The Bega Roosters enjoyed a high-scoring showdown with the Cooma Stallions on Saturday night.
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Under lights at the Cooma Showground, first grade captain-coach Ryan Apps had predicted the tri-colours would find their points around the fringes and he was not wrong.
The flankers and edge players had a field day as the Roosters rallied to a 48-24 result, crossing the line 10 times.
Fullback Zach Cuzner had an absolute blinder of a game, finishing with a three-try hat trick against last year’s premiers.
Other try scorers included a double for winger James Grant, while Ryan Apps also picked up a double out of the centres, while Scott Fuller from Lock rounded out the list of two try-scorers.
Ahead of the showdown, Apps figured the Stallions would try and steamroll the Roosters through the middle, but Bega’s hard-working front row never eased up and the Stallions were forced to find their own opportunities on the fringes.
Play was even early with Cooma leading 12-10 after 20 minutes, but soon the Roosters found their stride and took charge to lead 30-12 by the break.
A Cuzner double early in the second half set Bega’s lead out of reach despite a strong fight-back from the Stallions.
In other rounds, the Bega Chicks couldn’t hold out against a strong Fillies roster on their home turf, going down 24-4.
However, the under 18s ensured the Bega club was going home with the results in two of three games, dominating their clash to win 48-4.
Bryce Philipzen and Kyle Britten were the standouts for the visitors, scoring two tries apiece.
The Roosters had the bye in the reserve grade draw with the Tathra Sea Eagles facing the Stallions in the seconds fixture.
Much like the Chicks, the Sea Eagles weren’t able to adapt to the cold mountain ground in time and fell to the Stallions 26-6 in a tough outing.
The Sea Eagles had kept the Stallions to a 12-point lead at the break, but couldn’t keep the mountain men out in the second half with Matt Caldwell and Tom Maxwell both scoring doubles.
In other matches, the Candelo-Bemboka Panthers and the Pink Panthers travelled to Narooma for matches against the Moruya Sharks and Narooma She-Devils respectively.
The club commended the Pink Panthers who had their best result yet, carding a draw against the She Devils 16-16 after leading for much of the contest.
Meanwhile, the reserve grade roster got back in the winners’ circle with a solid 22-16 result over the Sharks.