A late try to the Narooma Devils extended the score margin in an otherwise close game with the Candelo-Bemboka Panthers on Sunday.
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Played at the Pambula Sporting Complex, the Panthers went down to the visiting Devils 30-18, while the league-tag roster had gone down earlier 40-4.
Handling errors proved costly for the Panthers, giving the Devils some repeat attacking sets, but also dulling some strong runs that could have been scoring opportunities.
Tensions flared early and the Panthers were put on the back foot with a player binned for 10 minutes, but the 12 on the park defended admirably.
Narooma’s play was also fragmented with some dropped balls easing pressure on the man-down Panthers, but it was the visitors getting out to an early lead off some strong left-side runs.
The Panthers fought back into the contest with some strong runs by Grant Moon, Haywood Fraser and Jake McDonald.
Wade Irvin, Jory Taylor and Brock Ringland were up for strong defensive efforts, but the Devils began focusing their efforts on the fringes.
The speed of the visiting Narooma side quickly became troublesome, while Candelo-Bemboka’s forwards made inroads through the middle.
Just minutes from the siren the Panthers were still a late chance chasing an 18-24 scoreboard.
However, the Devils broke through a gap and scored in the final minute to win 30-18.
Earlier in the league-tag play it had been Narooma’s prolific try-scorer Lily Bennett doing the majority of the damage on the scoreboard.
Bennett is a rampant speed-demon and made repeated line breaks to score four tries in the contest, while halfback Jamie-Anne Wright also snuck through a double.
The Pink Panthers were able to rally to one four-pointer, but it was not enough to match Narooma.
The accuracy of Wright’s boot was as destructive to the scoreboard, clearing six of seven conversion attempts for the She-Devils to win comfortably 40-4.