A gorgeous winter's afternoon greeted a very healthy home crowd for the final round of Bengalla Group 21 competition on Sunday with the Greyhounds hosting the Thoroughbreds courtesy of match-day sponsor Singleton Earthmoving.
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The Ourcare Firsts were keen to pick up where they left last week and indeed they took it right up to the unbeaten Scone team for the first 30 minutes of the contest.
Singleton went on the attack and a ball out the back by Dale Watson went through hands to find skipper Luke Gardner crashing over in the corner to give Singleton an early 4-nil lead.
Singleton matched Scones big pack in the opening quarter and it allowed the injection of both Thomas Johnson and Brodie Rinkin into the game and it soon reaped dividends.
Singleton worked their way close to the line before Rinkin exploited a rare weakness in Thoroughbreds line to dive over near the posts to give his side a 10-0 lead after 24 minutes.
Singleton got themselves in that position on the back of zero errors and not giving their opponents repeat sets.
As fatigue started to set in the warm conditions it was Scone that hit back with two tries, the last on the stroke of halftime to give them an unlikely 12-10 lead.
The second half started well for the visitors racing in two quick tries to sit the Dog's back on their heels to lead 24-10 after 47 minutes.
What worked well for Singleton in the first half couldn't be sustained and Scone enjoyed good field position on the back on seven tackle sets and a few Singleton errors directly leading to tries and good teams make you pay a heavy price.
Scone were the team who was error free for much of the game and went on to score four more tries to bring up the final score of 46-10.
The score wasn't necessarily a true reflection of the contest but nevertheless a harsh reality of what Singleton and all other teams in the Group face to topple the Thoroughbreds in 2019.
Hopefully Singleton can take some positives out of their first half performance as the finals are now upon us.
Next Saturday will see Singleton host the Minor Semi-Final's at Pirtek Park against Denman and any thoughts of a lopsided contest like the 84-nil drubbing only a few weeks ago need to be shelved.
Denman have struggled with injuries late in the season but it appears they are preparing an ambush of sorts with a host of players back for this elimination game.
Singleton lead the head to head clashes this season just 3-2, with 26-12, 38-16, 84-0 victories offset by 18-10 and 26-12 losses in Round 2 and 8 respectively.
Such is the nature of this year's competition it will come down to this eighty minute performance next week but Singleton should be quietly confident based on the most recent efforts.
Singleton looks relatively injury free apart from the normal wear and tear one has at this time of year with Frank Paul Nu'uausala overcoming a concussion early in the Scone contest and Cody Argent hopefully back from a sternum injury.
The Remondis Group Reserve grade side has bowed out of the finals race despite a spirited effort against Scone.
Needing a win or draw to progress the Dog's managed to make it 12-12 at the break with tries to Cody Landers and Brayden Turnbull.
Scone skipped out to a 22-12 lead before Tyson Cullen caught a huge bomb and found his way to the line to make it 22-16.
A penalty goal and length of the field try against the run of play was a cruel finish against the second placed Scone side, going down 30-16.
Singleton finished on equal points with Muswellbrook however the Ram's had a superior 'for and against' courtesy of a 68-0 win over Denman on Saturday.
Coach Alex Ferrie has done a good job in his first year at the helm but will be disappointed they are not playing finals.
The Singleton Tyre Centre Under 18's flexed their muscle and look ready to make their presence felt in the finals by crushing Scone 62-6 after leading 34-6 at the break.
A horde of try scorers with five-eighth Brendan Chalker bagging a treble while Beau Parnell, Jacob Sukanaivalu, Jackson Amidy, Blake Trees, Marcus Cowley, Jackson Shade, Josh Johnson and Aiden Allgood crossing the stripe.
Liam Harris backed that effort up with nine goals from 11 attempts with the boot.
The pup's who have remained unbeaten in 2019 take on Muswellbrook on Sunday at Scone in the Major Semi-Final.
Coach Dan Higgins and his staff will have them primed for a great performance and win their way directly to the Grand-final.
The Entire Concrete Ladies League-tag side continued to play with great determination until the very end in their final game of the year against Minor premiers Scone.
The girls fought hard to trail just 16-0 at the break mainly through the efforts of fullback Jorja Warren who has a bright future in the game.
It was another case of the score not being a true reflection of the game according to Scone officials with the final score being 34-0.
Michael Kirkpatrick has moulded this team well and with such a young and inexperienced team they can only improve going forward.
So this Saturday is the last chance to see the Red-Dog's at home in 2019, the club hopes to see another strong crowd on hand to get a victory over the Devils and go a bit deeper into the finals.
Hopefully we can get many of those to double up and watch our crackerjack Juniors side on Sunday as well.
Times for all games are still to be advised at time of print so stay up to date via the clubs Facebook page.
Minor Semi-Final Day - Saturday August 24 - Pirtek Park
First Grade: Singleton vs Denman
Reserve Grade: Aberdeen vs Muswellbrook
Under 18's: Aberdeen vs Scone
Ladies L-Tag: Merriwa vs Muswellbrook
Major Semi-Final Day - Sunday August 25 - Scone Park
First Grade: Scone vs Aberdeen
Reserve Grade: Merriwa vs Scone
Under 18's: Singleton vs Muswellbrook
Ladies L-Tag: Scone vs Murrurundi
