SAM Burgess’ Orara Valley Axemen suffered their first defeat of the season going down 26-10 to the Macksville Sea Eagles last Sunday at Coramba Sports Ground.

At half-time, the match was finely poised at 10-10 with both teams scoring two tries apiece but it was the Sea Eagles who soared in the second half with three tries and two conversions.

Whilst Burgess was disappointed with the result he was pleased to see a bumper crowd at Coramba after a three year absence.

“Both teams brought a few supporters, our community is fantastic, they’re right behind us, great to see a lot of familiar faces, it’s been enjoyable,” he said.

“The result wasn’t as good as last time we saw each other (Burgess referring to the News Of The Area interview following their 56-4 win over the Sawtell Panthers) but we will learn a lot from that which is pretty good.”

Despite some washouts, the Group 2 competition is thriving, with eight competitive teams battling for the premiership in front of bumper crowds.

The Axemen’s resurrection under Burgess has been welcomed not just from Orara supporters but players and supporters across the competition.

“It’s good to have all of the teams back together, there’s eight teams in the league and it’s competitive.

“Macksville are a great side, there’s some great teams in the league so it’s going to be a great year in Group 2.”

Burgess returns to grassroots rugby, the place where he fell in love with the game from the age of five in the country town of Kirklees in West Yorkshire.

“Kirklees was my catchment area, it was a big part of my life, playing there since five years old, it’s great to be back in that environment and seeing how much it means to the community.”

It was a talismanic performance from Macksville player and captain Matt Hyland who shared insights into the pivotal half-time team talk.

“We knew if we could stay composed and complete our sets we would go a long way to winning the game,” he said.

“We had our set plays that we wanted to do and we got it done.”

Hyland brings strong camaraderie to the Sea Eagles and explained the absence of his former team mate from the South Sydney Rabbitohs, Greg Inglis.

“He (Greg Inglis) had other commitments with the Indigenous round,” he said.

“With this team it doesn’t matter who we have on the field, that’s the beauty of it, we all stick together and put a good game on.”

NRL legend Wayne Bennett watched the match with keen eyes alongside his friend Sam Burgess.

Bennett was announced as the head coach of new NRL expansion team The Dolphins for 2023 and will be based in Redcliffe next season.

By David WIGLEY