ON Sunday, March 22 the Bombala and District Rugby League team took the field for the first time in seven years under this banner, and the Ladies League Tag team for the very first time playing for their own home town.
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The club would like to thank their major sponsor, the Bombala RSL Club for showing the teams their support and backing the club substantially to help rebuild and show Group 16 the talent our area has to offer.
In a late draw change it was decided Bombala’s first game of the season would be played against Moruya at Batemans Bay due to field unavailability.
Ladies League Tag
The day started out in an extremely positive manner with the Ladies League Tag team taking the field dressed to impress in their new look Bombala High Heelers jerseys with equally impressive skills on show.
The Bombala ladies formed the backbone of the premiership winning team in the league tag competition last year under a different club and have worked hard in the off season to recruit further local talent. Their efforts paid off on Sunday when for the first time they were able to run out on the paddock representing their beloved home town.
Right from the kick-off the Bombala Ladies had the Moruya Sharkettes on the backfoot. Strong runs up the middle of the field from Lucy Sellers in her first ever League Tag game, the ever reliable Emma Sullivan and explosive Jane Peadon put the High Heelers in good field position early.
It was not long before the director general in Maree Coates sliced through the defence to score the opening points. Maree went on the convert her try making it 6-0 only three minutes in.
Only moments later the High Heelers found themselves in good field position again with a set play carried out on the left hand side of the field headed by Monique Ingram. An eventual precision cut out ball from Monique to Katie Piesley who offloaded with quick hands to Kayla Jamieson saw the girls in again for more points. An impressive conversion by Maree Coates from the sideline not only gave the girls a further confidence boost but certainly turned a few heads on the sideline too.
16 minutes into the game it was off a beautifully timed ball from Emma Sullivan to Tash Stewart running the hole at lightening pace that saw Tash bag a four pointer right under the black dot.
In the 20th minute Monique Ingram again calling for a set play out on the left hand side of the field, saw the defence open up and took them on herself to shimmy through to the line, also scoring close to the posts.
A couple of back to back penalties against the girls then saw for the first time in the match some serious defensive plays and the precision and tenacity of Jane Peadon was second to none, often making 3-4 tags in a row.
Katrina Brownlie was extremely solid in defence, putting her body on the line for some try saving tags.
Kayla Jamieson never faulted in her role in the full back position, her positive talk in defence and reliable tags did not go unnoticed.
The girls showed great skill and composure under the high ball, Kayla along with Sam Ingram and Abbey Ingram, was forced to take some difficult kicks but did so with ease. The girls went in with a 24-0 lead at half time.
The second half saw strong runs out wide by Dana Brownlie, Janine Jamieson and Katie Peisley. It was only one minute into the second half that a well timed offload by Monique Ingram to Kaylee Keavey saw her run hard to break the line and make early first points for the High Heeler in the second half.
Only seven minutes later it was again Maree Coates busting open the defence up the middle to off load to a well deserving try scorer in Katrina Brownlie, this blew the score out to a further 32-0.
A barn storming break by Lucy Sellers moments later saw her come devilishly close to scoring her own try, running close to 60m, her ability to side step the defenders had the opposition confused and constantly on the back foot.
In the 35th minute Monique Ingram again broke the line out on the left side of the field, dummying out to the wing to eventually link back up with a well-executed ball on the inside to a steaming Tash Stewart who, once was in space was untouchable, Tash went in again for her second try of the day.
Only four minutes later Jane Peadon showed why she is just as brutal in attack as defence, a well-timed run at lightning pace left the defenders out on their feet allowing her to score again under the black dot.
The final score blew out to a convincing win at 46-0 in what was a cracker of a first game effort by the local girls.
Players player nominated by the players went to Lucy Sellers for an impressive introduction to the game with a classy, strong running game. Points from the coach; 3 went to Maree Ingram for directing her troops like a true general, 2 points to Lucy Sellers as mentioned above and 1 point to Jane Peadon for her firing defensive skills.
First Grade
The newly formed Bombala First Grade team always had a tough hand at task with a full strength Moruya Sharks outfit beaming off years-worth of experience playing together.
It is unfortunate with Group 16 having moved up the season early that the Bombala boys were forced to take the field again with a considerable number of key players unavailable to play.
However the boys took the field with pride showing our passion for the game is second to none.
Senior players in Joe Bobbin and Paul Perkins took on the leadership roles well, attempting to direct all players across the park.
Bobbin made some great tackle busting runs to gain much needed meters and had great cover defence. Perkins was extremely solid in the hooker position, having a hand in most plays and tirelessly defending up the centre all day with the forwards.
The efforts up front from Rhys Crouch and Andrew Anderson were certainly impressive and showed that with time to further develop, these younger and less experienced lads will go far.
Daniel Douch showed undeniable heart and aggression out wide making some great runs and gaining good meters for the boys not to mention some try saving tackles.
Jackson Standen was a stand-out player for the Heelers often showing his versatility and performing the role of several different positions on the day.
Joel Cherry debuted in his first game of Rugby League on the day and showed impressive guts and determination often making great one-on-one tackles.
Luke Jamieson, Charlie Lomas and Andrew Platts, although young and new to first grade all made valiant tackling efforts whilst Blake York and Leigh Radford brought much needed aggression to the Blue Heelers outfit.
Keiren Wilson, Korie Elton and Paul Gimbert helped to make up the forward pack, working hard up the middle in defence.
The injection of Digby Walcott in at half back made it clear that with further time for these boys to play and train together they will be a force to reckon with.
Unfortunately the Blue Heelers day ended with a convincing defeat. However the boys have come away with a strong attitude towards training, continuing to develop their younger and newer players and they look forward to welcoming back some experienced players to help guide the boys around the park.
Bombala’s game next week is against Eden at Eden set at this stage for Sunday, March 29, League Tag set for 1.30pm kick off and First Grade at 2.30pm kick off.
Please get behind your local team and show your support by coming to cheer on the players from the side line.
Again the Bombala District Rugby League Football Club would like to thank all their sponsors; Bombala RSL Club, Peter Caldwell Building Supplies, Ron Milliner Earthmoving, RAW Strength Bombala, Dongwha, Bob Stewart, Our Local IGA, Pat Lomas and Imperial Hotel Bombala.
Let’s all get behind our team and our town
Round 2 -
Eden vs Bombala at Eden. Ladies League Tag kick off at 1.30pm, Men First Grade kick off at 2.30pm.