Gungahlin Eagles held off a fast finishing Goulburn Dirty Reds to claim the First Division First Grade glory with a 28-21 victory in an outstanding contest played at Viking Park.
The Eagles were forced to dig deep to stop the Dirty Reds from producing a quality comeback, the visitors roared on by a decent level of travelling support, but the Eagles were too canny and used their strength and physicality to halt the Reds late burst for cup glory.
Eagles raced out of the blocks starting well as flanker Toby Affleck forced his way over the line from close range after only five minutes, Thomas Scott adding the extras with the boot.
Twenty minutes later the Eagles were flying again as, after a series of phases close to the Dirty Reds line, prop Benjamin Stuart forced his way over the whitewash to extend the lead, Scott once more adding the conversion.
At 14-0, Goulburn were on the ropes, but they managed to hit back before the half-time break when Dirty Reds talismanic number eight Mikael Weber forced his way over from a quick tapped penalty taken by scrum half Jackson Reardon. Webber converted his own score.
The Eagles restored their cushion ten minutes into the second half when a dominant scrum pushed Goulburn back towards their own line allowing number 8 Kane Broadrick to fall on the ball over the line with Scott extending the lead to 21-7.
The Dirty Reds weren’t to be rolled so easily though and hit back in some style. Keeping possession, they made inroads into the Eagles defence from where Webber picked up a recycled ball and blazed away to score next to the posts making his own conversion a formality.
Crucially, Eagles struck next as Matthew Power streaked over in the corner, Scott’s touchline conversion a cracker, meaning that even though Alec Palmer crossed with ten minutes to play, banging over the extras to reduce the gap to seven, the Eagles had done enough to claim the win.
First Division First Grade
Grand Final
Gungahlin Eagles (14) 28 (T: Toby Affleck, Benjamin Stuart, Kane Broadrick, Matthew Power C: Thomas Scott (4)) Goulburn Dirty Reds (7) 21 (T: Mikael Webber (2), Alec Palmer C: Mikael Webber (2), Alec Palmer)
