OLD Bar Pirates moved into outright second place on the Group Three Rugby League competition ladder with a tough 24-18 win over Forster-Tuncurry in the match at Tuncurry.
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The Pirates have 16 points, one clear of the Hawks. Unbeaten Port City is the outright leader on 19 and should claim the minor premiership and so earn the right to host the Sunday, September 24 major semi-final.
Old Bar meets Port Sharks this Saturday at Old Bar and then Port City in a deferred game on Tuesday, August 23 before finishing the competition-proper against Taree City at Old Bar on Saturday, August 27.
There was plenty to like about Old Bar's effort.
The Pirates went into the clash minus co-captain-coach Jordan Worboys, prop Jared Wooster and second rower James Hanford who were all injured or unavailable. They were up against a full strength Forster-Tuncurry side that had been unbeaten since the corresponding first round game at Old Bar on June 4.
"With a depleted side I'm very happy to come away with the two points,'' co-coach Mick Henry said at fulltime.
"It was one of those games where we had to grind out a win. It didn't come easy, so we had to play for the 80 minutes.
"Semi-finals will be like that, so it's good to have a game like this coming into the semis.''
Henry said finishing second is the obvious goal.
"We have Port Sharks at home next Saturday and that's going to be the big one. If we get the two points from that one we head into the Breakers and Taree,'' he said.
Henry said Hanford should be back for the Sharks but the rest will be sidelined for at least one more week and possibly won't return until the playoffs.
"But the squad we have now is starting to gel. Knowing we can get wins like this with blokes to come into the side makes me pretty happy.''
Henry praised the performance of hard working backrower Jon Tickle.
"He was really good for us in the middle. And our young fullback, Taye Cochrane, he's a class above and he's just an out and out footballer,'' Henry said.
"Kurt Lewis is a match winner. See that try he set up - the crowd love to hate him but he can play football when he wants.''
Cochrane, who is still eligible for under 18s, was outstanding. Only slightly built, he copped some punishment in what was a bruising encounter, but he was safe under pressure and went looking for work.
Prop/second rower Will Clarke was the pick of a hard working Old Bar pack, where Tickle produced his best game of the winter. As Henry mentioned, Lewis was enigmatic and erratic, but still produced the play of the game when he kicked ahead, regathered and sent a magical pass to Lleyton Henry, who scored a crucial converted try that gave Old Bar a 20-12 cushion at the mid point of the second half.
Young centre Jaxon Longa continues to be an effective for the Pirates and improves with every outing.
The Hawks were slightly off their game. Forster led 6-4 at halftime, fell behind 8-6 when Cochrane scored a converted try for Old Bar, but hit back when halfback Adrian Davis beat tackles close to the line for Aaron Hill to convert to give them a 12-10 advantage. Lewis scored for Old Bar and then laid on the try for Henry to have the Pirates up by eight.
However Hill grabbed a rebound from a Lewis kick and sprinted 80 metres go score. Riley Glover landed the goal to make it 20-18 with a quarter of an hour remaining. The Pirates moved to a more comfortable space with a try to back rower Tom Dooker with four minutes remaining. Dooker scored the first and last tries of the game.
Kurt Lewis is a match winner. See that try he set up - the crowd love to hate him but he can play football when he wants
- Old Bar co-coach Mick Henry on the enigmatic Kurt Lewis
Forster captain-coach Nathan Campbell sustained a head wound in the first half that sidelined him while it was bandaged. He finished the match wearing head gear and was still the best for the Hawks.
He was making arrangements to go to hospital for stitches when he spoke to the Times.
"I'll have a big headache tonight,'' he said,
"I really don't know what to say. We'll go back to training now and prepare for next week. It was a gritty game and Old Bar's pretty competitive.
"But we definitely have a few kinks to iron out. I suppose losing me for a bit there didn't help, but we'll be right.''
The Hawks host Wingham next Saturday in their last home game of the year before playing Wauchope on Sunday, August 28.