By Jamie Anderson
A late Jay Florimo try was enough to see the Wyong Roos come from behind to knock off Mounties 20-16 at a wet Morry Breen Oval on Sunday.
In conditions that only ducks would enjoy, both sides needed to readjust their thinking somewhat as a good old fashioned arm wrestle played out for the eighty minute duration of the match.
The Roos were buoyed by the inclusion of former VB NSW Cup Representative player, Bennett Leslie, who had signed with the club prior to Christmas, only to change his mind and head to Rugby Union.
Both sides traded tries early on with Shaune Corrigan scoring at one end for the Roos followed by Mosese Pangai at the other for the visitors.
There was no further scoring until the half hour mark when the Roos decided to break the stalemate and take the two points on offer for a penalty right in front of the sticks.
The home side appeared to be heading to the sheds with a slight advantage at half time however a fifth tackle kick by Cornish was cleaned up in goal by Joey Bond to see the visitors lead it 10-8 at the break.
The second forty mirrored much of the first with a lot of footy being played in the middle third of the park, with neither side wanting to give precious field position to the other.
Finally though, in the 59th minute, Reece Goldsmith scored what must be considered a soft try given some of the defence that had been displayed, when he got into dummy half close to the line and squirreled his way over the line.
With the conversion, Mounties now had a game high eight point lead, and given the conditions and the fact that there was only 20 minutes remaining, one might have thought a game winning one. This was not to be the case.
Two late tries to Magnus Stromquist and then Jay Florimo saw the home side rally late to win the match by four points and see them move to four wins and four losses on the season.
Such is the closeness of the competition at present, the Roos win only saw them remain in ninth on the ladder while Mounties have slipped from first to sixth following the loss.
The Roos will be at home once again next Sunday when they tackle the Cutters while Mounties will be looking to avoid three straight defeats when the return to Aubrey Keech Reserve on Saturday to take on the Wests Tigers.
Wyong Roos 20 (J Florimo, S Corrigan, M Stromquist tries; D Nicholls 4 goals) def. Mounties 16 (J Bond, R Goldsmith, M Pangai tries; M Cornish 2 goals) at Morry Breen Oval.
