“THAT’S how you play them out.”
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Orange City co-coach Steve Hamson was rapt with his side’s injury time Blowes Clothing Cup victory over Parkes on Saturday.
The Lions scored an unforgettable 17-16 win in Parkes after trailing 16-5 midway through the second half of the season opener.
The Boars were leading 16-12 with just under three minutes of regulation time remaining but Orange City winger Cameron Cole grounded a Joe Alexander grubber well into injury time to give the Lions the win.
“I guess some of the people will call it luck and some will say you’ve got to play for 80 (minutes) to win, and we probably had to play for 85 today to win,” Hamson laughed.
“We just played it out to the end and I think our boys showed tremendous resilience to keep their minds on the job, not close it down.”
It was the one that got away for Parkes.
The Boars had the upper hand at home from the game’s fourth minute when inside centre Mahe Fangupo kicked the first of his three penalty goals.
The centre’s second, five minutes later, made it 6-nil.
However, the Lions were the first to score a five pointer when they won a Parkes line-out and second rower Josh Maley was able to skirt the sideline before barging his way over in the left corner to reduce the margin to one.
Neither side could change the score before the break and things remained tight early in the second half.
Parkes extended their lead after Israel Symington was held up 11 minutes into the second stanza, and from the ensuing scrum, winger Matt Clark was able to score with Fangupo’s conversion making it 13-5.
Another penalty with 21 minutes left on the clock pushed Parkes out to 16-5.
The Lions started to build some repeat phases and create chances but many were lost through dropped balls or by giving away penalties.
However, on the back of three penalties, Orange City captain Josh Tremain was able to burrow over and score, and Mesui Lemoto’s conversion made it 16-12, just under three minutes before regulation time was up.
Into injury time Parkes has possession five metres out from City’s line but the Lions were able to pinch the ball and worked it 50 metres down the field.
From there they earned consecutive penalties, took a tap, went right, Alexander kicked the grubber and Cole was there to score.
Orange City celebrated like they’d won the grand final again.
There was no hiding the disappointment of the Parkes’ players.
“That’s the thing - you can’t sit on a few points like that with Orange City. They just come back at us and they’ve done it many times before. It’s very disappointing,” Parkes co-coach Trevor Whittaker said.
“Just the general play, we seemed to let ourselves down right at the end. But it’s something to work on. That was our first training run as a team. With all the Central West boys, we haven’t had a trial game, so basically that’s our first game.”
Parkes dominated the set pieces, particularly the scrum, and Dan Ryan gave the Lions grief in the line-outs.
Hamson wants to see his team improve their decision-making at the breakdown to reduce the number of penalties given away.
He also wants them to play with more width, especially against bigger sides like Parkes.
The Lions had four players in Saturday’s side who were a part of the 2013 grand final-winning team, which downed Parkes.
Hamson was impressed with the new faces, especially young breakaway Billy Freeman.
“He’s a colt who was just very unlucky to miss out on Country Colts selection,” Hamson said of Freeman.
“Steve Levitt was outstanding and Scotty Smith. All new guys. Scotty Smith (prop) will never get a tougher baptism than with Hair (Haemani Lavaka) and Amoni Vea. He did exceptionally well.”
ORANGE CITY 17 (Josh Maley, Josh Tremain, Cameron Cole tries; Mesui Lemoto conv) def PARKES BOARS 16 (Matt Clark try; Mahe Fangupo conv, 3 pen goals).
