Temora’s lightweight halves pairing of Jake McGovern and Lachie Cole dominated the scoring in the Dragons’ big 58-22 win over the Wagga Brothers at Nixon Park on Saturday. The home side ran in 10 tries in their big win, with Cole scoring three, on his 20th birthday, while McGovern ran in two tries for a personal tally of 26 with his nine conversions. In all, Temora dominated the game, scoring 10 tries and had set up a match-winning 36-6 scoreline by halftime. To their credit, the last-placed Brothers staged a somewhat “come back” early in the second half, scoring three four-pointers in 14 minutes to get within 44-22 before the Dragons regained their composure, running in a further three tries, two of these to McGovern, for their big win. The Dragons’ big win sees them hold their position on the premiership ladder with only two rounds of the Group Nine competition. They share top billing with the Gundagai Tigers, who trail Temora in the “for and against” 487/230 to 382/195, with the two clubs to meet in the final round at Anzac Park on 22 August. In an interesting round’s result at the weekend, the competition’s “dark horses”, the Junee Diesels, have crept into third place after they defeated the Albury Thunder on the border, replacing the Young Cherrypickers, who have dropped to fourth place after their shock loss to Cootamundra, 12-10, which sees the Bulldogs slip into fifth place at the cost of the Wagga Kangaroos, who went down in another upset, going down 12-10 to the lowly Tumut Blues at Twickenham. In the main game on Saturday the Dragons were always well ahead of the clock after scoring their first points after only four minutes, with the competition’s leading try scorer, fullback Hamish Starr, too quick for the Brothers defence to score from 10 metres out and with McGovern’s first conversion Temora led 6-0. Four minutes later it was second-rower Billy Reardon coming off a McGovern pass to touch down beside the posts and with the extra Temora’s lead went to 12-0. Minutes later it was five-eighth Lachie Cole going in for his first try after a quick passing rush saw him score under the posts, giving McGovern an easy conversion and taking Temora’s lead to 18-0. At the 20-minute mark the Dragons were well ahead of the clock when Cole scored an easy try off quick ball movement against some ordinary Brothers defence. McGovern again added the extras for a scoreline that read 24-0 in the home side’s favour. Front-rower Tyler Madden was next to get his name on the scorers list when he took an inside pass from his halfback to crash over with defenders failing to stop his charge to the line. McGovern made it 5 from 5 with the boot and Temora a growing 30-0 lead. Only four minutes later it was Cole touching down after hooker Bailey Wallace made a long break down midfield from a Brothers kick, with the conversion taking the score to 36-0 with halftime still nine minutes away. Despite the scoreline growing against them, to their credit the Brothers hit back with a try to second-rower Luke Anderson, who followed up a kick into the Dragons’ 20 metres, registering for an easy conversion by Cohen Benton, with the Brothers trailing 36-6. The second half was only minutes old when prop forward Zac Starr finished off some quick ball movement, with the scoreline moving to 42-6 with McGovern’s seventh conversion. Then, as has happened in a number of games this season, the Dragons switched off and in the next 15 minutes the Brothers hit back with three tries. The visitors made the most of a Temora knock-on out from their tryline, with Anderson again on hand to touch down, but the conversion attempt went wide for Temora to lead 42-10. Mistakes were starting to creep into the Dragons’ play and the Brothers made the most of their rare chances, with poor defence allowing second-rower Riley Ivanku to find the line and, with Benton’s conversion, the Brothers’ scoreline was showing some respectability at 42-16. A Brothers chance saw them held up from the dummy half and then shortly after, when Temora were caught offside in front of their posts and with more poor defence, they made Temora pay, with Anderson going over for his third try, which with the conversion saw Temora’s lead cut to 42-22 with 15 minutes to play. With the aid of consecutive penalties, the Dragons lifted for the closing minutes of the game and were rewarded