a pass 15 metres from the line and proved too strong for the defense to score. A neat conversion from wide out by Badior made the score 12-6.
Just before half-time the Hawks scored their second try when their half kicked from a set scrum and their fullback raced 50 metres to out speed the Cobras and score to tie the game up at 12-12 at the break.
The second half was a Claro demolition. Led by the Dunn brothers George and Sam, Ben Bradley and Todd Hutton the Cobras completely out classed the Hawks and backrowers Brad Johnson, Cameron McGuiness and Lachlan Jones were carving the Hawks up on the edge of the ruck.
Centre Lewis Keating open the scoring when he ran a nice line off a pass from Foot to score and in the next set Johnson completely destroyed the defense down the left edge to race 40 metres and score and take the score to 22-12 in favour of Claro.
During the next period the Cobras had to defend their line for several sets.
It was probably this great effort in defence that paved the way for the final 25 minutes of the game. Once they regained possession Claro dominated the remainder of the game.
Badior darted out of dummy half and linked with George Dunn to score next to the posts and not long after captain coach James Foot who had led by example all game capped off a fine game with great individual try. The Badior conversion now took the score to 34-12.
The Cobras were on a roll and when Badior and Bradley combined with a smart piece of work from a play the ball the latter scored a clever to move the score to 40-12.
George Dunn ended the scoring by bringing up his double for the afternoon and take the final score to 46-12.
A fine effort by Phil Badior to land seven out of eight goals in tough conditions.
Thank you to everyone who helped make the first home game a success, especially to Stephen Maytom and his crew who helped on the morning of the game.
Also thank you to Tavis Chivers who helped make our jumper auction after the game a fantastic success.
Finally on behalf of the club we would like to say that we also celebrate the life of one of our finest in David Boyd and wish Sue, Jaimy, Linsay and his family the very best.
CLARENCE TOWN 46 Tries: George Dunn 2, James Foot, Cameron McGuiness, Brad Johnson, Callan Gorman, Ben Bradley, Lewis Keating. Goals: Phil Badior 7/8
BEST FORWARD: Cameron McGuiness; BEST BACK: Wil Palermo; SUPPORTERS AWARD: Brad Johnson; BEST BENCHY: Ben Bradley; PLAYERS PLAYER: Sam Dunn. BEST & FAIREST: 3 Cameron McGuiness, 2 James Foot, 1 Brad Johnson
Paterson River beat Stroud
Paterson River started the season with a hard-fought 22-10 win against Stroud at Paterson Sportsground on Saturday.
The Rivers ran in four tries to two and Matthew Garland had a good day with boot landing three of four conversion attempts.
Hooker Garland also landed a try, with Dean Jones, Rhyan Winkler and Dylan Young also crossing the line.
In a strong team performance Paterson River were best served by Alan Carter, Caleb McGrady, Damon Bard and Mathew Gavan.
Paterson travel to Tea Gardens this Sunday and can expect a fired-up Hawks after their big loss to Clarence Town.
The competition takes a weekend off on May 12-13 and Paterson returns to action with a home game against Gloucester on May 19.
Congratulations to Paterson River’s Jason Smith who has been named in the Newcastle and Hunter Rugby League under-23 representative team.
Warriors game washed out
The Dungog Warriors have a delayed start to the season after their Friday night game against Stockton at Bennett Park was washed out.
The game is expected to be rescheduled to the representative weekend on May 12-13 with details to be confirmed.
The Warriors are away to Mallabula this Saturday and their round three fixture is on Friday, May 18, back under lights at Bennett Park. Kick off is 7pm.