OLD Bar and Port Macquarie will square off in the Group Three Rugby League grand final on Saturday, September 16 at Port Regional Stadium.
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This follows Old Bar 34-24 win over Macleay Valley in a gripping preliminary final played at Old Bar.
Both sides had players sent off late in the match, with Old Bar's Ruben Sipaea-Saifoloi and Macleay five-eighth Jack Walsh-McKiernan marched by referee Rickey McFarlane. The Mustangs ended with 11 players on the field when hooker Timothy Bull was sent to the sin bin, however, the encounter was just about over by then.
As was the case in the major semi the previous week Old Bar ran with the wind at their backs in the first half. However, unlike the previous match they made full use of the advantage and trotted off at halftime with what seemed an insurmountable 28-6 lead. The Mustangs had other ideas and aided by a steady flow of penalties spent most of the second half in Old Bar's quarter.
Macleay narrowed the gap to 28-18 at the midpoint of the second section and had all the momentum.
The Pirates managed just one second half try and there was an element of fortune about it. Halfback and co-captain-coach Jordan Worboys put through a kick close to the line that appeared to be heading dead. However, the ball rebounded off the upright and Worboys dived on it over the line to post an important four pointer that Zac Butler turned into six. This gave the Pirates some space at 34-18. The Mustangs then regathered from the kickoff and at the end of the set winger Chris Ritchie-Bowden forced his way over in the corner. Dean Jones then kicked a great goal and it was game on again with a quarter of an hour remaining.
"I was really happy with our first half, barring that two minute period when they scored,'' Worboys said.
Our stating middles were outstanding, they laid the platform and came back on in the second half and lifted us. It wasn't pretty in the second half, but we got the job done
- Old Bar co-captain-coach Jordan Worboys
"But we made too many simple errors and the penalties killed us in the second half. Macleay can score points quickly, but I'm proud of the boys, they dug deep.
"Our starting middles were outstanding, they laid the platform and came back on in the second half and lifted us. It wasn't pretty in the second half, but we got the job done.''
Worboys was non-committal on whether he thought the Pirates would have to improve to beat the Sharks next Saturday.
"Roll on next weekend,'' he said.
"I thought we kicked the door down through the middle in the first half and our first 35 minutes we were bashing our way through. But finals are after an 80 minute effort and that's what we'll need next week.''
Macleay coach Adam McMurray agreed it was a spirited effort from his young side.
"It was a good second half. We did it a bit tough in the first half running into that strong wind. We probably defended for 80 per cent of that first half,'' he said.
"In the end we only went down by 10 points so that was a good effort after trailing 28-6 at halftime.''
The Mustangs had three players backing up from the under 18 game that went into extra time. Halfback Cooper Petterson scored three tries in that encounter and added another in first grade, although he was cramping badly towards the end of the first grade.
"One of the 18s played 80 minutes and the other two played 60 odd minutes, so that was a big effort from them,'' McMurary said.
McMurray said the Mustangs will go places if they can keep the side together. He'll be nominating to coach them again in 2024.
They're a good bunch of blokes, so I'm keen if they're keen
- Macleay Valley coach Adam McMurray is keen to do the job again next year
"They're a good bunch of blokes, so I'm keen if they're keen,'' he said.
Co-coach Mick Henry scored two first half tries for the Pirates, skipping out quickly from dummy half on both occasions. The Pirates made big metres in the centre of the field courtesy of prop Jared Wooster, lock James Handford and second rower Matt Prior. And when they worked the ball wide winger Simon Wise and centres John Stanley and Shane Nigel were dangerous, while fullback Taye Cochrane was busy. Cochrane scored the opening try backing up a break by Wise and taking a pass from Worboys.
Soli and Nigel also added first half tries.
The second half was all the Mustangs, and it was their forwards who did the damage, led by lock Ethan Thompson and second rower Dre Barker. Walsh-McKiernan orchestrated much of their attack.
Petterson scored his try just before the break and Jones converted. The Mustangs were in soon after the resumption through Isaiah Barker and further narrowed the gap when big Viliame Tobesewa crashed over.
Old Bar will be chasing the club's first premiership this century next Saturday, the Sharks their first this decade.
![Ashleigh Salmon was outstanding for Taree City in the 18-14 win over Port Sharks in the Group Three league tag preliminary final. Taree will now meet Port City in the grand final. Ashleigh Salmon was outstanding for Taree City in the 18-14 win over Port Sharks in the Group Three league tag preliminary final. Taree will now meet Port City in the grand final.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/35p4sYVJBkFFhEkm6ifwU24/52b0d690-baa9-4468-a42c-0c2e7f8fec4b.jpg/r280_56_941_675_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Minor grades
THERE were two comebacks in the earlier games. Taree City trailed Port Sharks 14-6 in the league tag with five minutes remaining but clawed back to win 18-14, with Ashleigh Salmon outstanding.
The under 18s went into extra time before Port City won 38-35 over Macleay. Macleay led 34-22 late in the first half and were ahead 35-34 after the first half of extra time.
However, Macleay were big 36-6 winners over Port City in reserve grade.