Rugby union kicked off with a local derby for the Cooma Red Devils and the Jindabyne Bushpigs last weekend, with Cooma extracting revenge from last year’s results with a commanding home ground win 47-15 at Rotary Oval.

Cooma set the tone early with a double to Jake Quodling inside the first 15 minutes and when Jakob Stewart crossed the home crowd were ready for a point scoring frenzy.

Jindabyne, fielding an entirely different team than their 2024 grand final winning combination were struggling to find rhythm. Veteran Liam Pepper tried to rally the troops with some strong running, but the team lacked cohesion.

With nine debutants in their side, they have work to do to fix their combinations. Big Matt Jones proved a handful out wide taking several defenders along for a ride, but any second phase play ran into headwinds and strong Cooma defence.

Cooma looked to be well drilled and the more superior side up until midway through the first half where their discipline let them down poorly. They seemed to be on a self-destruct mission as they gave away endless penalties which allowed the Bushpigs visitors to finally apply pressure and work their way back into the game with two tries in the left corner.

At half time there was nothing in the score, but the second half was a letdown for the visitors.

Jindabyne faltered from the ruck, their passing from the scrum poor with passes not hitting the mark which entirely stalling any forward momentum.

Cooma seemed unstoppable, albeit with a few lucky bounces that resulted in several runaway tries as the scoreboard was ballooning at a rapid rate and the Red Devils overjoyed with a great 47-15 victory over their arch rivals.

Cooma captain Damien Roach played strong and led his team around the paddock. After the game he was asked about reversing the score after a few heavy defeats in 2024.

“We are a different side, we have gained a lot of numbers,” said Roach

“We got a bit of momentum in the second half.  We made it hard in the first half with ill-discipline and lots of penalties.”

“We have a very good squad this year with lots of talent. The club is ready for a big season.”