Warren Williams had the weight of the Magpies – and five Bathurst St Pat’s defenders at one point – on his shoulders as he carried Cowra to a 32-22 victory at Jack Arrow Oval on Sunday.
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Williams laid on two of Cowra’s tries before bagging a brace of his own in the second period, his final four-pointer one where the enigmatic Magpies five-eighth tucked the ball under his arm and bulldozed his way over from 15 metres out, carrying what looked like half the St Pat’s side on his back to help seal victory, Cowra’s 10th of the season.
“I just run and hope for the best,” a smiling Williams said post game.
“They had half of my jersey so I thought I had half a chance and I just kept running.
“That’s what Sutto and the boys say to me, to think ‘run first’ and then just play off that.”
Williams was wonderful, and he had to be for a Cowra side missing arguably its best player in the form of prop Blake Tidswell.
Running into a mammoth wind in the first period, Williams’ Magpies had the better of the early running and his left-edge combination with skipper Josh Rainbow bore early fruit with a try to winger Caley Mok in the corner.
Jeremy Gordon then made it 10-0 with a converted try soon after and it looked as though the visitors would do a job on the battling Bathurst boys, but a couple of Magpies errors seemed to bring St Pat’s back into the contest.
It was a constant throughout the game.
A Magpies’ try to Joey Bugg was book-ended by four-pointers to St Pat’s pair McCoy White and Nathan Redding, ensuring the injury ravaged Bathurst club was still in the contest with the score at 16-10 at the break.
Williams then further imposed himself on the game in the second stanza, putting workhorse lock Ronny Lawrence over for a great try before scoring two himself as the Magpies jumped to within a win of first place on the ladder with the 32-22 triumph.
CYMS’ 38-10 victory over ladder leaders Orange Hawks helps the Magpies’ quest for the minor title, but as close as that piece of silverware is now for Williams and Cowra, he said the Magpies aren’t focused on finishing on top of the ladder.
Instead, the black and whites are filthy they failed to put St Pat’s to the sword.
“We could feel that we had them, too, they were quiet out there and we had the advantage but we didn’t take it and put them away,” Williams said.
“We scored, then gave away a penalty and they’d score to get them back in the game.
“I don’t think we’re worried about (the minor premiership), we’re just worried about the next two games, the biggest thing for us is our defence. We know we can score points, but if we can get our ‘D’ right then we’ll run everything off the back of that.”
Former Australian Rugby Sevens gun John Grant also made his debut for the club. He was strong in 10 carries of the ball and made a slashing line break in the first half.
“Coming into a side, his size, strength, speed ... we’ve got that already, but to add more helps us a lot,” Williams added.
Injured St Pat’s mentor Greg Behan was proud of his side, one minus a stack of top line players.
Behan, prop Zac Merritt and half Tim Holman were all absent, but Jack Mackey, fullback Sam Dwyer and backrower Brendon Tago were all tremendous.
Behan said the most pleasing aspect of the game was his side’s heart.
“The will to not pack up and let them beat us ... we kept fighting right to the end, and that’s a great sign for us,” Behan said.
- COWRA MAGPIES 32 (Warren Williams 2, Caley Mok, Joey Bugg, Ron Lawrence, Jeremy Gordon tries; Caley Mok 4 goals) def BATHURST ST PAT’S 22 (McCoy White, Nathan Redding, Brendon Tago, Chris Kirby tries; Josh Howarth 3 goals)
Nick McGrath
Editor, Central Western Daily
Editor, Central Western Daily
