Canowindra Junior Pythons travelled to Dubbo for their last gala day of the year with high hopes for the teams in a gala day where a winner was played for at the end of the rounds.
Under 10s
After the car trip from Canowindra the Under 10s faced the home Dubbo side in their first game.
The 10s were a little slow to start and Dubbo took full advantage as they attacked from the opening whistle, determined to beat Canowindra's rampaging 10s team.
Dubbo continued to attack as Michael Brown, George Carroll and Tim Middleton tackled anything that moved often just short of the try line.
The Pythons couldn't keep up this defensive effort throughout the game and Dubbo eventually pushed through for three tries late in the second half.
Levi Richards, Ben Harrison, Jack Beath and "Dozer" Morgan Smith tackled their socks off and kept the score line from blowing out any further although their concentration on defence left the 10s little breath left for any counter attack.
However, in their second game against Macquarie Emus, the Emus felt the 10s Pythons wrath as they started the game at fever pitch and never let the effort dwindle.
The backs had their crisp passing hitting every hand as George and Tim crossed for a try apiece after lengthy runs through the Macquarie defence.
Not to be outdone Alexander Bennett crossed for his first try of the season, before crossing for his second only minutes later.
Ben Harrison filled in at centre for Josh Trayhern, who had a clash of commitments and had a ball as he broke the Macquarie defence nearly every time he had the ball and this glut of possession resulted in a personal best of five tries for the game.
Michael Brown ran in two tries of his own while Cormac Lamond, Jack Beath and Levi Richards crossed for a try apiece as the Pythons exploited the gaps in the Macquarie defence.
The 10s last game of the season was against Forbes and once again it was try festival for the team.
While not crossing the line for a try himself the little general, Peter McNamara set up nearly every one else as he coordinated the entire game from half back and fired both forwards and backs over the line to score.
Dozer Morgan Smith went over the line for a strong running try. Not long after he was followed over the line by fellow forwards Jack, Cormac, Michael and Levi as the team went on a rampage.
Not to be outdone the backs also added to the try scorers as Ben and Tim added to their tally with another try apiece.
George found an extra gear and almost eclipsed Ben from the game before as he scored four tries through and around the Forbes defence.
This closed off a very successful year for the under 10s as each player improved their skills and became a close team on the field, which saw the team be very successful and only lose or tie about three games over the entire season.
Under 8s
The under 8s faced Mudgee in their first game and great attack hindered by the introduction of a few new rules in the final game of the season.
However, this was countered by great team work from the 8s as their defence was equal to the Mudgee attack and tries from either team were scarce.
Tom Robson, Noah Richards and Jacob Nash made some scintillating runs up field ably supported by Toby who scored the 8s only try of the game.
Will Fagan and Joseph Clarke showed their tackling prowess as they brought many a Mudgee player up short and they were assisted in the defensive effort by Peter Harrison, Toby Harrison and Jonah Richards.
Forbes was the 8s second opponents and the team work continued seamlessly from the first game.
Quick ripping of the ball from the Forbes attackers saw the 8s make many inroads into the opposition half as Will and Joseph ripped and passed skilfully.
Tom Robson found a gap in the defence and side stepped his way across the line for a try.
Solid defence from Peter and Noah saw the Forbes attack stifled as Toby Harrison sprinted the length of the field to score our wide.
Jacob Nash finished off the scoring with a try of his own in the corner.
The 8s final opponents were the Mudgee A Team and once again the 8s acquitted themselves well with Jonah Richards leading the defensive effort for the littlest Pythons ably supported by Toby Harrison who was a tackling dynamo.
Jacob Nash made an initial break before he passed to Joseph Clarke who ran further down the side of the field and passed the ball with precision to any quick Pythons.
Peter and Noah continued their strong running right to the end as they combined to send Noah over in the corner right on the final buzzer.
Presentation night for the Junior Pythons will be held this Friday at the Rugby Clubhouse starting at about 5.30pm, so come along and celebrate their successful season that was 2006.
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