Lachie Ennis embodied the term ‘super sub’ as Tamworth almost snatched a draw in their New England clash with Robb College on Saturday.
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The replacement hooker celebrated a rare feat for a front rower – a hat-trick – and was a late hero for the home side scoring twice in the last five minutes.
His third try came in the final seconds and made it 20-18 with the kick to come.
Playing against his former club, Harry Morrow unfortunately couldn’t add the extras, the conversion hitting the pads at the bottom of the left post, as Robb held on for their first win of the season.
They had led 20-8 with just over 10 minutes remaining, skipper Andy Leathem admitting to some nervous moments as the Magpies stormed home.
“One bloke down as well, we really had to put it in,” Leatham said.
“Thank god we came away with it because it would have been pretty disappointing.”
Both sides were guilty of dropped balls and squandering opportunities, particularly in the first half.
Robb settled the better into the game and went into the break leading 10-3 and with the momentum.
Coach Sam Ditchfield said half-time probably came a bit early for them, and by five minutes in their advantage was cut back to two.
From there it was a real arm-wrestle as both sides produced some flashes of brilliance interspersed with some scrappy moments.
“I think our defence was exceptional. That was what won it for us,” Ditchfield said.
“We were very patient in defence. Against the Blues (Armidale) we gave away a lot of penalties for being offside.”
He couldn’t recall one penalty for that on Saturday. Their issues were instead at the ruck, their illdiscipline helping Tamworth get back into the game.
Ditchfield was also really happy with their pick and drive game.
“We really took them on in the forwards. We really worked their forwards hard for a period of time,” he said.
It was something they had spoken about before the game.
James Gavin was a big part of that at number eight. He was one of the students best along with Charlie Steel-Park and Josh Jones.
Magpies coach Peter Burke was proud of his side and their effort.
“We’ve taken another big step forward,” he said.
There was understandably though a tinge of disappointment.
“We had our opportunities and I think we possibly could have won that game,” he said.
“[But] You’ve got to learn how to shut out those tight games and our club is still in the learning phase.”
He also lauded his sides defence but rued the amount of turnovers. It has been a consistent issue for them so far this season.
“We haven’t treated the ball like gold and that has cost us dearly,” he said.
Burke thought Joe Evans – another former Robb boy – was their man of the match. He made some good inroads at inside centre.
He was also “really pleased” with half-back Matt Blanch, who tidied up a lot at the back of the ruck and Harry Weir.
