THE Bellingen Magpies blitzed league leaders the Coffs Harbour Comets 30-12 in the penultimate round of the Tooheys New Group 2 Rugby League competition last Saturday at Geoff King Oval.

The contest started evenly with the teams trading blows from the opening whistle as Billy Griffiths opened the scoring for the Comets before Bellingen scored two tries for a 12-6 scoreline at half time.

The Comets came out firing in the second half with wave after wave of attacks from their powerful forwards.

Cameroon Woo ran the ball over the try line for the Comets but it was held up by the resolute Bellingen defence who refused to buckle under the sustained pressure.

The regimented Bellingen defence held their line and when the opportunities arose the Comets had no answer for a second half Bellingen blitz.

Bellingen’s polished passing game and devastating speed on the counter-attack were too hot to handle as they ran in several second half tries to the delight of their vocal travelling supporters.

The win elevated Magpies into fourth place on the ladder ahead of the South Grafton Rebels on goal difference.

A win for Bellingen in their final game should ensure a semi-finals berth as they have a 39-point superior goal difference over the Rebels.

The Comets dropped back into second place behind the Grafton Ghosts and level on points with the Macksville Sea Eagles with a superior goal difference.

Bellingen’s reserve grade side also defeated the Comets reserve grade by 30-12 as both team’s chased semi-final places in a congested reserve grade table.

South Grafton are leading the competition with 20 points, Woolgoolga are in second place on 17 points, ahead of Macksville on 16 points, the Comets on 15 points and Bellingen on 14 points going into the last round.

Comets reserve grade coach Miles Fairbank summed up the match.

“In the last few weeks we have started slow and leaked a few points in the first half, so we have been training all week to start strongly which we did, we scored two early tries and were on the front foot for most of the half.

“I thought we gifted them a couple tries and getting a man sent off didn’t help our cause, in the end Bellingen were the better side and deserved the win,” said Miles.

Comets President Steve Gooley explained the significance of the weekend.

“Last Saturday was a massive day for the Coffs Comets, a full day of juniors commenced at 9am then followed by the Comets seniors.

“To make the day even bigger it was also the annual Old Boys Day, it was great to see a lot of old boys back for the day.”

The Comets also paid respect to life member and club legend David Crilley who passed away during the week.

“The results were mixed for the Comets on the day, very pleased to see the under 18 side have a win against South Grafton, also very happy to see the league tag side remain undefeated with a hard fought win over Bellingen.

“The results in reserve grade and first grade were not what we were after, the competition is very close in both grades and we will need to be playing much better if we are going to be in with a chance in the semi-finals,” said Steve.

 

By David WIGLEY