THE Scone Thoroughbreds continued its strong form in 2019 Bengalla Hunter Valley Group 21 Rugby League following another dominant 48-4 win over the Denman Devils at the weekend.
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The 2018 premiers were expecting a tough encounter, especially after defeating the same opponent 44-6 at Scone Park the week before.
But, Tim Smith scored the first of his two tries on the eight-minute mark - and it proved to be the start of pretty much one-way traffic with the Thoroughbreds recording another convincing triumph.
Smith was able to capitalise on a Denman turnover when he scored under the posts following a nice inside pass from Ryan Hawskshaw.
An easy conversion for Jake Watts made it 6-0.
Denman hit back, however when Reinhard Lategan benefited from a charge down by a Scone player near the line went back to the Devils.
The conversion from wide was missed and the 6-4 scoreline was as close as the hosts would get.
There were plenty of mistakes on both sides.
But, Ronin Hadden scored a strong try in the corner to get the scoreboard ticking again after 20 minutes.
The 10-4 margin advanced to 16-4 when Smith crossed for his second with 13 minutes to go, scooting down the blindside near the Denman line.
Watts' conversion from the sideline was the icing on the cake.
Jake Collison had a strong game off the bench and forced his way over following a weight of possession to the visitors for an easy Watts' kick.
Dan Ritter finished off the half with a strong try also near the posts with only minutes remaining. Watts took Scone to the break ahead 28-4.
The Denman crowd would have been hoping for a turnaround from their team.
But, unfortunately for them, Ritter managed to score his second and third tries in the first five minutes or so of the restart.
The score quickly advanced to 40-4 with Watts' conversion.
To the Devils' credit, they did stem the onslaught until Gary McKeon made the most of the blindside, setting up Hadden for his second of the day.
Finally, Hawkshaw touched down to wrap up the fixture 48-4.
Coach Aaron Watts was pleased with the efforts of the team and, particularly, appreciated the efforts off bench.
"These guys [off the bench] are a critical component of the side," he said.
"They are making their impact for us when they come on.
"Special mention to the reserve grade guys who had to travel from Muswellbrook to help us out."
The "seconds", under-18s and league tag teams took on the Muswellbrook Rams at Olympic Park earlier in the day.
The ladies enjoyed another strong win, converting an 18-0 half-time lead to a 38-0 final scoreline.
Tries went to Kayla Davis (2), Flynn Haggarty (2), Sam Elphick, Celie Nola and Georgia Watts, with Elphick adding five goals.
The under-18s went down 18-12.
Muswellbrook had the lead 12-0 at the interval.
Scone scored first in the second half, however the Rams followed up to stretch the lead to 18-4.
The Thoroughbreds kept going and managed to cross twice in the last 10 minutes for a final score of 18-12.
The reserves recorded a strong triumph, 36-10.
Tries to Drew Brown (2), Josh Adams and Ben Fechner (2) and three conversion by Adams resulted in a 26-0 lead at the break.
Muswellbrook registered a couple of tries in the first 10 minutes of the second half.
However, Scone regained its ascendency with Matt Smart and Dan Smith scoring tries.
Adams converted one to wrap it all up.
Round four results
First grade: Scone d Denman 48-4, Aberdeen d Singleton 20-16
Reserve grade: Merriwa d Singleton 24-6, Murrurundi d Denman 22-20, Scone d Muswellbrook 38-10, Aberdeen d Greta Branxton 32-10
Under-18s: Muswellbrook d Scone 18-12, Aberdeen d Denman 26-12
League tag: Merriwa drew with Singleton 8-all, Murrurundi d Denman 70-0, Scone d Muswellbrook 38-0
Points tables
First grade: Scone 8, Aberdeen 4, Singleton 2, Denman 2
Reserve grade: Merriwa 8, Scone 6, Singleton 6, Aberdeen 4, Denman 2, Muswellbrook 2, Murrurundi 2, Greta Branxton 0
Under-18s: Singleton 8, Aberdeen 6, Scone 4, Muswellbrook 4, Denman 0
League tag: Murrurundi 6, Muswellbrook 6, Scone 6, Merriwa 5, Singleton 3, Aberdeen 2, Denman 0
Round five draw
Saturday, May 25 -
(at Aberdeen)
2pm: reserve grade, Aberdeen v Greta Branxton
3pm: first grade, Aberdeen v Denman
(at Murrurundi)
2pm: league tag, Murrurundi v Merriwa
3pm: reserve grade, Murrurundi v Merriwa
Sunday, May 26 -
(at Muswellbrook)
10.20am: league tag, Muswellbrook v Denman
11.20am: under-18s, Muswellbrook v Denman
12.30pm: reserve grade, Muswellbrook v Denman
(at Singleton)
10.20am: league tag, Singleton v Scone
11.20am: under-18s, Singleton v Scone
12.30pm: reserve grade, Singleton v Scone
2pm: first grade, Singleton v Scone