Roos Eye Major Double

Newcastle Herald

Monday June 23, 2008

By NEIL GOFFET

WYONG landed the first leg of the Newcastle Rugby League feature double when they defeated Western Suburbs 20-16 at Morry Breen Oval yesterday.

The Roos survived treacherous wind on the Central Coast to topple the second-placed Rosellas and face competition leaders Cessnock on Saturday at Cessnock.

Last year's beaten grand finalists then have a dream run to the finals that includes games against four of the bottom five sides in their last five matches.

"We got the two points off one of the top two teams today, so that's the main thing," Wyong coach Paul Stringer said after the highly anticipated match was ruined to some extent by the conditions.

"Our attack was pretty ordinary in the first half, but they [West] had the wind and I thought we battled into it pretty well."

Wyong scored first and led 6-0 until West centre Jermaine Ale caught the Roos defence off guard as the hooter sounded for half-time.

Ale crashed over and halfback Nathan Hinton landed the conversion from the sideline.

Wyong centre Jamie Davis celebrated his selection in the NSW Country side with a try in the second half as the Roos skipped away to an 18-6 lead. That was reduced to 20-12 before West scored inside the last 10 minutes.

The Rosellas had chances to win in the closing stages, but Wyong held them out.

"Our attack was a lot better in the second half, but I thought our defence was strong throughout the whole game," Stringer said.

"We've got one of the two we need, and next is Cessnock on Saturday."

South Newcastle paid a huge price for a lack of discipline when they lost 18-16 to Kurri Kurri in the dying seconds of their match at Learmonth Park yesterday.

Down 16-4 at half-time, the Lions fought back to level at 16-16 but gave away a penalty for stripping the ball on their own 40-metre line in the last minute of the match.

They compounded that error by getting marched 10m for abusing the referee, and the Bulldogs' Luke Knoblanche landed the penalty goal to complete the victory.

To make matters worse for the Lions, Adam Withyman was sent off after the full-time siren for abusing the referee. The loss left South two wins out of the top five.

Also yesterday, Macquarie beat Raymond Terrace 52-16 at Lakeside and Central Charlestown halfback Scott Briggs landed a field goal with five minutes on the clock in the Butcher Boys' 27-26 win over Nelson Bay at Tomaree Sporting Complex.

Cessnock thumped Lakes United 48-4 at Cahill Oval on Saturday.

© 2008 Newcastle Herald

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