Magpies closing on NRRRL title | Northern Rivers Rugby League | NRL Rugby in Northern Rivers

Quinn Jones | 10th August 2009

Magpies winger Mikey Randall motors down the paddock against the Grafton Rhinos.

THE Lower Clarence Magpies are one step closer to the Northern Rivers Regional Rugby League minor premiership after securing a bruising, tense but scrappy 48-26 point local derby over the Grafton Rhinos at the Maclean Showground yesterday.

A tally of 19 penalties, 15 knock-ons, three forward passes and one sin bin destroyed what was billed as an epic encounter between two local rivals, with both teams guilty of poor execution, lack of composure and horrendous school-boy errors.

The mistake-riddled game was not helped with the referring group of Tom Martin and his touch-judges producing some questionable calls at crucial moments of the match.

But in the end, the only statistic which mattered was the Magpies maintained their NRRRL lead with another two vital competition points.

“It took a soft try for us to get going,” Magpies captain/coach Dallas Waters said.

“The first half was a mistake here and there and that put pressure on us.

“But we always knew we could score points, it was just keeping them to a minimum.”

But keeping the Rhinos to the 'minium' was going to be tough ask for the Magpies, starting the match with a fumble from the opening kick-off.

From the resulting set of six, the Rhinos moved the ball to the far corner, Todd Cameron swung across a cross-field bomb and Dwayne Duke pounced on some hesitant defence to cross out on the opposite flank.

However, the Rhinos afforded the Magpies the same favour - making a mistake from the resulting kick-off - and the tone of the afternoon was cast.

Both sides were coughing up possession and throwing completion rates out the window when Magpies' forward, Luke Faul, made a bust up the centre, sold a dummy and put Waters in the clear for a 20 metre gallop to the line.

The Magpies made it two in a row with a William Lockwood grubber sending Faul into the corner, before a Lockwood-Hughie Stanley combination notched the squad's hat-trick.

But returning Magpies fullback Grant Brown's usually accurate radar was failing to register and when Rhinos' Jeff Skeen crashed over, the scores were locked at 12 points apiece.

The Magpies had one last try in them before the curtain fell on the first half, with Mikey Randall scoring the first of his double in the near corner.

Despite being behind and letting at least five opportunities in the Magpies red zone slip through their fingers, Rhinos captain/coach Xavier Sullivan said he was proud of the squad's first 40 minutes.

“It was a good, gutsy first half,” Sullivan said.

“Second half a few things didn't go our way and we dropped our heads and showed our in-experience.

“Out of the last five weeks that has definitely been our hardest game.”

Sullivan's pride would have ramped up another notch at the start of the second half, with Ron Gordon busting through some soft defence to push the Rhinos to within two points of the Magpies.

The next three tries were tit-for-tat; Lockwood barging over for his first of the day, Rhinos fullback Joel Moss planting the ball under the posts and a strong George Jarrett run to the line.

The game was starting to take a physical toll on its combatants, with Magpies forward Matt Michael sent to hospital with a suspected broken arm and Sullivan twice having to visit the blood bin with a broken nose.

While Sullivan was off the field, Mike Randall scored the try of the day, picking up a knee high pass at full speed to score his second.

But it was the next time the Rhinos threatened to score which would decide the fate of the game, with Rhinos play-maker Ray Sullivan sent to the sin-bin for an off the ball incident with Magpies replacement Daniel Battersby.

“It was a bit of a tough call you know, the bloke said Ray didn't even hit him,” Sullivan said.

“But you can't really go against the ref's ... complain too much and it'll just get worse for us.”

Waters said he also felt the referees whistle had wrongly blown on a number of occasions.

“There were a few calls that didn't go our way,” he said.

“Those calls can really, really affect a team, and in a close situation, it can change a game.”

The Magpies ran in two more tries to Lockwood and Dan Randall, before Mercy returned to the field to setup Gordon for his second - and the games last - scoring opportunity.

Waters admitted the match had been a 'sloppy' effort and knew there would have to be a big turn around with NRRRL second placed Northern United visiting Maclean next week.

“We will probably have to go up three gears against United,” Waters said.

“It will be a big game with the minor premiership on the line.”

Meanwhile, both clubs observed a minutes silence before the start of the game for the tragic death of Rhinos' reserve grade player Damian Howard in a car accident on Friday and Matt Harrison - father of Magpies club players, Simon and Dylan Harrison. Rhinos' players also wore black armbands in remembrance of Howard.

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Sports clubs mourn Damian Howard

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