with three tries in four minutes. Firstly, it was winger Jimmy Stewart, who was too quick for the defence to score in the corner, with McGovern missing his first conversion for a lead by Temora 46-22. Two minutes later Temora scored their best try of the match following a great break by McGovern from 40 metres out after quick ball movement, then came from a kick in midfield. McGovern landed the conversion with the scores climbing to 52-22 in favour of the home team. Temora’s final points came with only minutes remaining, with Zac Starr pinching the ball in a tackle deep in the Brothers’ half and found McGovern backing up for his second try, which he converted for a final scoreline giving Temora a big win at 58-22. While both Jake McGovern and Lachie Cole were the standout players for the Dragons against the Brothers and were involved for the 80 minutes, a number of other players had their moments, with hooker Bailey Wallace, Tyler Madden, Billy Reardon and Sam Burley standing out in the forwards. The backs were best served by Will McDermott, Brandon Nima and Hamish Starr. Points in the game came from: Temora 58 – Tries: L. Cole 3, J. McGovern 2, H. Starr, Z. Starr, B. Reardon, T. Madden, J. Stewart. Goals: J. McGovern 9. Brothers 22 – Tries: L. Anderson 3, R. Ivanku. Penalties: Temora 7, Brothers 5. In the earlier games at Nixon Park on Saturday, the Dragons and Brothers shared the honours. Second placed Temora consolidated their position with a comfortable 30-10 win over the Wagga club in a tough and entertaining game. The Dragons’ League Tag team continued their dominance over the defending premiers, Brothers, with an 18-12 win, while the ladies tackle team gave one of their best displays for the season despite going down 38-0 to the Brothers, who remain undefeated. Another team to show vast improvement was the Dragons Weissel Cup team, who also put in one of their best displays before going down 48-26 in a high-scoring game against the second placed Brothers outfit. Earlier Results Reserve Grade: Temora 30. Tries: R. Cain 2, N. Bett, K. Cameron-Pani, C. Hawksworth. Goals: J. McKinnon 5. Brothers 10. Tries: J. Russell, H. Hinch. Goal: J. Russell. Ladies Tackle: Brothers 38. Tries: A. Jordan 2, K. Quinn 2, C. Lachlan, M. Barrett, B. Gaynor, E. Weeks, J. Brennan. Goal: K. Hiscock. Temora 0. Weissel Cup: Brothers 48. Tries: L. Foster 3, X. Williams-Byers 2, J. Russell 2, A. Yongai, K. Dowling. Goals: J. Russell 6. Temora 26. Tries: C. Gallagher, B. Purcell, H. Yates, M. Manning, J. Durham. Goals: J. Durham 3. League Tag: Temora 18. Tries: A. Murphy, S. Bowley, Molly McCrone, R. Wilson. Goal: E. Perrot. Brothers 12. Tries: S. Carter, M. Freeman. Goals: J. Pinney 2. Premiership Tables First Grade Temora – 22 Gundagai – 22 Junee – 18 Young – 17 Cootamundra – 14 Kangaroos – 12 South City – 12 Albury – 10 Tumut – 8 Wagga Brothers – 5 Reserve Grade Albury – 28 Temora – 22 South City – 21 Kangaroos – 19 Gundagai – 12 Young – 10 Junee – 8 Brothers – 8 Tumut – 6 Cootamundra – 6 League Tag Brothers – 24 Temora – 24 Tumut – 22 Cootamundra – 21 Albury – 16 Junee – 15 Young – 8 Kangaroos – 6 Gundagai – 4 South City – 0 Weissel Cup South City – 24 Brothers – 24 Young – 21 Kangaroos – 19 Gundagai – 14 Tumut – 14 Albury – 10 Cootamundra – 5 Temora – 4 Junee – 3 Women’s Tackle Brothers – 28 Junee – 22 South City – 22 Young – 16 Temora – 13 Tumut – 13 This Week – Round 15 Young v Gundagai Kangaroos v Cootamundra Temora v Albury Brothers v South City Junee v Tumut Teams for the Temora Dragons v Albury Thunder – Sat 15 August. Minor Grade Teams Reserve Grade: Charles Slinger, Brock Thorpe, Nick Bett, Khaileb Cameron-Pani, Tom Moloney, Cody Lynch, James McKinnon, Jeff Neel, Yoan Veve, Riley Cain, Ryan Cain, Charlie Bent, Grant Hughes, Josh Gillard, Adam New, Sam Carlin, Chase Sciascia, Tyrone Bushell, Riley Neville. Weissel Cup: Bailey Purcell, Ethan Bett, Matt Knox, Zach Botha, Colby Thorpe, Clayton Gallagher, Jacob Durham, Bryce Smetana, Alex Levett, Josh Haisell, Jake Rayner, Harrison Yates, Cooper Gersbach, Connor Hawksworth, Jimmie Harper, Matt Manning. League Tag: Molly McCrone, Maisy McCrone, Alicia Haisell, Milly Murphy, Bella McDermott, Emily Perrot, Rommy Wilesmith, Cate Granleese, Nicola Henman, Madelene Morton, Matilda Reardon, Tilly Englert, Lilli Block, Courtney McCrone, McKenna Ward, Kiara Balon, Lizzie Cooper.
