THE Nambucca Roosters took on the visiting Grafton Ghosts in their Indigenous Round clash at Coronation Park last Saturday.

The Roosters, unbeaten so far this season, were not a certainty to defeat Ghosts, who sat in third place on the Group 2 ladder, despite the 62-12 shellacking when last they met.

Nambucca coach Warwick Jones had some notable holes in his roster, requiring him to ask more of his line-up to keep their unbroken winning streak going.

With just three minutes gone on the clock a rapid attack put Nambucca’s Jack Margetts into space on the right side of their line and the home side were first to light up the scoreboard.

The next ten minutes played out with the Roosters under pressure however their defence held strong.

A Tyronne Roberts-Davis line-break got him close enough to the line to offload to a well positioned Dane Saunders, who outstepped the Grafton defence to score.

The successful Roberts-Davis conversion took the score to 10-0.

Not losing any momentum the Roosters forwards went hard at the Ghosts middle, absorbing defenders from the kick off.

Within two minutes Roberts-Davis crossed the line, converting his own try and taking it to a 16-0 game.

At 22 minutes into the first half the visitors busted through the right flank of the Roosters defence close to the line for a converted try by Oliver Percy, with the score now at 16-6.

On top of the Grafton fight back the home side also had to contend with Roberts-Davis being sent to the bin for ten minutes with fourteen minutes of the half still to play out.

Undeterred, the Roosters lifted and some impressive hard running by Tyreece Sines got his side into great field position.

He offloaded to Toby Batten on the fly who crossed the try line and converted his own try, extending the lead to 20-6.

Not done yet the home side were to increase their tally before the end of the half when a disciplined piece of attacking play got Jacob Welsh across the line next to the post.

Wrapped up in defenders, Welsh injured his leg in the attempt.

This put the Roosters further in front, closing out the first half 28-6.

It was nearly ten minutes into the second half before more points were awarded when Grafton halfback Cooper Woods slipped under the Roosters defence to score.

Moments after the kickoff Nambucca’s Dane Saunders was sent to the bin for ten minutes and, once again, the home side lifted to the challenge of being a man down.

Logan Jones crossed the line to score a try, then converted by Batten, taking the score to 34-12.

It only took the visitors four minutes to answer when they found a gap on the Roosters’ left edge.

The next try by the Nambucca Roosters was from the classiest piece of football of the day.

Roberts-Davis outran his opponents, placed a perfect high kick across the line to Dane Saunders, who won the contest for the ball and scored.

The try was not converted, with the score 40-16.

With seven minutes left in the game a lightning fast attacking play from the halfway line saw Nambucca’s Beau Langford pick up a well deserved try.

The conversion and an additional penalty kick took the Roosters’ lead to 46-16.

The dramatic end to this great game of rugby league saw two Grafton players in the bin but still able to score with only one minute on the clock.

The game ended 46-20 in favour of the Roosters.

In the minor grades, the U/18s produced a thriller, coming up with a 12-12 half time score.

The visitors were able to rack up three unanswered tries in the first 20 minutes of the second half and, although the Roosters launched an impressive fight back, it was too late to reel in the deficit and the Ghosts came out winners, 28-22.

The Nambucca Women’s Tackle side had their best day on the paddock yet, with a momentous 54-6 win over the Ghosts.

Their attacking play and completion rates have improved exponentially over the past few games and the win will do wonders for the fighting spirit of this playing group who appear to be really enjoying their football.

The Reserve grade clash lived up to all expectations and was a highly physical game with Grafton looking like they would better the Roosters, seeming to have the majority of possession in the first half.

The home side played much better second half than they did in the first and the full time score of a 12-12 draw seemed fitting given the strong game played by both teams.

This weekend the Roosters are away at Woolgoolga.

By Mick BIRTLES