The Bega Roosters and Bombala Blue Heelers have handed each other devastating blows.
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The first grade Blue Heelers conquered the table-topping Roosters 22-18, while the league-tag Bega Chicks handed the High Heelers their first loss of the season 20-16.
It was a shock loss in the women’s game at the Bega Recreation Ground on Sunday, where Bombala looked entirely capable of continuing their untarnished win-streak.
Meanwhile, the third loss of the year for the Roosters top outfit now sees them sitting level with the Moruya Sharks on the leaderboard – with Bega holding the edge on for and against.
The headline first grade clash was physical from the off with both teams working through the ruck and pushing their edges to find big metres.
Both clubs looked to their left flanks to press the attack with the Roosters finding metres through Jarrod Tamatea, Ryan Apps, Scott Fuller and Hayden Parbery.
Meanwhile, Blue Heelers made some good ground with Tevita Badogo, Luke Ingram and Wame Belolevu featuring heavily in the sets.
The Roosters opened the account through half Callum Bower-Scott with brother James adding the extras.
However, the Heelers struck back soon after as Bombala coach Paul Perkins charged over the Bega fullback to score in the corner off a sweeping left hand play.
The kick faded to trail 6-4 and play settled again to a wrestling match through the ruck.
Both teams were able to consistently push to within striking range and even forced a few line dropouts at either end.
However, there were a few handling errors causing handovers as well.
Hayden Parbery made one of his trademark scoots from hooker and slammed the ball over from a stretching dive at the line.
Bombala fullback Aborosio Navori was having a blinder with some deep-cutting runs and soon evened the odds again, with Blake Robinson slotting the conversion to trail 12-10 at the break.
The second half continued in the same fashion with the teams trading blows through Perkins, Robinson for Bombala, while Callum bagged his second.
There was 15 minutes to play when Robinson landed and converted his own try to lead 22-18, but the Bega outfit were unable to cut through the resilient Bombala defence.
In the earlier reserve grade contest, the Blue Heelers looked like causing an upset to lead 12-6 early.
However, the Roosters quickly found their competition-leading form and reversed the momentum to surge to a 42-12 win.
Cael Kelly and Lee Fuller both featured in two-try performances, while the Roosters had strong mid runs through Justin Towney and Ethan McMinn.
Chicks stir up a massive upset
Bega’s speed and the absence of Georgie Clarke could have been big factors in Bombala’s first league-tag loss for 2018 on Sunday.
The Bega Chicks bagged the early try, before extending their lead in the second half to hold on for a 20-16 result. against the High Heelers.
Four individual try-scorers stood up for the Bega Chicks in Sunday’s win with Tarah Lloyd opening the card against the table-toppers.
Bombala’s line defence was impressive, but the visitors ran out of options when Bega broke through as the Chicks ran together for support.
A couple of the four-pointers saw Bega bust the line, only to offload past the High Heelers’ fullback, setting their team-mates loose to score.
Joccoaa Rogers, Madison Parbery and Fiona Holmes scored tries for the Chicks, while a Brooke Morey try was the opener for the High Heelers.
Jacinta Dummett and Holmes were heavily impactful with some scything runs that helped the Chicks find room to move against the competition-leaders.
And the defence was commendable given Bombala never looked out of contention.
The High Heelers were still equally as dangerous with the ball as they have been to see them boast an 11-game winning spree.
Jade Crouch broke through in the second half to keep the Heelers in touch 14-10.
However, Rogers’ try all-but sealed the result with the Chicks edging out to a 20-10 lead. The Heelers continued voraciously with a late try to Maree Coates, but the clock ran dead soon after.