On Saturday the Pythons travelled to Condobolin to take on the Rams outfit. The Pythons had been fortunate enough to have a full bench for the majority of the year, though this weekend with 6 forwards and 2 backs unavailable the bench was a bit shy.
The boys started well though, and in the 15th minute Condobolin found the line to take the first points for the day. Canowindra hit straight back with some great play from Ed Price and Luke Watt who have been combining well to get the boys in good position. After a few good hit ups already Phil Wilkins hit the line hard to dive over for his first try in the sky blue.
The rest of the half belonged to the home side who ran in 2 more tries. Jacob Baker also earned a ten minute rest on the half time whistle, with a yellow card for cleaning out the ruck from the side. The score at half-time was 17-5.
The Canowindra side came out a lot stronger after the break and played with a lot more aggression and kept the ball for a lot of rucks in a row. However with the forwards short on numbers the scrum was getting hammered for the first time this year and gave up any advantage with losing a fair few of our own feeds.
Ben Easter found a gap in the back line and scooted over for another try which was converted by Tom Roth.
The Rams also got 1 unconverted try in the second half and the final score was 22-12 Condobolin’s way.
For best and fairest, 3 points and player’s player were awarded to Phil Wilkins who also pulled off the tackle of the year so far. 2 points went to Craig McKenzie and 1 point went to Adam Nash.
This week the club is holding its annual sponsors and members day as they take on the undefeated Blayney Rams on Saturday at the oval. Kick off will be at 3pm. The weather is meant to be clear and sunny for a great day of rugby so hopefully there will be a big crowd on the sideline to cheer on the Pythons. See you there!
By Adam Nash