THE setbacks of losing three front row forwards through injury has compelled Myall Coast rugby union coach Hugh Gordon to forfeit the Lower Mid North Coast clash with the front-running Forster-Tuncurry at Tuncurry on Saturday.
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Premiers in 2012, now unable to field a team with the necessary number of scrummagers and threatened with losing a semi-final berth next month, a bitterly disappointed coach made the decision at training on Wednesday night.
“We simply ran out of arms and legs,” a frustrated Mud Crabs coach, “Flash” Gordon, said last night. “The players are grievously upset. We all wanted to give it a shot, but we didn’t have an option. We couldn’t endanger players in the scrums. Sanity prevailed.”
Three rounds remain before next month’s semi-finals. Myall are presently in fourth position with 19 points, one point ahead of the Gloucester Cockies (18) and trailing the Forster Dolphins 59 points, Wallamba Bulls (46 points) and Manning River Ratz (32).
How Myall find the resources to complete the minor premiership remains to be seen. Tomorrow week, they are scheduled to meet Gloucester in Gloucester followed by a tough final game against the Manning River Ratz at home at Myall Park, Tea Gardens, on August 6.
Myall’s misfortunes have opened the door for last year’s grand finalists, Gloucester Cockies, to finish strongly and leap into the top four and qualify for the minor semi-final against the Ratz.
The Cockies meet the second placed Wallamba Bulls at Nabiac tomorrow, followed by games against Myall Coast in Gloucester and then an away game against the Old Bar Clams at Old Bar.
The Forster Dolphins’ 49-7 defeat of the Cockies last Saturday was all the more meritorious considering they were without 11 team members who have played first grade rugby this season, mainly through injury.
Three major casualties still out of action are outstanding flanker Brad Murray, who requires a hernia operation, versatile back Jonathon Paff (broken arm) and strong-running prop Colin Harris, still limping from a workplace injury when his foot was deeply bruised by a trolley.
The Dolphins’ veteran goal-kicking prop, Lee Crozier, will celebrate his 150th first grade game for the club tomorrow, his career already marked by the splendid achievement of reaching 1,000 points, the first player to do so in Lower M.N.C. rugby.
Tomorrow’s 13th round is: Wallamba v Gloucester at Nabiac; Old Bar v Manning River at Trad Field, Old Bar; Myall Coast forfeited to Forster-Tuncurry.
The competition table is: Forster-Tuncurry 59, Wallamba 46, Manning River 32, Myall Coast 19, Gloucester 18, Old Bar 0.
