Forbes Magpies under 18s will enter the Group 11 semi-finals with confidence after defeating Parkes by 16 points last Sunday.
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The Magpies secured their place in this Sunday’s minor semi final against Dubbo Macquarie with the 28-12 victory at Spooner Oval, after trailing the visitors 6-12 at half-time.
Magpies coach Cameron Greenhalgh said the second term was a vast improvement with the home team dominant once they had the bulk of possession.
Greenhalgh said the junior Magpies won the game with a dominant passage of play shortly after the break.
“Parkes really stuck it to us, like I thought they would. They came over all guns blazing for sure,” he said.
“But our second half was really impressive – the boys scored three tries in about 10 minutes I think and they just kept going from there.”
Jordan Hiki gave the Magpies first points on Sunday, scoring a converted try inside the first four minutes for a 6-0 lead, but the Spacemen scored twice to go to the break leading 12-6.
Greenhalgh said his troops got on with the job after the restart and turned the match with tries to Jason Hoswell, Jarrod Tyack and David Cowhan, all converted.
“We just wanted to put them on the back foot and play them down their end of the ground, so to speak.
“We put the pressure on them with our kicking and again, our defence on our line was excellent,” he said.
Greenhalgh said he wasn’t too worried by the half-time deficit.
“Not really,” he said. “I knew, once we got our fair share of the ball, and with the calibre of our players that we still had on the bench, that we’d come good.”
“I was still pretty positive and I think the boys were too, and that showed in the first 10 minutes of the second half. They got into it straight away,” he said.
Greenhalgh said the Magpies camp was looking forward to a rematch with Macquarie, after losing 22-20 in their last meeting.
Back row Dave Cowhan was impressive for the Magpies on Sunday, as was half Nick Greenhalgh, whose kicking game got the home team out of trouble at times, and wing Jason Hoswell.
The coach was also impressed by new recruits James Samme and Cameron Bruce, in their debut games after arriving from the UK recently.
Sunday’s qualifying final will be played at Nyngan. More later this week.
Forbes 28 (Jordan Hiki, Jason Hoswell, Dave Cowhan, Jarrod Tyack, James Samme tries; Nick Greenhalgh four goals) defeated Parkes 12 (Dylan Phillips, Hayden Robinson tries; Caleb Hewitt 2 goals).
