Clinging on to fourth spot on the Group 19 second division table, the Tenterfield men’s side came out firing against the first-placed Uralla side on Sunday.
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A mistake by the visitors from the kick-off gifted Tenterfield field position and they pounced with a try.
Uralla re-found their composure and trailed the home side 18-14 at half-time.
In the second session, the sides couldn’t be split and the match finished in a 28-all draw.
Tenterfield entered the encounter down on troops after a number of late withdrawals.
“It would have been great if we did have those couple of extra blokes there, I think we only had 16,” Tenterfield captain-coach Brendan Minns said.
“In saying that, it gave an opportunity to a few of our younger boys.
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“Fraser Saccon, who played his second game for us this year, he played outstanding.
“For a little fella, he played on the wing and then moved into hooker, those Uralla fellas were going straight at him and picking him out and he played extremely well.
“I was very impressed with how he played.”
Uralla centre Paul Jackson crossed for three tries, to notch up 15 for the season – nine in his last three matches.
“That was one of the dampeners, he did run riot there,” Minns said.
“He was really solid.”
While they didn’t finish with two points, Minns was happy with the overall performance of his side.
“There were a lot of positives to come out of that game, a couple of little negatives, just our ball handling,” he said.
“Just that bit at the end of the game where we dropped off and went into that panic football.
“We just tried to score off every single one and in general, our ball handling.
“We would get to the second tackle and knock it on and that happened three or four times which is really frustrating.”
“I think our defence was a whole lot better than what it had been in previous weeks.”
This Saturday, Tenterfield head to Ashford with their season on the line.
“We know it will be a massive game. They [Ashford] are playing really well and we know we are in for a massive because both of us are playing for our season and it is as simple as that,” Minns said.
“Whoever wins, it looks like they may well go into the finals.
“If we lose, they skip ahead of us by one point, they will leapfrog us on the points so really it comes down to a must-win because if not, that puts our season in jeopardy.”