RUGBY LEAGUE
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DAPTO notched consecutive wins for the first time this season with a 36-10 victory over Corrimal at Ziems Park on Saturday.
With the likes of Matt Handcock and Benson Tupou away on representative duty, a youthful forward pack led the Canaries to victory.
Josh Vaartjes scored a double and James Ralphs also notched a well-deserved try midway through the second half after Dapto had led 16-6 at half-time.
Coach Chris Leikvoll praised his side's commitment in what was a dangerous game for both sides who were without key players.
"There were patches where we played well and some patches where we let ourselves down again, which has been the story of our year, but it was good to get the two points," he said.
"The boys are working hard and it's back-to-back wins so you've got to be happy with that," he said.
"You need to do all the hard stuff first and I thought we did that at times. That allows us to free ourselves up a bit but until we do that for a whole game and earn the right to play like that, we're not going to go forward into the competition."
The Canaries laid a strong platform despite a lack of experience up front against a Cougars side without regular pack leader Jacob Hind.
Leikvoll hopes his young forwards will continue to lift when his big names return.
"Missing Matty [Handcock], Benson [Tupou] and also Korki [Michael Korkidas] - that was a lot of experience out of our pack," he said.
"Ralphsy was good today and Josh Vaartjes had been great for us all year, and young Tory Brunning came up today so we were a very young side.
"We'll probably see the fruits of that in a couple of years but I was pleased for those boys today."
Dapto got on top early in the match - when hooker Mick Murphy strolled over from dummy-half after nine minutes for a 6-0 lead and when Vaartjes and centre Sitiveni Mocedreke had scored soon after, it looked like it might be a long afternoon for the home side.
The spirited Cougars hit back when Dale Sullivan barged over to reduce the lead to 16-6 at half-time.
Dapto started the half strongly as Shae Moran opened the Cougars up and kicked ahead for young-gun Jake Harrigan to regather and score for a 20-6 lead.
Moran then combined with halfback John Kennedy to finish off a try up the middle to make it 26-6.
Kennedy was back in it moments later when he split the line and allowed James Ralphs to score to extend the lead to 30-6.
The Cougars hit back through fullback Rikki Piggot to make it 30-10 before a late try to Vaartjes sealed the 36-10 result.