A try on the siren prevented the South West Rocks Marlins from completing the perfect start to their season against the Beechwood Shamrocks last Saturday.
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The high quality match was a shootout with 74-points scored in the 38-36 victory for the Shamrocks.
The Marlins were their own worst enemy in the early exchanges as dropped ball and poor discipline gave a mountain of possession to their opponents.
The lack of opportunities led to the Marlins facing a 20-4 half-time deficit, however they managed to cross a minute before the interval to trail by 10-points at the break.
The Marlins were a much-improved side in the second period as their passes were sticking and they thought they had wrapped up the match when they took a 36-34 lead with a minute remaining.
However, the Marlins were left to rue their mistakes as the Shamrocks crossed in the corner as the hooter was sounding to steal the victory.
The try fest left Marlins’ co-coach Sam Drew pleased with his side’s attack but acknowledges there is still plenty to work on.
“There were a lot of tries scored against us and I thought we would be more solid in defence,” Drew told the Argus.
“We put ourselves under a lot of pressure in the first half. We weren’t completing out sets and we barely had any of the ball.”
The Marlins don’t have long to get things right as they face off with Kendall Blues this Saturday.
The Blues have been the benchmark of the Hastings League for the past five seasons and the Marlins suffered two defeats to them in the pre-season.
“It’s a difficult one, they are a structured team and the majority of their core have played together for years,” Drew said.
“We will need to be at our best this Saturday.”
