The Dubbo Rhinos have bounced back from a disappointing loss last weekend to trouble the undefeated Narromine Gorillas at Apex Oval.
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The Gorillas piled on 60 points to claim victory, but were left ruing the defensive lapses that saw them concede 29 points to the bottom-of-the-ladder Rhinos.
It equalled CSU Bathurst’s round five effort as the most points the Gorillas have conceded this year.
But co-coach Craig Campbell said wrapping up the minor premiership two weeks ago made them complacent.
”We took it too easy,” he said. “We pride ourselves on our defence, that’s the most I think we’ve leaked all year.
“It was more Rhinos’ game … they did mauls, which they haven’t done before against us, their line-out was a lot better than last time so I think they’ve been really working. They’ve improved a lot from the last two games.
“We were very lethargic, very flat but that’s no excuse. They played very well.”
The sides were neck and neck in the opening 20 minutes. Tim Gainsford, Nacewa Nalagi, Charlie Tuck and Brett Austin took turns scoring before a Chris Sellings conversion – the first of the match – gave the Rhinos a 12-10 lead.
It was the first, and final, time. The Gorillas controlled the latter stages of the first half to lead 22-12 at the break, and then picked up where they left off.
At 34-12, the game was starting to get away from the hosts before Sellings won a penalty and took a quick tap with most of the Gorillas offside.
The halfback chipped the Narromine defence and regathered, only to be dragged down just metres from the line. But Viliame Turuva capitalised on the field position to crash over a few phases later.
The scoring only intensified then, with Austin, Tuck, Luke Brown, Dylan Ryan and James Dodd all notching tries, but a try from star five-eighth George Hancock in the 79th minute secured Narromine’s decisive win.
“There was a couple of soft tries, which was disappointed, but overall the boys gave it everything they have,” Rhinos coach Guy Turner said.
“I thought most people stood up today, obviously Ryan [Sumner], he’s just a champion and I thought the halfback [Sellings] played sensationally. He had a pretty bad hand there, we thought he broke one or two fingers, so a pretty big effort to play half with that.
“It’s not quite the season we were hoping for but I’m always proud of that the boys don’t give up, they always play to the end.”
NARROMINE GORILLAS 60 (Charlie Tuck 2, Luke Brown 2, Tim Gainsford 2, Dan Treseder, Johno Sharkey, George Hancock, Dylan Ryan tries; Ryan 5 conversions) def DUBBO RHINOS 29 (Brett Austin 2, James Dodd, Nacewa Nalagi, Viliame Turuva tries; Chris Sellings 2 conversions)