Brown - despite visibly struggling with a knee complaint suffered while on Group 10 duties on Saturday - starred at halfback for the Bears yesterday, scoring a brace and laying on two tries for teammates in the seven point victory.

Brown got plenty of support from a, mostly, red-hot Blayney outfit, in particular halves partner Steve Lane, who snapped a crucial late field goal, and winger Casey Wallace, who grabbed a hat-trick.

“That’s a very good win, it was well earned,” Blayney captain-coach Dane Howarth, sidelined with an abdominal tear, said.

“We did give a lot of penalties away, which we’ve done for four weeks in a row.

“The forwards laid the platform. Will Ingram had a good game, and TC (Terawhiti Cooper) fronted up again.”

It took just three minutes for Blayney to open the scoring when Wallace grabbed his first at the end of a repeat set, forced by a deft Brown kick.

Brown then extended his side’s lead 15 minutes later when he breezed through Cowra’s right edge, and despite Lane missing both attempts at goal, the floodgates looked set to open.

Cowra rallied though, with Mitch Browne crossing and Toi Sepuloni adding the extras. Wallace scored another to give his side a 12-6 lead but Cowra centre Aiden Craig crossed on the stroke of half-time to get his side within two at the break.

Cowra also struck first after half-time through converted tries to Cody Brooks and Ron Lawrence, giving the Magpies the lead for the first time at 22-12, with 30 minutes left in the game.

A back-and-forth period ensued, but it was Blayney who capitalised, firstly with Wallace’s third, and then Brown’s second - a 100 metre individual effort. Cameron Dennis’ single conversion locked the game up at 22-all.

Amid a chorus of unbelieving giggles from the crowd Lane then nailed a 63rd minute field goal to take the lead, but it was the veteran playmaker who had the last laugh when Leigh Monaghan latched onto a bomb to score, before Lane crossed himself, giving the Bears and an all but unassailable 33-22 lead with just minutes left.

Williams crossed in the 77th minute for Cowra, but it was merely a consolation effort.

“I am very happy with that, but again, we’ll work on our discipline which we have been trying to work on all year,” Howarth said.

“I’m not going to throw my arms up and say we can’t touch them, but I think they were the better side today,” Cowra coach Steve Sutton said.

“They have big forwards, and smart halves, and played well. We should’ve been more ruthless when we were 22-12 up.”

BLAYNEY BEARS 33 (Casey Wallace 3, Terry Brown 2, Steve Lane, Leigh Monaghan tries; Cameron Dennis 2 goals; Lane field goal) def COWRA MAGPIES 26 (Aiden Craig, Mitchell Browne, Cody Brooks, Ron Lawrence, Warren Williams tries; Toi Sepuloni 3 goals)