May 28, 2014
Traditional rivals Murgon and Cherbourg put on a strong display of rugby league football at Wondai on Saturday, with bone-rattling tackles coming from both sides.
There was little between the sides in the first half.
Patrick Alberts opened Cherbourg’s account in the first two minutes, and Gordon Davidson followed a few minutes later.
But Murgon’s Kane Liddy quickly struck back, scoring twice. With Lewis Hopkins’ boot on target, the Mustangs took the lead, 12-10, at the half-way point of the first half.
The Hornets scored twice more before the break (Stafford Saltner and Alex Speedy) to put Cherbourg ahead 20-12 at the break.
Murgon put the first points on the board in the second half with Brendan Saltner managing to break through the tough Cherbourg defence to ground the ball. Hopkins’ kick brought the Mustangs to within two points, 20-18.
But five minutes later Cherbourg’s Stafford Saltner scored again.
And then a rarely seen penalty try was awarded to Cherbourg three minutes later when a Mustangs defender infringed near the line. Fred Aubrey’s kick was good, and the Hornets were suddenly ahead 32-18.
This seemed to rattle Murgon and the Hornets weren’t finished yet.
In short order, Arthur Saltner crossed twice for Cherbourg.
With 11 minutes left on the clock, Justin Cobus added some more points to the Mustangs’ tally but Cherbourg struck back almost immediately with a try to Bernard Hopkins.
As night fell across the Wondai Sportsground, Keith Walsh scored a consolation try for Murgon to take the full-time score to Cherbourg 48, Murgon 28.
Fred Aubrey kicked six conversions for Cherbourg, while Lewis Hopkins kicked four from five for Murgon.
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It was a tough night at Wondai for the visiting Kingaroy Red Ants.
Kingaroy arrived with just 14 men which meant it was always going to be a tough task to take on the in-form Wondai Wolves at home.
Wondai opened their account ruthlessly, scoring at three minute intervals (Luke Tilney, Ryan Stower and Rory Mackenzie), quickly taking the score to 16-0.
But to Kingaroy’s credit, the Red Ants rallied and kept the Wolves out for almost the next 20 minutes until Luke Tilney broke through and scored again for the Wolves. The half-time score was 20-0.
Wondai put on two quick tries after the break (Cody Beggs and Troy Kerkow) before the Red Ants’ defence again rallied.
But with 17 minutes to go, Kerkow scored his second for the night. Then just five minutes before full-time, Shane Cliff delivered the deathblow.
The full-time score was 40-0.
Rhys Weber kicked four conversions for the Wolves.
* * *
In the Under 12s, Zac Bryant and Angus Allery rescued Kingaroy’s pride for the day at Wondai.
Zac scored during the last minute of the match, and Angus converted after the final whistle.
The U12s Red Ants may have been defeated 70-6 by the Wondai Wolves but just about everyone in the crowd was applauding when Zac crossed the line.
For the Wolves, Albert Dynevor scored four tries while Patrick Hoult and Michael Evans both scored three.
