TRY TIME: Tom Johnson was the hero for Orange City colts last week. Photo: MICHELLE COOK 0913mctom1
LAST week Tom Johnson was the hero for Orange City and he’s willing to do it again tomorrow if called on.
Johnson scored on the buzzer to down CSU Bathurst and push the Lions into the Blowes Clothing Cup colts grand final.
The young Lions were trailing CSU 11-7 and were held up over the line but had enough time to pack the scrum one last time.
The flanker darted from the back of the scrum and crashed over the line to score and give City a 12-11 victory.
“That was very lucky. I’d tried to go from the back of the scrum a couple of times and got smashed. I was so glad I got through.”
“I didn’t really realise I’d scored because I wasn’t sure where the line was. Then the guys jumped on me.”
Tomorrow the Lions will take on minor premiers Dubbo Kangaroos in the grand final.
Johnson knows it’s going to be a challenge.
“I think we’re rightfully underdogs. Dubbo are undefeated,” Johnson said.
“We’re happy to have made it. We’ve got nothing to lose.”
That doesn’t mean he thinks his team can’t win.
“I think we have a chance. We’ll just give it our best,” he said.
Orange City coach Anthony Sullivan knows his team can push the Roos.
“We’re a lot better side than we were earlier in the season,” Sullivan said.
“We just need to cut out our mistakes. We made a lot of silly errors last week. We have dramatically cut down our penalties so we’re not giving the ball away as much.”
In this season’s second round, the Roos toppled the Lions 31-15 and also came out on top 18-17 in round 11.
Orange City are on a roll having won their way from fifth to the grand final while the Roos have played one finals match.
Sullivan expects playing at Pride Park will make an impact.
“We’ve travelled to Parkes, Narromine and Dubbo and we finally get to come home,” Sullivan said.
The Blowes Clothing Cup colts grand final will kick-off at 10.30am tomorrow at Pride Park.
ORANGE CITY: 1 Rob Palaki, 2 Sam Cubbin, 3 Sone Koopu, 4 Ben Wright, 5 Keelan Redmond, 6 Dan Cheney, 7 Tom Johnson, 8 Nick Aher, 9 Jarryd Hyde, 10 Joe Alexander (c), 11 Brendon Longley, 12 Simon Palu, 13 Matt Foliaki, 14 Daniel Haywood, 15 Sam Dwyer. Coach: Anthony Sullivan.
