'Rapt' Taipans reach State Cup finals despite imperfect preparation

There was a change of dates, absences due to conflicting sporting commitments, and even a truncated training schedule, but none of that could stop Tamworth Senior Oztag from sending its senior mixed team to compete.

And, what's more, the Taipans exceeded expectations and made their way to the quarter finals.

"We did expect that could be the case," Tamworth Oztag coordinator, Pam Potts, said.

"We've had a senior mixed team for quite a few years now, but obviously with everything that's been going on, it's really hard to tell how teams are going to go.

"But they were very happy to get that far."

Initially scheduled for March, the State Cup was pushed back to June to accommodate the date change for the 2021 National Championships, which were delayed by COVID-19 lockdowns.

Because of this change, Tamworth Oztag was only able to send the one team to the event instead of the nine or so that it usually does.

And with the new dates right in the middle of the winter sports season, many players were unable to commit to the usual twice-a-week training schedule to which the association usually adhered.

Instead, the team only trained on Fridays, and even that was sporadic as the long weekend and wet weather intervened.

"Everyone's playing other sports, which is good for fitness," Potts said.

"But to get that tag experience, as a team, [it wasn't great]. And because we had no other teams going, they didn't have any opposition to play against at training. They would basically have to play eight-on-eight."

So when the Taipans claimed three wins from six games in the group rounds and qualified for finals, the pressure was off the side as underdogs.

But they came up against "all-time rivals", St George, in the quarter final, the Tamworth players stepped up the intensity.

At half time, the score was 3-3 and the Taipans knew they were in with a shot. But their lack of training took its toll, and fatigue became apparent in the second half as St George piled on five further tries.

Their loss didn't dampen Tamworth's spirits, and the team was instead bolstered by their performance given the difficult lead-in.

"They were rapt, they were stoked to get that far, and to only go down by five tries was exceptional," Potts said.

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