Dubbo CYMS moves four points clear at the top of the ladder after 24-point win over the Nyngan Tiger
Nick Guthrie - Daily Liberal
The general feeling at Caltex Park on Saturday night was the score wasn’t a true representation of the match but there was no denying CYMS was the better team in a 40-16 win over the Nyngan Tigers.
Much was expected of the match with CYMS the unbeaten Group 11 leaders while the Tigers came to Dubbo in a confident mood after four straight wins.
Nyngan started the better and had most of the ball in the first half but CYMS’ clinical nature was the difference.
With veteran hooker Luke Jenkins in the thick of everything, the Fishies’ first four tries came from either Nyngan errors or penalties and by that stage it was 26-12 with 20 minutes remaining and that was too big a lead for the Tigers to come back from.
“I don’t think the scoreline reflects the game. It was a good, hard game,” CYMS coach Tim Ryan said.
“We scored a few tries late but it was good. You’ve got to do that (take your chances) and it was a good win.”
There was a number of bone-crunching tackles in the match while three players spent time in the sin bin.
After a physical start, a scuffle broke out on seven minutes which resulted in CYMS’ Lincoln Kavanagh and Benny Cokanasgia of Nyngan being sent for 10 minutes by Billy Greatbatch, Group 10’s leading referee taking control of Group 11 first grade match for the first time.
Nyngan was the first to strike off the back of the penalty following the altercation, captain-coach Stewart Mills strolling across from close range.
The former Cronulla Shark finished with a double in the loss and while disappointed by the final margin he was adamant his side will learn from it.
“I thought we were really in it for the majority of the game but thought they (CYMS) got a couple of lucky calls out there and ran away with it,” he said.
“But there was a lot of positives but some negatives too. The boys were on a high after wins over Forbes and Parkes so this brings us down a bit but we’ll focus on what we need to work on for the rest of the year.”
After Mills’ opener, CYMS hit back 16 minutes in through second rower Jordan Reynolds from close range while a Wade Kavanagh four-pointer and an Alex Bonham penalty goal set up a 12-6 lead at half time.
Despite producing so much promising and bruising play in the first 40, Nyngan was poor early in the second stanza and a number of knock-ons led to Ben Marlin charging over and another Bonham penalty made it 20-6.
Nyngan hit back in style through Mills after regathering a short kick off but a rampaging Maika Serelevu put CYMS up and while Crete Waaka got across following Wade Kavanagh’s sin binning that was as close as the Tigers got.
Tries to Jyie Chapman, who strained his hamstring in the act of scoring, and a deserving Jarryn Powyer iced a result which puts CYMS four points clear at the top of the ladder.
“That doesn’t mean anything to us. We’re not even halfway through the season yet,” Ryan said.
“There’s a long way to go. This was just another game and next week is another game, it’s a big one against Forbes.”
The Fishies’ clash with the Magpies highlights the action next week while Nyngan, still equal on eight points with both Forbes and Parkes, will play host to Westside.
“I think we’re doing very well,” a positive Mills said of his side.
“We’re still bonding as a team and we’re coming together well so we’ll forget about today, take a few things from it and move on to next week.”
DUBBO CYMS 40 (Jordan Reynolds, Wade Kavanagh, Ben Marlin, Maika Serulevu, Jyie Chapman, Jarryn Powyer tries; Alex Bonham 8 goals) defeated NYNGAN TIGERS 16 (Stewart Mills 2, Crete Waak tries; Sam Simmonds 2 goals)