An undermanned Bingara Bullets couldn’t keep up with a determined Uralla Tigers on their home turf.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Tigers scraped a win in round 16 against Dungowan and were ready to step up another gear against Bingara.
They did so in emphatic style, scoring 108 points to one in the win.
Centre Sterling Wylie scored five tries while five-eighth Jack Doran crossed for four.
While his side managed a century, coach Brett Monley credited the Bullets for turning up without a full side.
“I will take my hat off to them, they came over with 12 players and they lost one in the first few minutes so they were down to 11 and to their credit they didn't stop running back up into us and kick off again,” he said.
“One of their players, their five-eighth [Travis Allen], got a field goal in the second half and everyone around the field, even Uralla supporters, were beeping their horns and screaming out, they thought it was great.”
Leading into the game against Bingara, Monley was looking for his side to put together a more complete performance with penalties hurting them the week prior.
The side delivered and Monley lauded the team’s efforts in staying focused on the task at hand.
“We had a good performance all over the paddock really,” he said.
“I just told the boys ‘don’t get complacent, make sure we complete our sets of six, make sure stick to our patterns of play’ – we still had to go forward before we went wide and all that sort of stuff.
“The boys could have easily tried to do everything like chip and chase and all that silly stuff but we didn't do it, we stuck to our plans and patterns.”
The Tigers sit in fifth place on the Group 4 second division ladder but will aim to lift to fourth in coming weeks.
It will be a tough battle for Uralla who face the competition’s top teams in Barraba and Kootingal-Moonbi in the next two weeks.
“We have a big game this weekend, we are playing second, and we are fifth now so we need to be up for the challenge this week,” Monley said.
“[Barraba] are pretty strong, they have a good half and five-eighth combination and an outstanding front rower, he's been the pick of the players that I've seen this year.
“We had a draw with them last time and then it went into extra time and they won. We really have to be on our money this week completing our sets of six and making we don't give them too much ball, if we give them too much ball they will make us pay.
“We should be back to full strength, we had a few out last week and they got to have a game off.”