The Bellingen Dorrigo Magpies played their first home games of the season on Sunday against one of the competition heavy weights, the Coffs Harbour Comets.
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The Comets won the first grade encounter fairly comfortably but all the other games were closely fought affairs.
In first grade a handling error early on led to a Comets try but the Magpies then settled down and Troy Robinson went over and Luke Beaumont converted for the Magpies to take the lead 6-4.
Unfortunately for the rest of the half the Comets were on top and the teams went to oranges leading 28-6.
Once again an early error led to a Comets try. However, Brenton Thomas playing his first game for a while crashed over to take the Magpies to 32-10. Luke Beaumont converted to take the Magpies to 32-12.
Once again it was mostly one-way traffic for the rest of the game except for an Arthur Murphy try midway through the half. The final score being a disappointing 54-16 to the Comets.
Coach Shane Morrow had a full Reserve Grade squad turn up for the clash with the Comets and they showed that with a little more teamwork they could be competitive. Tries to Travis Richardson and Zac Shephard had the Magpies trailing 16-8 at half time. Despite several chances they could not score in the second half eventually going down 26-8.
After forfeiting last week the Under 18’s through the hard work of their coach Michael Meadows were able to take the field with thirteen players. It was obvious that a little teamwork was lacking but they were very competitive and can be extremely proud of their efforts. A knock on from the Comets led to a Zane Craggs try. The Aaron Rigney conversion saw the Magpies take the lead 6-4. Coffs then went to a 26-6 lead before Byron Auld scored for the Magpies. (26-10)
Despite having no reserves the second had was a dour struggle with each team scoring a try each. Zane Craggs crashed over early on, Aaron Rigney converted and the magpies trailed 32-16. The Comets try came late in the half for the Magpies to lose 38-16.
The Women’s League Tag game was once again an entertaining contest but the Magpies without their ball distributor were somewhat disjointed. Abbey Osland and Sarah Beaumont scored for the Magpies. Sarah obviously coached by her brother converted both tries however the Magpies lost 14-10.
Next week the Magpies travel to Woolgoolga to take on the Sea Horses in three grades.
