The Bega Roosters fell victim to something of a coup by a vigorous Eden Tigers outfit on Sunday.
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The Tigers were clinging desperately to their finals chances in a must-win scenario against the Roosters, but came away with a two-point win 18-16.
And the Roosters were on the back foot early.
The Bega club had pushed right up to Eden’s 10 where James Bower-Scott fired a well-weighted chip kick towards the corner.
However, Eden bolter Joel Grewar plucked the ball mid-air and out-sprinted his Bega opponents in a 100-metre dash for a solo try effort under the posts.
Bega replied shortly after, pushing the right edge with centre Declan Bower-Scott crashing through the defence – but the conversion attempt flagged off to the left of the posts.
The Roosters again pushed up on the right and James found room to squeeze through, giving the Roosters a two-point lead as his kick again faded left.
The Tigers struck back through Matt Whitehead after Grewar again made a break from 40-metres out, but was charged down with a clever offload 10-metres out giving Whitehead the chance to score.
A second try to James before Lee Fuller joined the scoring meant the Roosters were leading 16-10 at the break.
However, the second half proved grinding and hard for both clubs, but it was Eden pushing through some offensive efforts with tries to Matt and Toby Whitehead giving them the two-point buffer.
Just two home and away rounds remain in the Group 16 competition.