A try to Old Bar second rower Will Clarke three minutes from fulltime enabled the Pirates to beat Wingham 14-8 in the deferred Group Three Rugby League game played in front of a surprisingly good crowd at Old Bar on Tuesday night (August 2).
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The win keeps Old Bar's hopes of finishing in the top two alive and at least puts the Pirates in a strong position for third. However, Wingham's semi-final chances now appear to be over.
Old Bar led 8-6 at halftime although the Tigers scored first through five-eighth Nash Atkins and conversion to Fletcher Lewis. Old Bar responded immediately when halfback Jordan Worboys threw a dummy and sliced through a gap for Joel Minihan to convert. Just before halfback Minihan landed a penalty goal to give the Pirates the two point cushion.
Wingham dominated the second half territorially but only added two points to their tally via a Lewis penalty goal. He earlier missed an attempt to lock up the scores.
Just when a draw looked inevitable the Pirates worked play deep into Wingham's half. Hooker Mick Henry found some space and hurled the ball out wide. Clarke greedily accepted the pass and plunged over.
Conditions were slippery while the lighting wasn't great, so the match was a slog between the opposing packs. This suited Clarke, the best on ground and Wingham counterpart Blake Fraser, who was the pick for the Tigers.
Worboys failed to see out the match after injuring his shoulder, potentially adding to Old Bar's injury woes following the loss of prop Jared Wooster and winger Joe Hinton the previous match.
Landon Blissett was officially in charge of the game with the assistance of Group Three Referees boss Tony Hardy, who was also on the field under a NRL Development program to assist rookie referees. This seemed to cause some confusion among players from both sides.
Wingham captain Aaron Groom spoke to the referee collective at length at halftime and it is unlikely that they were discussing the favourable weather.
Wingham had more joy in league tag, winning 14-6 and reserve grade, where they prevailed 18-14.
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