ORANGE Hawks have improved their chances of making the Group 10 top three with a 27-10 win over second placed Bathurst Panthers at Wade Park yesterday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Hawks trailed 6-0 at half-time but put on an exciting second-half display to score four tries and reverse a 54-6 loss to Panthers in round one.
Hawks coach Andrew Meurant said holding Panthers to one try in the first half motivated his players for the second half comeback.
"Panthers are the big spenders of the group and I told the boys they're very beatable," Meurant said.
"I said they're not as big and tough as they make out to be. After the first half when we were 6-0 down I said to them, 'I told you so'. Then we were running downhill with the wind. They all got their confidence out of the first half."
Both sides were denied two tries in the first half before Panthers forward Josh Bateup ran from the back of a scrum, found a gap and scored.
The second half was dominated by Hawks with quick hands keeping the ball alive and players eager to back up.
Hawks brought it back to 6-all through centre Matt Williamson and minutes later off-balance half James Mortimer kicked a field goal to give Hawks the lead.
Panthers tested the Hawks line a number of times but forward Simon Osborne was the only one to break through midway through the second half.
Oscar Nalagilagi and Tim Mortimer added to Hawks' total with tries and when Dave Izzard dived over on full-time Hawks celebrated their best win of the season.
The Mortimer boys were outstanding for Hawks as was five-eighth Josh Nixon and forward Matt Horstman.
Panthers were best served by Osborne and prop Stan Latu.
Panthers captain-coach Dave Elvy said his side would learn from the loss.
"It is disappointing but I'd rather lose these games and not in the semis," Elvy said.
"It's a bit of a wake-up call for us. We need to improve up the middle. They made some easy metres and were getting too many off-loads at times which we need to stop. I think we were a bit too relaxed."
Meurant said Hawks still had room for improvement but he added the side was starting to reach its potential.
"This is a good warm-up for what's down the track," Meurant said.
"We can't get too carried away with it now. We've got (Lithgow) Workies to work on."
The win keeps Hawks equal third with Bathurst St Pat's with four rounds to go.
In the coming weeks Hawks play Lithgow, Cowra and Oberon before taking on St Pat's.
St Pat's play Panthers, Mudgee and Cowra before Hawks, a final round game that could decide who finishes third and grabs the double chance in the finals.
BY THE CLOCK: 35min: Panthers 6-0 (Josh Bateup try, Steve Lane goal); 45min: 6-all (Matt Williamson try, Todd Barrow goal); 48min: Hawks 7-6 (James Mortimer field goal); 53min: Hawks 11-6 (Oscar Nalagilagi try); 57min: Hawks 13-6 (Barrow penalty goal); 64min: Hawks 13-10 (Simon Osborne try); 72min: Hawks 15-10 (Barrow penalty goal); 75min: Hawks 21-10 (Tim Mortimer try, Barrow goal); 80min: Hawks 27-10 (Dave Izzard try, Barrow goal).
