SOME extra speed on the wings, a flying fullback and some dogged defence helped Cargo take out the 2011 Woodbridge Cup grand final on Saturday.
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Playing in Cargo in front of 2112 spectators, the Blue Heelers were up 16-12 at half-time and held off a fast-finishing Canowindra outfit to win 37-24 at Cargo Oval in a match broadcast live across the country by the 2GB Continuous Call Team.
Cargo captain-coach Matt Taylor was hoisted onto the shoulders of his team-mates after the win.
“I’m very excited,” Taylor smiled.
“It was a fantastic game, and it was very fair, too, so it was a real good hit-out.”
The Heelers pulled away for a 14-point lead early in the second half before the Tigers came back at them.
Cargo put on 11 points in the last 13 minutes to ensure they took home the trophy.
“It was tight for a while,” Taylor said.
“We’ve been slackening off the last few weeks but the last 10 minutes we lifted.
“We knew we had to because we knew Canowindra would come back.”
The Tigers looked the better side early on with forward Brad Bowman charging over the line to score in the 10th minute, with Rob Burn kicking a successful conversion.
Eight minutes later it was 6-all after Adam Clunes sprinted out from dummy-half and through a gap to score and Steve Maere converted.
Minutes later Cargo were held up thanks to a great tackle from Tigers fullback Sam O’Malveney.
Cargo put on two more tries before the break with winger Karl Maere and centre Tim Shephard scoring and Steve Maere kicking one conversion.
Right on the half-time bell Canowindra scored by keeping the ball alive and centre Mat Kelly crashed over.
Burn’s conversion made it 16-12 with Cargo just in front at the break.
Seven minutes into the second half Cargo were out to a 26-12 lead with Shephard and Karl Maere each scoring their second tries.
Canowindra came within two points, with Kelly bagging his second four-pointer Burn scoring a try for Cargo to hold a slender 26-24 lead.
Steve Maere was next to score in spectacular fashion when Shephard put up a bomb and the fullback flew higher than anyone else, grabbed the ball and grounded it in one fluid motion.
Maere missed the conversion but Cargo were leading 30-24 with 13 minutes left.
Minutes later Tigers five-eighth Darren Nurcombe looked to have scored next to the left post but was ruled to have knocked on by referee Wayne Prosser.
In the next set Taylor got a hand free before he was brought down and offloaded to Shephard, who ran away for his third try.
Maere’s conversion made it 36-24 with six minutes remaining.
With two minutes left on the clock, Clunes kicked a field goal to add to Cargo’s winning total.
Canowindra coach Garry Whatman was proud of the way his boys played but said they were beaten by a better side.
“Probably in the end their (Cargo’s) class out wide was the difference,” Whatman said.
“A bit of extra speed and their class was the difference.”
Whatman thought it could have been a different result had Nurcombe been awarded the try late in the game.
“I think if we had’ve scored that try here, we would have won that,” he said.
“He reckons he got it over but that’s just footy. I believe that probably was a turning point.”
Whatman was impressed with his entire side and hoped they would all be back in 2012 to try and go one better.
Taylor said he was thrilled with the way his team played and held strong in defence, especially late in the game.
The captain-coach singled out Rod Jones and Ash Brown for praise in an impressive team performance.
❏ CARGO BLUE HEELERS 37 (Tim Shephard 3, Karl Maere 2, Adam Clunes, Steve Maere tries; Steve Maere 4 goals; Adam Clunes field goal) def CANOWINDRA TIGERS 24 (Mat Kelly 2, Brad Bowman, Rob Burn tries; Burn 4 goals).
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