A large crowd watched a highly-entertaining, physical 2017 Woodbridge Cup final when Cargo Blue Heelers took on Peak Hill Roosters on the weekend.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Both sides came to play with the early exchanges physical.
Peak Hill opened the scoring in the 6th minute through a try to Caleb Cohen, which was converted by Jyi Cohen.
Cargo hit back with tries to Ethan Beryene and Duncan Young, Matt McLean converting both to take his side out to a 12-6 advantage.
For the next 20 minutes it was the Roosters in the ascendancy as they hit back when Caleb Cohen scored his second try. That effort was followed by a Ricky Read try, with another Cohen conversion taking Cargo out to a 16-12 lead.
The Blue Heelers returned fire with two late tries in the half – one to Jacob Sutherland and the other to Ashley Brown. McLean converted both and Cargo led 24-16 as the teams headed to the dressing sheds at the break.
Upon the resumption the Roosters went on the attack, bridging the Heelers’ lead to four points when Captain-coach Cohen scored a good try.
They extended their advantage through tries to Beryene, his second, and Matt McLean, who also added a penalty goal to send the score out to 40-20 with a quarter of the game remaining.
But Peak Hill refused to die, hitting back with tries to Trenoe Francis, Cohen and Brody Morris. Coupled with a brace of conversions to Cohen the score was 40-36 when time ran out.
The result sets up a grand final blockbuster between the Blue Heelers and hot favourites Trundle Boomers.
Since the 2000 season, when Cargo joined Woodbridge Cup, the Blue Heelers have won eight premierships. If they win next Sunday they will be the most successful side in Woodbridge Cup since it’s inception in 1968.
In the Youth League final Manildra Rhinos defeated Canowindra 18-10. They will meet Trundle in the decider next week.
League Tag saw Eugowra Eaglets beat Cargo 18-8 to book a grand final berth against Grenfell Goannetes.
Last Friday night the competition’s presentation was held at Canowindra Services Club.
The Alex Armstrong Best and Fairest Player of the Year went to Canowindra’s Jayden Brown.
Cody Ramsay of the Manildra Rhinos took out the Youth League major prize, and Cargo’s Sammy Lang claimed the League Tag gong.
Coach of the Year was Trundle’s Adam Hall, while Tim Bailey was named the competition’s top referee.
The season’s top try scorers were Sam Ingram from Grenfell and Mitch Hutchings from Eugowra, who both crossed the stripe 24 times.
In Youth League Ramsay scored the most four-pointers, while Cargo’s Heidi Regan and Grenfell’s Zoe Gavin both recorded 27 tries.
All Woodbridge Cup representative sides were presented with their jumpers on the night.