A two try effort by Forbes’ number eight Matthew Coles inspired the Platypi to victory against Cowra on Saturday afternoon.
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Coles was devastating in the round 16 Blowes Clothing Cup clash played at the Cowra Rugby Grounds, scoring twice in the second-half to set up the 31-22 victory after the score was locked at 10-all at halftime.
The result keeps Forbes in third place with two rounds remaining, while Cowra slips to sixth, two points adrift of Orange City in fifth.
Platypi coach Heamani Lavaka praised the dominant performance of Coles.
"Matty Coles keeps getting better and better. He is at a different level and our guys should not be relying on him because you never know he might get injured or something,” Lavaka said.
“But I'm really happy at the moment. We'll take the five points and move forward.”
Cowra dominated the opening exchanges and their backline was threatening as they raced to a 10-nil lead thanks to a try to Sam Cook and conversion and penalty goal to stand-in skipper Tim Berry.
Forbes lifted on the back of a massive effort from their pack of forwards, converting pressure to points when Darryn Piper crossed on the wing to reduce the margin to 10-5 about 25 minutes in.
The Eagles were reduced to 14 men before the break when Charlie Dunhill was shown yellow for a spear tackle, resulting in a Forbes penalty and push over try to Andrew Hubbard after a line-out.
The scores were locked at 10-10 at the break.
Forbes restarted with the momentum and posted back-to-back converted tries, the first to Coles and second to hooker Jarrod Hall, as the Platypi’s big men bullied Cowra up the middle of the park.
Nedd Brockmann converted both for a 24-10 lead.
The margin was reduced to 24-15 when Cowra winger Kirk Stanbridge scored out wide but, needing to score next points, Cowra conceded as Coles bustled over for his second and Brockmann converted to take the lead to 16 points.
Bill Cummins found the line with minutes remaining but there was no chance of a late victory.
Eagles coach Troy Hayes said silly errors and silly mistakes have cost his side throughout this year’s campaign.
"We get a good roll and look good but let them back into the game. It's been in our game for a little while and we're trying to get it out,” he said.
"Going into the second-half we didn't switch on and they put two quick tries on us and it's very hard to come back from that.
"We're always a chance. Football is a funny game and results might go our way. We're going to focus on our next two games and make sure we win with a bonus point.”
Lavaka was confident despite conceding 10 points early.
"Cowra has a good side. For the first 15 minutes they were strong,” he said.
"Our boys have been in that situation before. I knew we could come back it was just a matter of controlling our own ball before worrying about them,” he said.
"I think we did well. There is a lot of work for us moving forward. Next week is Bulldogs but most of our experienced guys lift for the bigger games so hopefully it happens next week.”
Cowra Eagles 22 (Sam Cook, Kirk Stanbridge, Bill Cummins tries; Tim Berry two conversions, penalty goal) defeated by Forbes Platypi 31 (Matthew Coles 2, Darren Piper, Andrew Hubbard, Jarrod Hall; Nedd Brockmann three conversions)
