J&K Butchers and PhatAthletes through to touch finals

J&K Butchers and Phat Athletes have earned a week off after wins in their major semi final games in the Open Touch competition last Thursday at Ward Oval.

J&K Butchers narrowly accounted for DJW Dingoes 6-5 in their A Grade semi final.

Tries by Reynold Mugugia (2), Tadgh McMullen and Kai Taylor, along with a two point try scored by Sophie Clark (female tries are worth double points), helped J&K Butchers to their win.

DJW Dingoes’ points were scored by Damon Bruce, Lochlan Ford, Zane Taylor and Bridgette Negfeldt.

Phat Athletes finished as the B Grade major semi final winners after they beat Rusty Snails 11-5.

Despite the six points difference in the final scoreline, the match up on the field was pretty even.

The difference however came from the majority of Phat Athletes’ tries that were scored by their female players, which earned them double points.

Georgia Boland touched down for six points (3 tries) and Zoë Egan scored once.

Kai Greenwood also ran in three tries to help Phat Athletes to the win.

In reply, Ben Dormer (2), Lisa Dormer and Nathan Prince scored for Rusty Snails.

In the other A Grade game last week, the minor semi final, Red Hot Chilli Steppers were eliminated from the competition after they lost to DC & C Barracudas, 12-4.

Jayden Harvey led the scoring for the Barracudas with three tries, Brianna Watson scored twice and Brennah Aumua, Ash Davies, Tim Hillam and Marty Turton crossed for a try each.

For Red Hot Chilli Steppers, Neve Carter, Jack Brown and Sione Fakahua scored a try each.

Gold Bars played their last game of the season after they were eliminated from the B Grade competition when they lost their minor semi game, 24-0, to Haymans Snowflakes.

Final games decide ladder positions

The final round of the ordinary season of the Junior Touch competition was played on Thursday afternoon at Ward Oval with the outcomes of a game in each age group deciding the semi final positions.

A big win for the Raiders in the 13-16 years age division helped them to finish at the top of the table on 11 points.

They just pipped the Mad Dogs, also on 11 points, with Raiders finishing with a better ‘for and against’ record.

The Raiders beat the Yellow Bellies by a big 13-2 margin which helped to boost their ‘for and against’ tally.

Raiders were well-served by their try scorers Sosie Barton and Rhylee Jeffery, who added four points each to the tally with their two tries. (Female tries are worth double points.)

Axel Fairfull also scored a double for the Raiders with Drew Barton, Damon Bruce and Harry Cousins crossing for the extras.

In reply, Toby Greenwood touched down for both of Yellow Bellies’ tries.

In the other 13-16 years game, Gladiators went on a rampage scoring a huge 22 points to Mad Dogs two points.

Jaxon Burke (six tries), Maddie Bruce (4), Rhylee Patterson (2), Jamal Eves (2) and Skyla Fairfull scored for Gladiators.

Mad Dogs’ two points came from tries by Ryder Anderson and Ashton Dietrich.

In the 9-12 years age division, a victory last week for SpongeBobs cemented their second place finish in the competition.

While Powerade finished on top of the ladder with 14 points, SpongeBobs’ win last week gave them a tally of eight points and second spot over Oranges, who finished third with seven points.

SpongeBobs have been the big improvers this season and they displayed plenty of confidence last week in their 12-1 win over Redbacks.

Alfie Toomey led the scoring for his SpongeBobs side with four touchdowns, with Indie Burke, Addison Cull, Audrey Josephson, Charlie Nicholson and Billy Watt each adding a try to their final total. In reply, Mark McBride was Redbacks’ lone try scorer.

In tomorrow’s semi finals, Raiders will take on the Yellow Bellies and Mad Dogs will meet Gladiators in the 13-16 years age division.

In the 9-12 years age group, Powerade will take on Redbacks and SpongeBobs will play Oranges.

The winners from each of the games will contest the finals next week. Colour photos, www.cobarweekly.com.au

Sosie Barton, with six tries worth 12 points, and Jaxon Burke, also with six tries, did most of the heavy lifting when it came to scoring Haymans Snowflakes’ points.

Rowdy Barton, Jayme Francisco, Graeme Francisco, Jackson Smith and Tadgh Waugh also crossed for a try each to see Haymans Snowflakes through to the big win.

Haymans Snowflakes will play Rusty Snails tomorrow night with the winner to play Phat Athletes in next week’s B Grade final.

In tomorrow night’s A Grade game, DJW Dingoes will attempt to beat last season’s champions, DC & C Barracudas, so that they might have another crack at J&K Butchers in next week’s final.

Desperate grab for points at Yabbies

With the Cobar Yabbies Senior Men’s Swimming Club’s 2022/2023 season soon to finish, swimmers are desperately trying to grab the last of the championship points on offer.

Chris Powell and Paul Swainston were the men to beat last week with Powell earning a fair share of points for the night with a first place in the 100 metres freestyle handicapped swim and also a second place in the 50m event.

Swainston was also pretty hungry for points and collected plenty after he recorded a first place finish in the 30m swim and a 3rd in the 50m.

Swainston won the 30m swim with a spot on time ahead of Scott Toomey and Kevin ‘Rusty’ Mitchell who tied for second place after both finished within 0.03 seconds of their nominated times.

Matt Harland earned first place in the 50m swim with the best time of 0.16 seconds off his nominated time.

Powell was second on 0.22 and Swainston was third with 0.25.

Powell won the 100m with a time of 0.22 seconds off his nominated time with Dave Mexted the runner-up on 0.31 and Murray Harland was further back in third place with 0.65 seconds off his nominated time.

Powell and Swainston teamed up to win the Brace Relay novelty event.

They finished within 0.81 seconds of their nominated time to narrowly claim the win over the father and son Manly supporters team, Bill Fugar and Todd Fugar, on 0.84.

Back in third place were Peter Christen and Matt Harland on 1.39.