THE Coffs Harbour Snappers defeated the Port Pirates on the bell in an epic 38-34 last Saturday at Bayrange Park.

With the match locked at 34 apiece and seemingly destined for a draw, Luke Pappalardo chipped the ball over the Pirates back line and won the foot race to the try line to the elation of the crowd.

Two tries from Rawiri Wilson, two tries from Luke Pappalardo and tries for captain Chris Tonks and Maleli Motonicocoka sealed the points in a see-saw match which delighted the crowd.

Whilst the match was a showpiece of entertainment for the spectators it was less so for Brendan Hoy and the Snappers coaching team.

“End to end stuff with the leads changing regularly throughout the game.

“We had a number of new players and debutants.

“The game was won in the last minute through crowd favourite Luke Pappalardo with a chip chase try.

“Great game to watch for the crowd but not so much for the coaches of both sides,” Hoy laughed.

Snappers captain Chris Tonks was pleased how the team bounced back following last week’s defeat.

“After last week’s loss, we spoke at training about what we needed to improve on.

“Everyone stepped up and our main focus was on defence and we did that.

“Our back three had a very good day with Maleli flying in from Darwin and only landing at midday and making an impact straight away.

“Once we had a few bench players come on, they gave us the lift we needed to keep going and win on the bell.

“Port is a good team and a young team and we expected to be up against it.

“Our forwards Brad Thorn and Trent Withers probably had their best game for a while which was good to see and they are in good form for us,” said Chris.

 

By David WIGLEY