In front of a packed University Oval, Old Boys' Day crowd, CSU Bathurst did what many thought could be impossible in 2019 and took down the Narromine Gorillas, edging out the reigning New Holland Agriculture Cup's defending premiers 33-29.
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The victory leaves the students as the only undefeated side in Central West Rugby Union's second tier, handing Narromine their first loss of 2019, and then some in fact.
Saturday afternoon's loss was, incredibly, the first time Narromine had tasted defeat since round 18 of 2016's Blowes Clothing Cup, the Gorillas were undefeated in last year's title win and in their 2017 GrainCorp Cup Northern Division title too.
That loss was a full 995 days ago and, in a rather appropriate twist of fate, was inflicted by the same side at the same ground, CSU Bathurst winning 55-10 way back on August 13, 2016.
I've never seen anything [at University Oval] like it. It was something incredible.
- CSU coach David Conyers
Naturally, the final whistle sparked raucous celebrations from the students' faithful old boys, many of whom had been on the wrong end of countless shellackings at the hands of the Gorillas over the years.
"It's an absolutely emotional win. I've never seen anything [at University Oval] like it. It was something incredible," CSU coach David Conyers said.
"It's a fairy tale really. Over the last two weeks our form was pretty ordinary over the uni holidays but the way they'd trained this week and their attitude towards it was an amazing turnaround."
Incredibly it looked as though the result may be far more emphatic than a four-point win too, the students blew the margin out to 33-10 at one stage before the Gorillas roared back into the contest in the second half.
The two sides traded penalty goals early before CSU fullback Matthew Brouff burst through to score in his top grade debut, with Kam Norris extending the student's lead to 15-3 with a try in the corner just moments later.
The Gorillas responded, scoring a five-pointer of their own on the stroke of half-time time, but it did little to half the Mitchell Men's momentum.
Regan Hughes and Nick Greenberg crossed in quick succession after the break and Jack Keppell's boot remained pinpoint, he nailed both conversions and kicked two more penalty goals to push CSU to that 23-point lead.
He enjoyed a perfect day with the boot, in fact, and like it has all season his sharpshooting from the tee ultimately played a crucial role in the win.
CSU's effort had taken its toll though and the Gorillas clawed their way back into the clash and looked more than capable of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, rolling in three unanswered tries in the dying stages.
But the students held on with a stirring defensive surge in the shadows of full time, stamping their authority as genuine title contenders.
"Not giving the ball away like we had been was a big factor. The kicking game was amazing. There were a couple of great [defensive] stands there that took some character amongst the boys," Conyers said.
"I never imagined that we'd be able to turn things around that much."
- CSU BATHURST 33 (Matthew Brouff, Kam Norris, Regan Hughes, Nick Greenberg tries; Jack Keppel 2 conversions, 3 penalty goals) def NARROMINE GORILLAS 29
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