STEADY rain on Saturday was not enough to dampen the spirits of the Scone Thoroughbreds who recorded three convincing wins over the visiting Denman club.
First grade won 84-0, under-18s had a comfortable 34-10 victory, and the ladies league tag cruised to a 70-0 triumph.
The league tag saw Scone dominate the first half, storming to a 34-0 lead at the break. The onslaught started in the third minute when Zoe Harper backed a Sofie Casson break to go in near the posts.
Another six tries followed in the half, with Casson scoring three, Harper picking up a second, and Maddy Adams crossing.
Charmaine Bloomfield had her kicking boots on, converting five of the six tries.
The second period was more of the same, with tries to Bloomfield, Maddy Adams adding another two, and Casson claiming three more for a six-try haul.
Bloomfield also slotted each try for 11 conversions.
Coach Casson acknowledged the efforts of her girls, particularly in defence.
“We didn’t give Denman any room to move today and most of our tries came from solid teamwork in attack,” she said.
“Denman are a young team and it is great to see so many of them turning up to play and really trying hard.”
The match of the day was clearly the under-18s, with the 16-10 scoreline at half-time reflecting a close tussle.
Denman were first to cross early in the match, however, the welcome return of Lachlan Walmlsey from his Newcastle Knights commitments was demonstrated when he pounced on his own chip kick to level the scores.
Caleb Taylor and Brady Curry picked up four pointers with Walmsley converting two, giving Scone the edge at oranges even after a Denman try with five minutes to go.
The second half turned into more a one-way affair, with Denman failing to add to their score and Scone crossing for three more.
Taylor and Walmsley added to their tallies, as did Ian Carter right at the bell.
Walmsley converted two of the three for the final score line of 34-10.
Coach Darryl Rando was pleased with the efforts of the team.
“That was a real improvement today,” he said.
“We had more direction, particularly in attack, which is was an area that needed to be sharpened up.”
First grade was one way traffic from start to finish, however, the efforts of the Denman team under difficult circumstances was acknowledged and appreciated by all supporters.
With only 13 players signing on for the Devils, it was always going to be tough day and, while the end result was a big score line, they did not stop trying throughout.
Try scorers for the day were James Eveleigh (3), Josh Adams (2) Tim Watson (2), Joe Adams (2), Haydon Topliss (2), James Carrascalao, Jarrod Wicks, Justin Apthorpe and Jake Collison.
Topliss also added 11 conversions for a 30-point personal haul, and John Johnson converted one at the end.
Coach Daniel Ritter was quick to praise Denman’s spirit.
“They never gave up to their credit and were called on to do a lot of defence from start to finish,” he said.
“Our guys played well under the circumstances and I couldn’t have asked for much more.”
This weekend sees the team splitting with reserves and league tag travelling to Murrurundi on Saturday.
These should be very good games, with all teams performing well to date – definitely worth the trip for a 2pm start.
On Sunday, first grade and the under-18s are away at Greta Branxton.
Again, these matches should be close encounters and supporters are encouraged to travel south for the under-18s game and first grade, which kick off at 11.15am and 2pm respectively.
