THE Albion Park-Oak Flats Eagles are off to a flying start in their 2019 Group Seven campaign, thanks to a strong 28-nil opening round win against the Stingrays of Shellharbour.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
It only took 11 minutes for the hosts to score their first points of the season when centre Blake Jones made a break from inside his own half, stepped around two defenders and dived over to score untouched.
Half James Bower Scott couldn't add the extras and the score remained 4-nil.
This was how the score remained until the final of the first half, when young five-eighth Jayden Harris ran 80 metres to score next the uprights.
Bower Scott's kick made it 10-nil to Gary Breakspear's men at the break.
Four minutes after the resumption, the lead was stretched even further when hooker Brent Wake dived over from dummy-half, to score a try in his club debut.
Bower Scott again made no mistake with the boot, extending the lead to 16.
The match then returned to an arm-wrestle, with both teams lacking the class at the end of their sets.
But the home fans at Centenary Field were given more reasons to cheer in the 70th minute, when Rodney Coates carried two Stingrays defenders across the line.
Bower Scott converted from right next to the stick to make it 22-nil.
The match was iced in the final play of the game, when Harris stepped his way through the Stingrays' tired defence to score his second.
His halves partner nailed his fourth conversion for the match, to make it 28-nil at full-time.
Next up for the Eagles is a trip to Kevin Walsh Oval to face Jamberoo, while the Stingrays will host the Sharks in the Shellharbour showdown at Flinders Field.