The Greater Northern Tiger under-16s slumped to a third-successive defeat but the Tiger under-18s rose from a 26-6 deficit to keep their Laurie Daley Cup hopes alive with a stirring two-point win in their third-round clash against the North Coast Bulldogs at Port Macquarie Regional Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
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The under-18s - coached by Tom Learoyd-Lahrs - won 28-26 after trailing 20-6 at halftime and then trailing 26-6 nine minutes into the second half.
It was a massive display from the side, with tries to Jack Todd (49th minute), Pichai Dixon (55th minute), Mitch Henderson (58th) and Brayden Reid (63rd) setting up the morale-boosting win following a first-half try to Reid.
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Earlier, the Tiger 16s had their faint Andrew Johns Cup hopes dashed when outplayed 36-4 by the North Coast Bulldogs.
Guyra's Billy Youman was the lone tryscorer, crossing in the 44th minute, after the Bulldogs led 24-nil at halftime.
It was a convincing win, reported Tigers coach Steve Haylen. "We copped a whacking.
"We just couldn't control the ball again. We started off okay. Our new halves made a lot of difference. That was a good thing.
"But we missed too many one-on-one tackles and committed too many basic errors with the ball. That ball control let us down."
Learoyd-Lahrs praised his charges second-half performance.
"The first half was just errors on top of errors and it was all played down our end," he said. "The second half was the opposite. The boys took the bit between the teeth and the big boys started play straight and the halves started taking the line on.
"Jack Todd and Tommy 'Pichai' Dixon were great. They were our joint players of the match."
Kobe Bone, Kalab McMillan-Bassett, Mark Simon, Seb Pianko and Hugh Collins also impressed.
"The biggest thing was the boys shared the workload, the centres and wingers came in and did a lot of tough stuff," Learoyd-Lahrs said.
His side has now posted two wins and a loss and still has its Laurie Daley Cup fate in its own hands, with a tough clash against the Northern Rivers Titans looming in Lismore on Saturday.
"It's a huge game for us, massive," Learoyd-Lahrs said. "Then we have Parramatta at Aberdeen the week after (that). So, it's not going to be easy."
ANDREW JOHNS CUP
NORTH COAST BULLDOGS 36 (Jed Pratt 2, Peter Conroy 2, Braith Powick, Tyrese Dingay tries, Shane Davis-Caldwell 6 gls) d GREATER NORTHERN TIGERS 4 (Billy Youman try)
LAURIE DALEY CUP
GREATER NORTHERN TIGERS 28 (Brayden Reid 2, Jack Todd, Pichai Dixon, Mitch Henderson tries, Henderson 4gls) d NORTH COAST BULLDOGS 26 (Jarrad Gibson 2, Travis Downton, Eli Clark, Brock Parker tries, Elliott Speed 3gls)
