The Kempsey Cannonballs first grade side weren’t able to overcome a long list of injuries as they suffered a 29-24 defeat against the South Cross University Marlins on home soil on Saturday.
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The Cannonballs, who were grand finalists last season, are in the same position they were 12 months ago after winning just one of their opening five matches.
The side went on to win all but one of their remaining regular season games to book a spot in the finals.
Coach Jared Fuller believes the side is capable of a repeat effort.
“Our narrow losses show that we aren’t far off where we need to be,” Fuller said.
“There are just a few times throughout the game where we come up with an error and that mistake costs us.
“The belief is there within the boys that we can do it.”
The Cannonballs will enjoy a week off this Saturday and Fuller is hopeful the extra time between games will allow injured players to return to the field.
Tasi Afoa, Iulio Tavete, Daniel Mills, Jesse Ball and Matt South missed Saturday’s clash but could line up for the Cannonballs against the Port Macquarie Pirates.
“With a bit of luck we will have those guys back for our next game and they will obviously be huge for us,” Fuller said.
“Iulio was injured in our only trial game in the pre-season and he was going to be the vocal point of our attack this year and he is a really great player.”
The Cannonballs sprinted out of the blocks on Saturday and crossed twice to take an early 14-0 lead.
The flying Fijian Viliame Tobesea capped his return to the orange and black with the opening try, barging his way over a SCU defender
A strong run by Todd giddy resulted in him breaking the defence from 30 metres out and he strolled over for the side’s second.
The Marlins fought their way back though to level the scores at the break.
They kept their foot down to start the second half, crossing for another two tries and adding a penalty goal to extend their lead to 29-14.
With 10 minutes remaining in the match, the Cannonballs fought their way back into the contest, firstly through Carl thurgood, who bamboozled the defence with a left foot step and scored under the sticks.
Before Braden Farrawell reduced the deficit to one try after a linebreak down the right handside from Tobesea.
However, the Cannonballs ran out of time as they suffered another loss by less than a converted try.
The side faces the Port Macquarie Pirates in a fortnights time. It will be round seven of the Upper Mid North Coast Rugby Union competition.