The Jindabyne Bushpigs may have lost the game to the Crookwell Dogs 32-17, but they gained the respect of the local crowd as they fought back until the very end.
If it were not for a series of mistakes and penalties in the first half, plus a disallowed try that was a try, the home side would have been in the game until the very end.
But excuses will get them nowhere, but lessons learnt will help their cause for the remainder of the season.
The first half was tough, every time they made a mistake, Crookwell capitalised and punished them. If not on the scoreboard, at least making more inroads into the Bushpigs territory. The Dogs continually had the Bushpigs on the back foot.
Behind 17-0 on the scoreboard just before half time, Issac Maws crashed over for a try only for the referee to say no try. Maws pleading from the ground to the referee, “I grounded the ball.”
He said after the game, “I did get the ball down, but as I went down, I bounced, and then they're able to sneak their arm underneath. But that's just the way it goes. Sometimes the ref just doesn't get there in time and can't see the ball is down.”
When asked whether that try could have made a difference if the margin was only 12 points starting the second half, Maws replied, “yeah, would have probably helped the boys come up, probably a little bit better, like, just scoring with that amount of pressure that we had in the last five minutes going to the half, but that's the way things go.”
Crookwell was the better side all day until the Bushpigs mounted a last hurrah.
After botching a scond half try when Lucas Rixon knocked on with the line wide open, the Bushpigs ran in a series of late tries, there may have been some belief. The young squad was finally hitting their straps, and multiple tries changed the look of the scoreboard.
Reflecting on the game and the first half errors, Maws commented, Yeah, just a few missed tackles out there. As soon as they break the line, it's just so hard to get in and behind. So, once they break that line, you've just got to get back and yeah, makes it hard to come back into the game. And then penalties, just giving away silly penalties, just lets them get up the field a bit easier.”
The Bushpigs started their day with the game ball handed to them from their founding patron Harry Cummins (pictured below), who was celebrating his 90th birthday.
The Bushpigs are away to ADFA next week in Canberra, followed by a home game on May 17 against the Yass Rams.
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