TAREE City five-eighth Sam Murray nailed an angled conversion to lock the scores up at 22-22 with four minutes remaining in the Group Three Rugby League game against Wauchope at Taree on Saturday afternoon.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
This remained the final score - the draw being much more favourable for the Bulls than the Blues as it keeps their semi-final hopes alive.
Murray, a Taree City junior, rejoined the club this season after having a run with Erina last year.
At best a part-time kicker these days, Murray struck the conversion attempt perfectly and it sailed between the uprights.
What had been a dour struggle sparked into life with just over 11 minutes remaining. Wauchope looked to be cruising to a win when leading 22-10. However, second rower Kahlan Duncan was given 10 minutes in the sin bin by referee Bayley Dimarco in an incident that saw players from both sides becoming involved in a scuffle.
Duncan then had a bit of a verbal with some Taree City players as he made his way to the sheds. Perhaps he has a future as a motivational speaker for this seemed to inspire the Bulls.
Related:
From the penalty Taree prop Will Clarke bent the defensive line and four tackles later hooker Toby De Stefano showed strength to force his way over for a try from dummy half. Logan Wallis landed the goal and the Bulls were back in the hunt at 22-16 with nine on the clock.
Clarke, fellow prop Matt Taupe and second rower Rob Mason were suddenly punching holes up the centre, while De Stefano was also making ground.
Taree halfback Dean Mills's kicking game in general play had alternated between dreadful and ill-advised to this point. However, with the Bulls on the attack he put through a perfectly weighted kick over the Wauchope line. The ball evaded the Blues players and Mills was first to it to touchdown. Suddenly it was 22-20. Wallis would usually have taken the conversion attempt, but he was on the bench.
So cometh the hour, cometh the goal kicker and Murray answered the call.
There was a bit of drama to come as the clock wound down, with Wauchope five-eighth Nick McCabe sending second rower Matt Bird into space, however his pass was ruled forward. In the end a draw was a reasonably fair result for a forward-dominated game that didn't reach any heights at all until the thrilling finale.
This was Taree's best result since beating Forster-Tuncurry on May 5. The draw keeps the Bulls in the race but will probably cost Wauchope a share of the competition lead.
Both sides were below full strength, with Wauchope coach Anthony Boyd later revealing his had six players out. The Bulls were forced to reshuffle when hooker Oscar Carey withdrew on the morning of the game, adding to their injury woes. The Blues also lost centre Connor Cheeseman with a foot injury midway through the first half.
Wauchope led 12-4 at the break, scoring first via a Bird try from a McCabe pass for Joss Cleal to convert. To that point the Bulls had the better of field position but were unable to cash in. However, hard running second rower Mason crashed over to open Taree's account and it was 6-4. Then Taree lock Thomas Paulson was given his now obligatory 10 minute stay in the bin and soon after Ollie Pascoe scored a neat try for Wauchope when the left hand defence was caught short.
A Murray try early in the second half converted by Wallis gave the Bulls hope at 12-10. But the Blues dominated the next 20 minutes territoriality and came up with tries to centre Beau White and lock Sam Ackroyd to open a 22-10 lead. That should have been enough to win the game.
Then Duncan was sin binned.
Taree City 22 (R Mason, S Murray, T De Stefano, D Mills tries, L Wallis 2, S Murray goals) drew with Wauchope 22 (M Bird. O Pascoe, B White, S Ackroyd tries J Cleal 3 goals).
Reserve grade Wauchope 38 d Taree City 24
League tag Wauchope 26 d Taree City 10.
