In a return to the classic rivalry, the Tathra Sea Eagles hosted the Bega Roosters in their first local derby at the Tathra Beach Country Club ground in four years. 

The league-tag Tathra Phoenix outfit boasted showcased their best defensive effort yet, while still posting a couple of handy tries against the Bega Chicks to go down in a good game 28-12. 

Bega half-back Jacinta Dummett was the deciding factor early in the piece, scoring two tries for the Bega Chicks to set up an early lead. 

However, the Chicks couldn’t rely on speed alone as Tathra’s home grown speedster Tarni Evans chased down any escapees to bolster the Tathra defence dramatically. 

Players like Ali Ringland, Fiona Holmes and Lily Warby all had some great line runs to almost break through the Tathra line, but were snagged by Evans, while Jacqui Hancock and Abbi Scott were taking charge of the Phoenix line. 

Scott was particularly solid at marker, picking up swathes of tags in an excellent show of line defense. 

The Tathra outfit were trailing on the scoreboard, but were far from out of the contest with a good kicking game putting Bega under plenty of pressure. 

The Phoenix outfit were able to regather two long torpedoes on the right edge, while also forcing a line-dropout from the Chicks as the Bega player was tagged inside her own in-goal. 

Sam Crowley featured for the Phoenix, showing up big on the right edge attack and also scoring both tries for the hosts on the day. 

Wendy Hetherington proved handy with the boot, kicking both conversions for the Phoenix. 

The Phoenix did find the line a third time, but were ruled to be tagged before planting the ball. 

Despite the pressure, the Chicks never dropped their heads as Ash Londero, Leoda Lloyd and Ringland maintained some good runs up the middle and right edges. 

Aleesha Dummett was in form for the Chicks, scoring a try, but also featuring as a key defender out of lock. 

Following the game the Chicks are holding fourth place in an extremely competitive grade of the competition. 

Meanwhile, the Phoenix are still looking for their first win of the season and are currently on the bottom of the ladder. 

However, a win could see them quickly jump into the ranks as the Pink Panthers are also yet to get a win on the board and the Narooma She Devils claimed their first win over the weekend. 

Some other games from the weekend had to be cancelled due to the downpours and strong southerly winds.

Group 16 officials said the matches would be rescheduled to play over the wet-weather round, which will go ahead on the June long weekend.