By BRYSON LUFF

The Gulgong Terriers put in a tenacious performance to claim the all important two competition points when they hosted the Gilgandra Panthers at Billy Dunn Oval last Saturday in their Christie and Hood Castlereagh League round 16 clash.

Not for the first time this year the Panthers got away to a flying start, and again, not for the first time this year, they could not maintain the momentum, but credit must be given to the home side who produced a remarkable comeback after trailing 16 points to nil after 25 minutes.

The Terriers spirit was evident as they fought back to go to the sheds at half time trailing by 10 points with the score board reading 20 to 10 in favour of the visitors, which soon became 20 points to 16 in the opening minute of the second stanza and from that point on it was anyone’s game as both sides struggled for ascendency before a converted try to Gulgong’s industrious hooker, Dan Crane edged the home side in front for the first time in the game with 15 minutes remaining.

Not long after they were in again and stretched their lead out to 28 to 20 which they dourly defended until the Panthers scored with just seconds remaining to make the full time score after an entertaining game 28 to 24.

The win by the Terriers signals that they are well and truly in the premiership race with just two competition rounds remaining.

Unicorns vs Magpies

At Coonabarabran defence was seemingly not high on the agenda of either the Unicorns or the visiting Trangie Magpies agenda with no less than 17 tries being scored, the hosts running in 12 whilst the Maggies scored five themselves, with the final score being 68 to 24.

Cobar vs Coonamble

Cobar cemented its place at the top of the table with an emphatic 58 to 2 win over the Coonamble Bears at Cobar.

Next week

The Bears will complete their 2021 commitments next Saturday when they are at home to Gilgandra before having the bye in the final round.

Other games this Saturday will see a Boronia Cup Challenge game played at Dunedoo when the Swans host Baradine with major interest on the day focussing on the top of the table league tag clash between the two clubs with a win by either side going a long way to securing the minor premiership in that grade.

The Terriers will be looking to continue their good form when they have another home game, this time against the Trangie Magpies and Cobar will be playing host to Binnaway whilst Coonabarabran will collect the two competition points the easy way by virtue of having the bye.

Christie and Hood Castlereagh League Round 16 scores

League Tag

Gilgandra 30 (Allira Ashby, Emily Fardell, Tori Canham, Kylie Louie, Crystal Williams, Stevie Smith tries, Shian Chatfield 2, Canham goals) defeated Gulgong 12 (Emily Kirk, Laurissa Hay tries, Mel Robinson 2 goals).

Coonabarabran 68 ( Teaghan Barron 3, Madeline Wilson 3, Hannah Meier, Meg Underwood, Molly Sutherland, Kada Hutt, Barron 10 goals) defeated Trangie 0.

Cobar 26 (Brennah Aumua 2, Aisha Schofield, Tyler Chiswick, Georgia Boland tries, Brianna Watson 3 goals) defeated Coonamble 18 (Hope Fernando, Tayla Pennell, Emily Ryan tries, Ryan 3 goals)

Dunedoo 22(Gemma Mitchell 2, Eva Hogden, Kerrie Ward, Logan McKenna-Maidens tries, Mitchell goal) defeated Binnaway 0

Baradine bye

Competition table

Baradine 30 (+ 322), Dunedoo 30 (+317), Coonabarabran 22 (+182), Gilgandra 20 (+33), Coonamble 18 (+85), Cobar 18 (+55), Binnaway 10, Gulgong 8, Trangie 4.

First Grade

Gulgong 28 (Dan Crane 2, Mitch McWhirter, Ethan Pegus, Brendan Carter tries, James Morrison 4 goals) defeated Gilgandra 24 (Hayden Smith 3, Luke Ritchie, Cameron Bamblett tries, Brandon Hammond 2 goals).

Coonabarabran 68 (Josh Nixon 3, Paul Jones 2, Anthony Harris 2, Dean Lewin, Will Cole, Will Hawker, Tom Varty tries, Jai Cain 10 goals) defeated Trangie 24 (Rob Wakefield, James Darcy, Donald Kennedy, Laine Stevens, Owen Kennedy tries, Alex Sutherland 2 goals)

Cobar 58 (Daniel Dean 3, Nathan McAndrew, Tim Hillam, Ben Griffiths, Tristan Everett, Thomas Plater, Jed Noonan, Zane Taylor tries, Plater 5, David Watson 4 goals) defeated Coonamble 2 (Jacob Fernando goal)

Competition table

Cobar 30 (+442), Dunedoo 28 (+180), Gilgandra 24 (+131) , Gulgong 20 (+ 36), Coonabarabran 20 (+ 25), Baradine 13, Trangie 12, Coonamble 9.

Round 17 Saturday August 7

Gulgong V Trangie, Dunedoo V Baradine (Boronia Cup Challenge), Cobar V Binnaway, Coonamble V Gilgandra, Coonabarabran bye.