THE Bega Roosters recorded a massive 74-12 victory at home against Moruya Sharks on Sunday.
The home side ran riot, scoring 14 tries to Moruya’s two and only briefly gave their opponents a sniff.
Bega jumped out of the blocks early by crossing for two unconverted tries in the first 10 minutes.
The team was playing an attacking brand of football that was paying dividends.
They soon had their third try of the contest when centre Paul Berk managed a line break to score under the posts.
Berk was back in action just a few minutes later, setting up a four-pointer for dummy-half Michael Edmonds.
Mitch Creary converted the try and Bega had jumped out to a 20-point lead.
The Roosters then produced an end to end play from the set after the kick-off and a long kick by Matt Barnden and solid chase from Edmonds had the fullback trapped in goals.
The home side pounced on the opportunity with Ryan Apps crossing for a try.
At 24-0 it appeared that Bega would rack up a massive total while their opponents looked abysmal.
Moruya finally hit back with 10 minutes remaining in the half when repeat set pressure saw Greg Badulavich cross in the corner and he converted his own try.
The Sharks had another try soon after when half-back Jake Bowles dived over from dummy-half.
With minutes remaining until the break Moruya had brought back the deficit to just 12 points.
The Roosters then made the decisive play of the match on the stroke of half-time.
The play started when captain Dayne Burton managed a line-break in his defensive half, drawing an opponent before offloading to Berk out wide.
Berk then chipped a kick under the posts and Edmonds pounced on the loose gathering.
Creary converted the try and Bega held a handy 30-12 advantage at the break.
Bega started in the same attacking fashion when a backline movement from their defensive 20 culminated in a try to Barnden.
The teams briefly played end to end footy before a massive hit in defence by Burton jarred the ball loose.
The Roosters set up another try from the scrum with a brilliant attacking movement as Berk scored his third four-pointer out wide.
Edmonds failed to convert, but with a lead of 28 points, Moruya appeared unlikely to bounce back.
The next play summed up Moruya’s day when their kick-off sailed over the dead-ball line and resulted in a penalty on half-way to Bega.
Winger Craig Dunham then got into the action when he set up another try for Edmonds after an offload by Burton.
The dummy-half had his second try in as many minutes when he scored under the posts from the following set and Bega’s advantage skipped out to 52-12.
The pain continued for the Sharks when three Bega repeat sets saw prop Josh Cochrane score out wide.
Fullback Matt Blacka converted the try and the lead was extended to 46 points.
With just over 10 minutes remaining a lot of teams may have gone into defensive mode but the Roosters weren’t finished just yet.
Dunham created the play of the day when he ran 50 metres and beat three opponents to score under the posts.
Moruya kept making basic handling errors in their own half and Bega capitalised on the chance when Apps offloaded to Edmonds who scored under the posts.
With the game well and truly decided Burton chose to have a rare kick at goal.
An ugly mongrel punt just managed to get over the cross-bar but the conversion was successful.
In the final minute the Sharks knocked on again in their defensive 20.
Bega again chose to play razzle-dazzle footy with Barnden chipping inwards after receiving a pass from the scrum.
Blacka failed to gather the bouncing ball but Anthony Behts swooped on the loose offering and offloaded to Edmonds who crossed for his sixth try of the match.
Burton decided to have another conversion attempt but was unsuccessful this time.
The Roosters completely dominated the contest and only briefly did Moruya look likely to bounce back when they scored two quick tries.
Bega’s win was based on hard work from the forwards and a positive but controlled brand of play from the backline.
Up front Dayne Burton, Jason Kidd, Matt Inskip and Josh Cochrane were outstanding and they stood up well to Moruya’s strong pack.
Centre Paul Berk was a key figure in their attacking movements and received great support from Matt Barnden, Mitch Creary, Matt Blacka, Craig Dunham and Ryan Apps.
Hooker Michael Edmonds had a field day, crossing for six tries and booting four goals, finishing with 32 points.
If the Roosters continue to play that positive brand of footy they will be hard to beat for the remainder of the season.
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