When Berry Shoalhaven Heads five-eighth Josh Coulter was sent from the field his team was always going to find it hard to beat Nowra/Bomaderry in the local derby.
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Coulter, in the first half, was sent from the field at the 35 minute mark of this Group Seven rugby league local derby on Saturday at the Berry Showground.
The Berry five-eighth was sent off after he allegedly abused one of the touch judges.
Coulter thought had just scored what would have been a crucial try for the home side, but it was disallowed.
Within seconds, play was stopped, the officials talked and Coulter was told to leave the field.
The score at the time was 10-nil and the Magpies had to play the entire second half with 12 men.
The Jets went onto win the local derby 24-4.
It was a busy day for the officials and three players were sent to the sin bin and numerous penalties given.
Both teams, given it was a local derby and neither side had won a match this season, were keen to dominate from kick off.
Things got heated around the five-minute mark when a minor scuffle erupted and punches thrown.
Berry winger Russell Shepherd and Nowra/Bomaderry’s back-rower Chaise Sines were both sent to the sin-bin.
Towards the end of the match Jets fullback and former Berry player Jake Gould was also sent to the sin bin for a professional foul.
Once the Jets concentrated on playing football, in the first half, they looked strong and thanks to some great vision from his inside men winger Issac Mumberson crossed out-wide to open the scoring.
The Magpies also settled down and started to play well, but a few errors cost them.
Berry was on the attack, midway into the first half, when the ball was intercepted by centre Dwayne Connors who sprinted down the field in an 80-metre run.
The Berry defence never recovered and from the next play-the-ball, Tyson Simpson scored a converted try out-wide.
Connors, not long after the Coutler incident, went over to score, which gave the visitors a 14-nil lead at the break.
Berry did all it could to withstand the opposition’s attacking raids in the second term but the Jets took control.
To home side’s credit, they never stopped and they even scored the last try of the match when fullback Blygh Heron crossed for a well-deserved four-pointer.
Meanwhile, it was interesting to look at teams’ interchange benches.
The vastly experienced Ryan James, Dylan Farrell and Ben Wellington were used as interchange players for the Jets, while one of Berry’s replacements, teenager Ollie Parrish, made his first-grade debut.
The young Berry forward did well and will no doubt play more first grade in the future.
Best players for the Jets were second rower Santino Battagliolo, who played big minutes, halfback Zac Blattner was creative, hooker Kurt Quinlan produced his normal hardworking effort and Connors was damaging in attack and defence.
For Berry lock Sam Burns played well and had to take on more of a playmaker’s role when his team was down to 12 men, Herron was fantastic at fullback, centre Daniel Gannon was rugged and willing, while Luke Ryder led by example.