A ROUSING display by second-rower Robbie Noble and spectacular double by young winger Ben Barnard has helped Jamberoo Superoos open their 2014 win account after spearheading their side to a 38-32 win over Milton-Ulladulla Bulldogs at Bill Andriske Mollymook Oval on Saturday.
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After trailing 10-nil inside the first five minutes, the Superoos bounced back to lead at half-time and looked like running away with the game when they ran to a 38-20 lead before a late Dogs rally.
The Bulldogs got the best possible start when speedster Mitch Simington caught the Jamberoo defence napping when he darted out of dummy half and raced 60 metres to score under the posts.
Luke Young converted for a dream 6-nil start.
The Dogs went further ahead in the fifth minute when captain Gary Warburton charged down the blind side and slipped a great pass to left winger Kirren Roughley who dived over in the corner.
The visitors were under the pump and in reflection their defence over the next 25 minutes, may have won them the game as the classy Bulldogs attack had them under constant pressure, but couldn’t turn that into more points.
The Superoos eventually got things rolling and in the 31st minute five-eighth Mark Asquith sliced through from close range and just four minutes later Noble split the defence on the left and flound skipper Matt Coelho backing up to race over under the posts and with Michael Maslanka converting both tries the visitors went to half-time with what was, judging by the run of play, an unlikely 12-10 lead.
What was to follow after half-time can only be described as spectacular.
Firstly, half Jono Dallas, playing his 100th first grade game for the Superoos, launched a bomb into the corner and Ben Barnard flew high and managed to grab the ball and spectacularly place the ball just inside the in-goal line while still in mid-air.
Spurred on by that effort and just two minutes later, he came off his wing after another Jamberoo attack and managed to bamboozle four Milton defenders to score and send the visitors to a 22-10 lead.
The sin-binning of Superoo prop Adam Vanzanten for a professional foul was quickly followed by a Gary Warburton try under the posts to close the gap, but two tries in the space of three minutes through Matt Coelho and hooker Josh Saunders, with both coming on the back of great work by Jono Dallas and Robbie Noble, gave Jamberoo a commanding 32-16 lead.
The tries continued to flow as firstly Lachlan Moore squeezed over out wide for the home side before another Noble bust saw centre Josh Champion score out wide for 38-20.
However you can never write a side with the attacking flair of the Bulldogs out, and tries in the 74th and 77th minutes by fullback Thomas Cook and two conversions to Luke Young made the final scoreline more respectable.
Noble, Dallas, Barnard and Coelho all played leading roles for the Superoos, while Warburton, Cook, Adam Bliss and Nick Goodman never stopped trying for the Bulldogs.