DEFENSIVELY Port City were resilient enough when they had to be in a tough 12-4 under-18 Group 3 rugby league victory over Wauchope on Saturday.
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The Breakers didn't get to their kick for four sets in a row during a frustrating five-minute period midway through the second half that would have had coach Dan Kemp pulling his hair out.
But his side kept on turning up in defence to preserve their 6-4 lead before fullback Cuban Piper sealed the deal five minutes from full-time.
"Last week we went down a try against a good side in Wingham and they disconnected and laid down a little bit," Kemp said.
We're still making it tough on ourselves in terms of blokes making individual choices rather than what's best for the team, but they're kids and they're learning.
- Port City Breakers coach Dan Kemp
But this week the Breakers refused to.
"We're still making it tough on ourselves in terms of blokes making individual choices rather than what's best for the team, but they're kids and they're learning," Kemp said.
Kemp said their performance was "how they should be playing" following last week's disappointing 18-0 defeat to Wingham at a slippery Woods Street.
"It certainly suited us today with the hot, dry weather and being a small team we like to play fast and that suited us compared to last week," he said.
"I told them I was proud of their resilience in defence, but 'you idiots' ... they made it tough on themselves."
Five-eighth Cody Fisher was a constant threat in attack, scoring a brilliant solo try to open the scoring in the first half.
"Cody ran the ball today and he's a very dynamic runner; he's so dangerous when he runs and so too is Brent Nixon so we're working on that," Kemp said.
"We're adding layers every week and they're going to end up a decent footy team."
We made a rod for our own back.
- Wauchope Blues coach Rod Franklin
After starting the shortened eight-week competition with two-straight losses, Kemp admitted it was a must-win fixture.
"You can't go zero and three ... one and two is not great but at least we're moving forward," he said.
Disappointed Wauchope coach Rod Franklin lamented his side's ill-discipline and complacency that saw their unbeaten start to the season come to an end.
"We made a rod for our own back," he said.
"The penalty count was 11-3 and twice we let them come all the way down the paddock and if you're defending all that time, it's going to take its toll."
By the end of the first half the Blues' completion rate was less than 50 percent.
"We'd barely completed a full set and when we did we scored; it's an easy game when you play percentages and we didn't," the coach said.
Franklin admitted his team gave away too many penalties and was hopeful the loss would not prove too costly in a shortened season.
"In this sort of competition one loss can be a bad thing because there's only eight games so now we're mid-range," he said.
"We'll dust ourselves off and go again next week.
"The boys are hurting a bit now but hopefully they don't go out as complacent next time."
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