Beating an opposition that doesn’t make mistakes is nearly impossible as the Cootamundra Bulldogs under 15s found out in their 32-12 grand final loss to the Young Cherrypickers.
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Young completed their sets, defended well and didn’t give away penalties and the result was a 20 point win on grand final day.
The opening ten minutes were even with both teams playing competitively.
Young started to gain an edge and scored two tries, taking a 12-0 lead.
The Bulldogs were resilient and fought back with Alex Wiggins crossing the line for a four-pointer leaving the score at 12-4 at halftime.
Young started the second half well and caught the Bulldogs napping pilling on more points.
Again, the Bulldogs bounced back with tries to Tom Miller and Zac Rumble.
With ten minutes to go the score sat at 20-12 in favour of Young.
Consistent, mistake-free play from the Cherrypickers saw them grab two more tries in the last ten minutes to take the final score out to 32-12.
Coach Aaron Byrne was disappointed with the result but proud of his team’s performance.
“It was a massive effort,” he said.
“We lacked a bit of size missing Tristan Field, Dylan Stuart and Ty Newman.”
The three forwards were unavailable which gave Young some easy metres up front.
Even without some of their strike players the Bulldogs gave it their all.
“Tom Miller was just about best on ground which is a tough ask for the losing side,” Byrne said.
The Bulldogs’ efforts are even more impressive considering Young has won the competition for the last six years.
“We’re getting closer and closer,” Byrne said.
The Bulldogs should also be commended on the fact that they made it to the decider in the combined competition which is much more competitive than the Northern pool competition they played in last year.
The junior rugby league season has now come to an end and while the club just missed out on a premiership there’s a lot of success to reflect on.
“They achieved a lot this season, it was a very successful year,” Byrne said.
“There’s a lot there for us to build on.”
The majority of the team will now progress up to the senior club to play in the Sullivan Cup.
This bodes extremely well for the senior Bulldogs whose current under 16s team are playing in the finals with a good chance of making the grand final.
Many of those players will progress up to play under 18s as the current under 15s move into the senior club. 2017 has the potential to be an extremely successful year for Cootamundra, especially in the younger age groups.
