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.