INVERELL HAWKS 20

THE Inverell Hawks' Group 19 campaign is over for this season.

A poor second half performance robbed the Hawks of a chance to appear in the grand final, with the Uralla Tigers prevailing to the tune of 26-20 at Woodville Oval, Uralla on Saturday.

The Tigers now face the Tingha Tigers in this Sunday's second semi-final to fight for a grand final berth.

The Hawks led 20-4 at half time but lost the advantage.

Captain-coach Andrew le Breton said the Hawks were short of players.

"We had hardly any of our forwards available and Geoff Searle and Nathan Worgan came off the bench," le Breton said.

"Then me and Nigel Sharpe were playing in the front row at one stage.

"We did play well in the first half considering the circumstances, but we just ran out of puff.

"Then Uralla used that to their advantage and ran in a few late tries."

Le Breton said it was disappointing to end the season now.

"We had hoped to be able to get back in but this was the way it went," he said.

"And the boys that were there on the day put in a really good effort.

"Sam White was definitely one of the best players.

"Geoff Searle also went really well.

"It has been a successful season and a lot of good things have come out of the year.

"To finish with a minor semi-final is not a bad effort considering this was the first season back for the Hawks for a year."

The U-18s also suffered a loss on Sunday, but they have another chance to make it to the grand final when they play the Guyra Superspuds this weekend.

The Hawks went down to the Glen Innes Magpies 40-16.

President John Foulcher said the game was riddled with mistakes.

"It was a bit of a disappointment and we were also short of players in the U-18s as well,” he said.

“But now they will have to really work hard this weekend against the Superspuds.

“Against the stronger, faster, bigger Glen Innes side they were just torn to pieces.

“But we are confident they will go back to their winning ways and put up a better performance.”

But it wasn't all losses for the Hawks - the OzTag team are now in the grand final after their close win against Glen Innes.

They will face the winner of Glen Innes and Armidale.

Foulcher said the 8-7 win was a lucky one for the girls.

"They went into golden point time and were fortunate to score after two minutes of play," he said.

"They had the lead from the start but they just let Glen Innes back in after a few silly lapses.

"Standout players were Anna Akhurst who scored five tries as well as Tamara Sharpe and Karen Hubner.

"The girls will now prepare for the grand final on September 14."