The Yass Magpies Reserve Grade side slumped to their first loss of 2016 last Saturday, going down to the Tuggeranong Bushrangers 22-18. 

The Magpies were forced to play catchup football after a lack lustre first half saw them trail 16-0 before a try to fullback Dave Brown right on half time.

A much improved beginning to the second half resulted in a try to winger Gavin Crisp after some smart lead up work from pivot Craig Irwin that was converted by half Phil Sparnon to reduce the margin to 16-12. 

The Magpies then hit the lead 18-16 when Adam Waters slipped a ball away to his front row partner Ben Potts with Sparnon adding the extras.

Tuggeranong hit back with a converted try to lead 22-18 with 10 minutes to go and then held on despite having a man in the sin bin for the majority of play. Yass did have a chance to snatch victory in the last minute but the last pass to an unmarked Corey Elphick on the wing went astray.

The Magpies lacked the intensity of their previous two outings with some poor options being taken in both attack and defence, costing them dearly.

Potts continued to impress up front with back rower Mitch Edwards prominent along with Adam and Brett Waters in the forwards. In the backs, Irwin was creative and Brown was solid at the back.

Tuggeranong Bushrangers 22 defeated Yass Magpies 18 (Brown, Crisp, Potts tries, Sparnon 3 Goals)

Under 18s

An under strength Yass Magpies junior side had a day they would rather forget, being hammered by an impressive Tuggeranong Bushrangers outfit 60-6.

The Magpies put up little resistance to the rampaging Bushrangers who are a big mobile side. Plenty of dropped ball didn’t help their cause and some of their defence was pretty ordinary. 

They are a young team who have to learn to graft their way into the contest. There is some talent among them but they tend to drop their heads too early to seriously threaten the top sides in their age group.

Tuggeranong Bushrangers 60 defeated Yass Magpies 6 (Pye-Edwards Try & Goal)

Girlpies

The Yass Girlpies finally got their season underway taking on Tuggeranong in the first round of the Women’s League Tag.

The Yass girls put up a pretty good account of themselves against a side that looked to have been playing together for some time before going down 24-14. 

Two tries to Bronwyn Pollack, who was probably the best player on the field, were the highlight for the locals who will only get better.

Tuggeranong 24 defeated Yass Girlpies 14 (Pollack 2, Sparnon Tries, Attallah Goal)