The heartbreak of last weekend’s one-point loss to Hunter was short lived for the Northern Inland Bushrangers under 17s.
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A last-minute penalty handed the Bushrangers a thrilling 20-18 win over Sydney South harbour in the second round of the Junior Gold Cup on Saturday.
It may have seemed like
deja-vu for the under 17s as they again surrendered a comfortable lead in the second half, but they weren’t about to let victory slip from their grasp again.
Leading 17-8, the Bushrangers conceded two tries in six minutes to fall behind 18-17.
Still trailing inside the final minute, the Bushrangers were awarded a penalty and The Armidale School’s Brett Kelly-Wirth calmly stepped up and slotted it home.
“It was a fantastic effort,” Northern Inland Junior Gold Cup manager Jamie Moore said.
“Saturday was a very tough game, a real arm-wrestle.
“It was a hard slog and the Sydney teams are always big.
“It was a matter of sticking in there and having faith in our game plan.”
The Bushrangers backed up the following day to take on a strong Sydney North West team, but this time they were on the wrong end of a late penalty. The Sydney side booted a late penalty goal to steal a 8-7 win from the hands of Northern Inland.
Moore said while the boys dearly wanted two wins from as many games, the mood was far from disappointed following the one-point loss.
“Everyone was absolutely stoked we were that competitive and we able to win one game,” he said.
“The loss didn’t put a dampener on the weekend at all.”
The win on day one was an excellent result for Northern Inland, but the performance on the second day may have been even more impressive.
“Our boys played two in a row against teams that only had to play one game,” Moore said.
“The fact that they backed up against a strong side and only went down by one was a great effort.”
It was a tougher weekend for the under 15s Bushrangers who went down 52-6 and 50-nil in their two games.
Northern Inland now has a weekend off before hosting South Australia, who they defeated in both the under 15s and 17s last season, on Friday, March 6.
“With the boys having a weekend off, they can’t wait for the South Australia games,” Moore said.
