The Magpies march up the competition ladder in First Grade was brought to an abrupt end at the hands of the Sawtell Panthers at Rex Hardaker Oval on Thursday night in the catch-up game.
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Reserve grade suffered another defeat and the League Tag ladies were shown how much they have to improve by the table leading Sawtell ladies.
A large group of supporters turned out to see if Robbo and his men could continue their good run of form. However, it was not to be as early handling errors and defensive lapses saw the Panthers go to an 18-0 lead. Halfway through the first half things came together for the Magpies as Arthur Murphy slid through a gap to score.
The Panthers were quick to reply before Cameron Blair put Luke Suter through a gap to leave the half time score at 24-8 to the Panthers.
Things looked promising early in the second half when Daniel Slater crossed for a try to have the Magpies trailing 24-12. Once again the Panthers were able to score two quick converted tries.
Luke Beaumont was next to cross for the Magpies and was able to convert his only goal for the night to have the Magpies back at 36-22 but that was the end of the comeback with the Panthers winning 46-22.
The Reserve grade players continue to turn up in numbers but try as they might they just cannot convert their opportunities given to them.
Luke Suter and Blake O’Connor crossed for tries for the Magpies with the final score being 40-8 to the Panthers.
Unfortunately, due to injuries and the lack of numbers the U18s have had to redraw from the competition but they have shown a lot of Magpie spirit to even get to this stage of the competition. They were even keen to play with less numbers to keep going. The club wishes those players joining other clubs all the best.
The ladies played the night before in much colder conditions and ran up against a red-hot team in the shape of the Panthers.
Having played the game for a number of years in the Coffs Harbour Oz Tag competition the Panther players had a much better grasp on how the game is played. Hannah Watt crossed for the sole Magpie try, Sarah Beaumont converted but the Panthers ran out 46-6 winners.
No doubt Sarah will be giving her brother Luke some goal kicking pointers this week.
This week the Magpies play Coffs Harbour away on Sunday.
Seems that I might have to go on another holiday as the South Arm Tomcat has been telling everyone that I am a bad luck charm. We will have to wait and see about that.
