The Greater Northern Tigers fought back all game to claim a 24-all draw in its fourth round Laurie Daley under-18 Cup match against the Northern Rivers Titans at Crozier Oval, Lismore.
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The Titans led 12-0 early and then 18-6 at halftime before the Tom Learoyd-Lahrs coached Tigers staged a stirring revival against an undefeated side on Saturday.
Brayden Reid sparked the Tigers with his second-half try to make it 18-12 and then Mitch Henderson's second try of the game dragged the side back to 18-18.
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When Titans halfback Thomas Weaver stepped his way through traffic to make it 24-18, the home side looked confident.
But replacement hooker Blake Ginman then shovelled a short pass to North Tamworth's Kobe Bone for the lanky back-rower to crash over under the posts. Henderson's conversion wrapped it up at 24-24 with a minute left.
The Tigers have two wins, a draw and a loss from their four Country Championship matches heading into their final-round clash against the Eels at Aberdeen on Saturday.
"We've just got to win next week [on Saturday]," Learoyd-Lahrs said of his fifth-placed side's finals aspirations.
"But we will have to play with a bit more patience and play more direct. I was disappointed with our ball control today but the defence was outstanding.
"They kept on turning up for each other, scrambled from the inside, and that was probably the most pleasing thing."
He said that Bone was outstanding off the bench, and he was also impressed with centre Luke Smith and five-eighth Henderson.
"They were the three who made the biggest impact at different points of the game," Learoyd-Lahrs said.
The Titans finished second in last season's competition, but were one of the pre-competition favourites this year after their ranks were filled with players from their 2019 Andrew Johns Cup-winning side.
Meanwhile, the Tigers' under-16 side produced their best effort of the Andrew Johns Cup to knock off the previously unbeaten Northern Rivers Titans in an earlier game at Lismore.
The Steve Haylen-coached Tigers came back from a 12-0 deficit after 18 minutes to beat the Titans 22-16 and hand the home side and defending champions their first loss in 10 games.
After two tries to winger Jamal Laurie gave the Titans a good lead at Crozier Oval, the Tigers replied with two tries in three minutes late in the first half.
In the 24th minute, Tigers fullback Malik Hunt crossed for the first of his double, before five-eighth Kurt Fisher scored three minutes later.
It left the sides locked at 12-12 at half-time.
That deadlock was broken early in the second half when Aberdeen's Matthew Jones crossed for the Tigers, before Hunt snared his second in the 41st minute.
The Titans struck back when centre Damon Coldwell crossed in the 52nd but the Tigers held on to record a six-point win.
Haylen was delighted with his young side and especially impressed they had not become dispirited after three losses and, instead, turned their form and poor completion rates around.
Simple errors had dotted their landscape in the first three rounds but not so this time after a slow start.
"We were down 12-0 early but they were playing okay," Haylen said.
"They stuck with it and then a few things started to go our way ... We also started to get some good ball.
"I was really comfortable with the way they were playing. Our completion rate was 78 per cent in the second half and that paints a picture."
Haylen said Hunt was one of his side's best - "if not the best".
"Malakai Griffiths, our lock, was also great and [prop] Jake Clydsdale made a big impact too," he said.
GREATER NORTHERN TIGERS 24 (Mitch Henderson 2, Brayden Reid, Kobe Bone tries; Henderson 4 gls) drew with NORTHERN RIVERS TITANS 24 (Jaylan De Groot 2, Noah Johannsen, Thomas Weaver tries; Keegan Pace 3, Thomas Weaver gls)
GREATER NORTHERN TIGERS 22 (Malik Hunt 2, Kurt Fisher, Matthew Jones tries; Billy Youman 3 gls) d NORTHERN RIVERS TITANS 16 (Jamal Laurie 2, Damon Coldwell tries; Michael Roberts 2 gls)
