Story by Stewart Wilson

It is the nature of sport that a team or individual can have a very
good day one week and a disappointing one the next. So it has been for
the Mudchooks rugby team, following  their big win over Crookwell last
week with a 24-12 loss to the Braidwood Redbacks on Saturday.

The game was held at home at the Mick Sherd Oval on one of the
club’s big annual events, Sponsors Day. This year the club is
supporting the Bungendore Hooters for breast cancer research and
following our Charity Day a few weeks ago, Sponsors Day saw jerseys
being auctioned with some vigorous bidding taking a place. A very
worthy cause!

On the field, the Mudchooks couldn’t celebrate fullback Jack
Worman’s milestone 100th game for the club with a victory in what
was a largely scrappy game. Although the Chooks had their chances,
they couldn’t quite capitalise on them. A positive was the scrum,
which was once again dominant as it has been all season.

The Redbacks opened the scoring with a converted try, quickly followed
by a great individual effort by Mudchooks centre Maloni Tubekitu. Tom
Worman’s conversion made it 7-all but Braidwood later crossed again
and converted to make it 14-7 at half time.

That remained the score until well into the second half with neither
team making any great headway until Braidwood scored another converted
try and then a penalty goal to make it 24-7.

Maloni Tubekitu scored another for the Mudchooks shortly before full
time and that’s how it ended – 24-12 in favour of the Redbacks.
The Mudchooks remain in a semi-finals position but are under pressure
with the pointscore very tight around them.

The Mudchooks next play ADFA away on 20 July and then have a bye
before taking on Cooma (away) and Taralga (at home) in the last two
rounds of the regular competition.

Player awards and their sponsors were:
Best and Fairest: Royal Hotel – Tom Worman (3 points)
Luke Gorman (2 points)
Alex Ganchov (1 point).
Players’ Player: Mint Air Conditioning and Refrigeration – Jack
Worman.
Coach’s Player: Bungendore Community Bank – Joe Nagauna.
Chicks’ Pick: NV Panel and Paint – Jack Worman.

Story by Stewart Wilson

It was a very good day for the club last Saturday with both the
Mudchooks and Chicks notching big wins, the Chooks fighting back after
a couple of losses to defeat the Crookwell Dogs 47-25 at Crookwell
after leading 21-20 at half time.

The team scored seven tries, three in the first half to centres Jone
Waqa and Maloni Tubekitu and winger Uraia Rabici. Halfback and captain
Tom Worman converted all three and he had his kicking radar working
well, slotting six out of seven during the game.

After a tight first half the Mudchooks dominated the second 40 adding
four tries and three conversions to Crookwell’s single try to end up
winning comfortably. Try scorers in the second half were prop Alex
Ganchov, flyhalf Kyle Shand (after a brilliant tactical kick and
chase) and second rower Jacob Cullen who notched a double.

It was a much better performance by the Mudchooks with some slick
backline moves and the forwards doing the hard work in the ‘engine
room’. It wasn’t perfect (what team is over 80 minutes?) but
showed that when the boys get themselves properly organised, hold
their shape and don’t push unnecessary passes, they are capable of
beating anyone.

A good result, but the downside was that only 16 players turned up to
play – including welcoming back club legend James ‘Butters’
Pryde – which meant that only one substitute was available on the
bench. Something that needs to be dealt with as we move into the
business end of the season.

This weekend the Mudchooks play the Redbacks at home in what is one of
the club’s big days – our annual Sponsors’ Day. Don’t miss it
with both the Chooks and Chicks playing!

Player awards and their sponsors for the Crookwell match were:
Best and Fairest: Royal Hotel – Kalib Maksimovic (3 points),
Kyle Shand (2 points),
Jacob Cullen and Alex Ganchov (1 point each).
Players’ Player: Mint Air Conditioning and Refrigeration – Kyle Shand.
Coach’s Player: Bungendore Community Bank – Joe Nagauna.
Chicks’ Pick: NV Panel and Paint – Jacob Cullen.