Sport
20 June, 2025
First grade Tigers unlucky against Bathurst Panthers
Nyngan played host to the Bathurst Panthers in all grades on Sunday at Larkin Oval, winning two of the four matches.
By Brendan Smith
First grade was unlucky to go down 20-18 after leading 8-4 at half-time. Reserve grade (38-10) and league tag (20-16) had good wins while under 18s went down 34-6.
First grade unlucky in tight loss to Panthers
First grade took to the field in desperate need of a home game win, against the last placed Panthers.
Nyngan opened the scoring on the 15-minute mark after having a heap of possession, without ever looking like scoring, before a bit of Will Black magic when he followed through his own kick to dive on the loose ball to score.
Bathurst hit back with a try of their own, before Connor Elwood finished off a try out wide on the stroke of half-time, with Nyngan holding a slender lead 8-4.
Bathurst levelled the score up 8-all, shortly after the resumption.
Nyngan controlled the ball reasonably well for a period, which finally led to a well-deserved try to Loma Atuau, and with the successful conversion Nyngan led 14-8.
Unfortunately Nyngan let Bathurst straight back in the game, by conceding a try following some ill-discipline on Nyngan’s part led to Bathurst having good field possession, to again level the score up 14-all.
Bathurst started looking better from this point, and unfortunately Nyngan went the other way, too much sideways movement and slow play the balls made it very difficult for Nyngan to maintain any attack or put any pressure on the Bathurst defence.
With 10 minutes remaining the Bathurst front rower scored a very soft try beside the posts, to see them take the lead for the first time in the game 20-14.
Both teams had a few chances in the last 10 minutes before Ash Davies crossed out wide for the Tigers on full-time, with Matty Sheather needing a sideline conversion to end the game in a draw, which probably would have been a fitting result. Unfortunately the kick was waved away and Bathurst clung on to win 20-18.
It was a tough result for the Tigers - it just wasn’t our day. The effort is there but we’re just not quite getting the results at the moment.
Best for Nyngan was probably Loma, who scored a good try and worked hard in attack and defence. Will Black and Jak Jeffrey tried hard in the halves to inject a bit of spark into the Tigers throughout, while both our wingers Ash Davies and Connor Elwood had plenty of hit-ups between them and made plenty of ground each time. Bathurst Panthers 20 defeated Nyngan 18 (tries: all one each to Will Black, Connor Elwood, Loma Atuau, Ashley Davies. Goals: Keenan Elwood, one).
Reserve grade secure strong win
The fourth placed reserve grade took on the lowly-placed Panthers who went into the game without a win this season.
Nyngan got off to the perfect start with Kyle Hall crossing untouched out wide, followed shortly by the leading try scoring front rower in Group XI history, Simon Bartley, crashing over.
Troy Evans also crossed for a try following another of his typical determined runs.
Braith Kelly with his first run scored a clever try from 20 metres out, before Clifton Cubby gapped the defence just before half time to see Nyngan hold a comfortable lead 26-0 at half-time.
Clifton Cubby was straight on the job after the break scoring besides the posts, and at this stage it looked like Nyngan would put the sweepers completely through Bathurst, but to their credit the Panthers rallied up and, combined with a number of errors from Nyngan, got themselves a couple of tries midway through the second half to get the score back to 32-10, before Braith Kelly once again split the Bathurst line to score in the dying minutes.
Nyngan ran out deserved winners 38-10.
There were plenty of good players for Nyngan, Bill Quarmby was my pick - got through a mountain of work in both attack and defence throughout.
Evo played his usual high-quality game and was well supported in the forwards by Hewitt Haycock and Will Boag.
Tyler Coughlan gave good service from dummy half as did Braith Kelly, albeit with very limit opportunities.
Clifton Cubby was the stand out in the backs, with two great tries and plenty of chat from the back. Hedgo also went well as expected, and Matty Sheather controlled the ball well to get his team around the paddock.
Nyngan 38 (Tries: Clifton Cubby 2, Braith Kelly 2, Kyle Hall 1, Simon Bartley 1, Troy Evans 1. Goals: Matty Sheather 5/7) defeated Bathurst Panthers 10.
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