Panthers maul hapless Rebels

By Tim Howard

An injury-riddled South Grafton Rebels side has been humbled 56-12 in front of its home supporters by the Sawtell Panthers.

Smarting from last week’s shock loss to the Grafton Ghosts, the Panthers were in no mood for another upset when they visited McKittrick Park on Saturday, routing the home side with 32 unanswered points in the second half.

The Rebels were competitive in the opening exchanges and were first on the scoreboard after just three minutes.

The Panthers made a mess of the kick-off and the Rebels capitalised when their best player on the day, lock Nick Torrens, charged onto a short pass about 15 metres out to crash over near the posts.

Captain-coach Todd Cameron, swapping the 9 jumper for the 6, converted.

The Rebels suffered an early setback when halfback Damon Kirby went down heavily in a tackle. He was helped from the field and did not return.

The home side nearly scored again soon after when Cameron mishit a kick that ricocheted off a Panthers player into the arms of a Rebel, who quickly found winger Jye Boehme.

He set sail for the corner, but a superb cover tackle from fullback Jayden O’Shannessy bundled him into touch.

Despite leading, the Rebels were allowing the Panthers to make far too many easy metres through the middle of their defence.

The inevitable happened when Panthers half Mikaere Beattie received the ball about 40 metres out, sold a dummy, then hit charging second-rower Declan Rooney, running an inside-out line, with a short pass.

Rooney burst through the narrow gap and sprinted 20 metres to score. Beattie converted to level the scores at 6-all.

O’Shannessy nearly made the Rebels pay for some dreadful defence a few minutes later.

Receiving the ball deep inside his own half, he charged at the line and was brought down, but the tackler slipped off him. He regained his feet, brushed aside more defenders and headed for the tryline.

The Rebels were only saved when he lost the ball as he dived to score.

A spate of ill-disciplined play allowed the Panthers to march from their own tryline deep into Rebels territory.

Five-eighth Brendan Cochrane threw a dummy and strolled over for the try, with Beattie converting to give the visitors a 12-6 lead.

Almost unbelievably, the Rebels levelled the scores just a few minutes later.

Torrens was involved again, this time producing a short pass for prop Rhys Berry, who crashed over beneath the posts. Cameron converted to make it 12-all.

But that was effectively the end of the contest.

Five minutes later, second-rower Sam Johnstone exposed the Rebels’ fragile edge defence.

Standing first receiver from the ruck, he sold a dummy and stepped back inside a rushing Grant Brown.

Hooker TJ Kapeen missed the cover tackle and Johnstone crossed untouched.

Veteran Grant Stevens was introduced from the bench but was clearly struggling with a groin injury.

He lasted only a few minutes before hobbling from the field.

The closing minutes of the half summed up the Rebels’ afternoon.

With the final seconds ticking away, O’Shannessy broke down the right edge, stepping inside Brown before the defender’s tackle slipped high.

Play was halted for several minutes while an injured Rebels player received treatment before leaving the field.

When play resumed, Brown was sent to the sin bin and the Panthers were awarded a penalty.

With the siren already having sounded, Sawtell executed a set play, with Beattie dummying to decoy runners before putting centre Tully O’Rourke through a gap with a short pass.

The Rebels had no answer as O’Rourke brushed aside defenders to score near the posts. Beattie converted to give the visitors a 24-12 half-time lead.

The second half was one the Rebels will want to forget.

Reduced to 12 players because of Brown’s sin bin, they conceded two tries before returning to a full complement.

For a brief period they threatened to respond, but it all fell apart as the basics deserted them.

Pummelling the Panthers’ line, Brown produced a clever grubber that forced a line dropout.

But the Rebels spilled the ball from the restart, handing possession straight back to Sawtell.

The Panthers made them pay immediately.

On the next set, Beattie scored a brilliant solo try from just inside the Rebels’ half. He sold a dummy, burst through the gap and swerved around the fullback to score beneath the posts.

Minutes later, the Panthers struck again after the Rebels looked set to score themselves.

Fullback Sam Petch had joined the backline and attempted a short pass to a support runner, but Cochrane read the play perfectly.

He intercepted the ball and quickly found Kalani Morris, who raced away to score in the corner.

Beattie brought up the Panthers’ half-century a few minutes later when he hauled in a high pass, dummied past startled defenders and stretched out in the tackle to plant the ball over the line.

His conversion made it 50-12.

Morris completed the scoring when the Rebels failed to number up on a simple left-side passing movement.

He rounded his opposite number and crossed a few metres in from the touchline.

Rooney took over the kicking duties and, fittingly, landed the difficult conversion to complete the 56-12 scoreline.

There will be no Group 2 football this weekend because of the competition bye.