Waratah Tigers end Group 20 season with big win over Yanco Wamoon Hawks

The Tigers came away with a 42-22 win in the Group 20 clash at Exies Oval on Sunday afternoon, as the two sides wrapped up the final game of the season before finals.

The Hawks got off to the perfect start shortly after the opening whistle, going up 6-0 after a blistering turn of pace left the Tigers line in it's wake.

But just minutes later the Tigers put together a few passes of their own, finding Tom Sellars on the right wing who surged through a gap for a simple try.

Just minutes later Kose Lelei burst through the middle of the field, shaking off multiple tackles from the Hawks and placing the ball down just under the posts.

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Peniona Tamanisave got in on the action shortly after, when the ball was swung to him on the far right to score a try right in the corner.

The Hawks then put together a quick move down the other end, which culminated in Lachlan Pengelly diving over the try line to bring his side back into the game.

Both sides then added another try to their tally as they went into half-time with the Tigers leading 16-18.

Once again the away side came out of the gates firing, with Jamain Morgan getting on the end of a good kick from Yanco to score a try and put his side into their first lead since the opening five minutes.

But the try would be the last of the game for the Hawks, as the Waratah Tigers ramped up the pressure and tightened up their defense for the remaining minutes.

Around 50 minutes in a surging run from Tamanisave brought the ball deep into Hawks territory, before it eventually made its way to Benjamin Vearing who danced through some tackles to score a try under the posts and bring the scores level.

The ball was firmly in the hands of the Tigers for the rest of the game, and a surge which saw three tries in quick succession resulted in the Hawks calling the game seven minutes early.

Tigers co-coach Trey Woodland said he was happy with how the side recovered in the second half after a less than perfect opening.

"It was pretty scrappy at the start I think Yanco definitely came up to play but we got our stuff together in the second half," Woodland said.

"In defense we started to muscle up a bit and want to be there and put on a good performance as we head into finals and I think that made the difference in the end.

"We're definitely riding high heading into finals."

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