June 27, 2014
The Murgon Mustangs marked their first home game of the season with a thumping 58-28 victory over Nanango this evening … but for the first hour of the game, the contest could have gone either way.
It was a chilly evening at Murgon Showground but that didn’t stop the hardy local fans who turned up to cheer on the Mustangs.
Neither side could make headway for the first 10 minutes until Ashley Smallwood finally broke the deadlock, skipping over the line for Nanango.
Andrew Hewitt’s kick was on target and Nanango led 6-0.
Just two minutes later Daniel Georgetown replied for Murgon, planting the ball under the posts. Mullie Watson converted and the scores were back even.
This was the pattern for the rest of the half, with each side taking turns to score: Nanango (Blake Harvey – after a darting run down half of the paddock), Murgon (Mullie Watson) and Nanango (Clinton Harvey).
At half-time, Nanango led 16-12
Murgon’s Joe Sullivan continued the tit-for-tat tries in the second half, followed by Nanango (Drew Jackson), Murgon (Keith Walsh), Nanango (Drew Jackson – again) and Murgon (Mullie Watson – again).
At the midway point of the second half Nanango led 28-24, the difference being Murgon’s missed kicks.
But then the Mustangs changed gears, making repeated breaks through Nanango’s obviously tiring defensive line.
Austin Mason put the ball over the line to bring the score to 28-all with 20 minutes left on the clock. Peter Bligh’s conversion was on target and the crowd roared its approval as the Mustangs went into the lead for the first time in the game.
Three minutes later Murgon scored again when Chris Bond managed to stretch his arm out and put the ball over the line in the corner.
A strong run by Murgon’s Lehman Brunjes just a minute later was pulled up short of the line, but was rewarded on the next play when Jameel Sullivan scored. Sullivan converted his own try to take Murgon to 40-28.
After the back-and-forth earlier in the game, Murgon had now put on four back-to-back tries in 10 minutes, and they weren’t finished yet.
In the last 10 minutes Keith Walsh picked up his second for the night. Then former union player Fale Vailalo scored an unlikely try after a Murgon kick downfield, winning the race to fall on the ball just short of the dead ball line.
Finally Austin Mason strolled to the line to place the ball under the posts, his second for the night. Sullivan’s kick was good and Murgon finished with a 30 point margin.
For Nanango, Andrew Hewitt kicked four conversions.
Murgon players shared the goal-kicking duties: Mullie Watson (2), Peter Bligh (1), Jameel Sullivan (4).
