Casuarina Cougars make a statement in beating Darwin Dragons in Round 12 of the Darwin rugby union competition

CASUARINA Cougars pounced in the second half to win 29-5 over the reigning premiers Darwin Dragons in Round 12 of the Darwin A-grade rugby union competition.

Simaika Salaa scored two tries in Casuarina Cougars’ win over Darwin Dragons. Picture: Glenn Campbell

CASUARINA Cougars pounced in the second half to win 29-5 over the reigning premiers Darwin Dragons in Round 12 of the Darwin A-grade rugby union competition.

The Cougars laid on the early pressure charging forward and looked to stretch the heavy Darwin pack early, but the Dragons’ scramble defence staved off any early score.

Dragons looked to return the favour with captain Drew Tobin, Caleb Niki and Ankin Lewis making handy inroads into the Cougars’ half, but overblown kicks ended their early chances too.

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It was a series of handling errors from Dragons that leaked the first score with Casuarina’s scrum-half Dakota Marsh taking advantage and gathering the ball to take the try.

The Dragons’ forwards kept the side in the game for a while longer, pushing forth and retaining the ball to earn themselves a couple of penalties deep in opposition territory.

It was from there they were able to push through from a lineout for a Euan Mckillop try that would be their final score of the night.

Cougars found their feet from stretching the Dragons defence across the park, and with captain Zach Phillips running the show from fly-half, offensive structures kicked into life.

Simaika Salaa dominated offensively, charging through the tiring Dragons defence and scoring two second-half tries either side of a try from Aubrey Olm.

“There’s a lot of relief to get the win after the humbling loss to Souths so it was good to get points on the board and see the boys step up,” Phillips told the Sunday Territorian.

“We just stuck to our structures and game plan and took the pressure off ourselves.

“In the first half we tried to use it too much which didn’t work too well with the greasy surface and slippy ball so we got back to our structures and that paid dividends in the end.

“Everyone really stood up across the park. Our backs had limited ball at the start but I think we used the ball well when we did have it and as a team that was probably our best win so far.

“When we play our brand of footy we have an attractive game so we just need to stick to our structures and what we know and we should go all right.”

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And South Darwin continued their unbeaten run with a 45-3 win over bottom side Palmerston Crocs, with Jone Vakacegu scoring two tries.