U6 Joeys Nowra 16 Sussex Inlet 20. Four tries to Hunter Ganderton with Riley Bertholini being awarded Player of the Match.

Nowra Warriors U16's vs Ulladulla. Nowra under 16's travelled to Ulladulla for their first game of the year, led out by co-captains Kaleb Stewart and Cameron Haydock.

Nowra kicked off with Ulladulla having the first opportunity with the ball. After defending, Nowra dropped the ball on the first tackle and had to defend their line immediately. After holding Ulladulla out with great defence, Nowra again dropped the ball in poor field position and were again forced to defend. Once again Nowra's defence prevailed, holding Ulladulla out and keeping the scores locked 0-0.

Nowra finally were able to complete some sets and were led by some strong charges by their forwards, including William Braddick, Daniel Moore and Jarrah McLeod, however Ulladulla's defence was also very good and physical, limiting Nowra's metres gained throughout the first half. Although Nowra had several promising attacking raids, with multiple line breaks down both the left and right edge from both Jayden Simms and Ty Bradbury, the last pass would go astray or Ulladulla's cover defence would tackle Nowra into touch.

Nowra was continually forced to defend and were constantly having to kick deep within their own half, with Ulladulla having most of the possession and field position. It was Nowra's exceptional and at times brutally physical defence keeping Nowra in the game, continually stopping Ulladulla's attacking raids. Kaleb Stewart's kicking game was outstanding; always finding the grass and making Ulladulla bring it out from their corners and the kick chase was just as good.

It was only with a few minutes to play in the first half when Nowra had its only defensive lapse of the half; Ulladulla split Nowra's middle, setting up a play which allowed Ulladulla to score next to the posts before converting. Nowra ended the first half down 6-0, however it could have been a lot more if not for their fantastic defence.

Nowra's message was simple at half-time, keep up the defence, play direct, and build pressure, if they did that, we would come home strong. Nowra scored early in the second half, after a magic piece of play by second rower Jarrah McLeod who made a one-on-one strip before racing 40 metres untouched and scoring out wide. The conversion by Stewart was unsuccessful and Nowra were down 6-4.

Nowra continued their strong defence and fantastic kicking game in the second half. Nowra's fullback, Sebastian Kyte was working hard from fullback and was saving tries with his steadiness under the high ball and ability to clean up the kick in the in-goal area. Nowra was starting to build pressure by completing sets and getting quick play the balls, allowing ever reliable dummy half, Cameron Haydock, and halves Diaz Brown and Kaleb Stewart opportunity to play from the front foot leading to more line breaks form Centre Jayden Simms.

Nowra scored again and took the lead, after a brilliant piece of individual play by halfback Kaleb Stewart, taking on the line, beating several defenders and racing 35 metres to score. Kaleb converted from the sideline to lead 10-6. There were two more tries scored by Jarrah Mcleod, giving him a total tally of 3 tries for the day and leading Nowra to eventual 22-6 winners.

Best performers on the day were Jayden Simms and Jarrah McLeod, with Jayden earning Player of The Match. However there were also several other strong performances by Kaleb Stewart, William Braddick, Dan Moore, Sebastian Kyte and Cameron Haydock. Overall a great win led by outstanding defence.