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AFTER enduring a frustrating time with his Rugby side in the Whitney Cup finals of the past two seasons, Rugby captain Jordan Moran was ecstatic yesterday after his side's win over Macquarie.
After missing the grand final two seasons ago and then being totally outplayed by Colts in the 2012-13 decider, the skipper said it was a great feeling to get his hands on the silverware.
"To not play in the one that we won and to then get absolutely towelled up last year, personally it means a lot because I probably won't be captain next year so it's a brilliant way to top off this little chapter and I'm over the moon," he said.
While an 81-run margin made yesterday's match look one-sided, it was a lot closer than that most of the day and Moran said a huge part of their win was down to Ben Taylor's innings, where he came in and smashed the ball all over the park on his way to making 62 not out from just 35 balls as Rugby finished at 8-201 from their 40 overs.
After Michael Kempston, Mitch Bower and Moran fell early on, it was an impressive comeback and the skipper was full of praise for Taylor.
"We were 3-30 and we knew it wasn't going to be easy batting first but it just shows what you can do with wickets in hand," he said.
"Turbo (Taylor) works almost the hardest out of all of us and he got the rewards today and I don't think I've ever seen anyone hit them that clean that often and we probably would have only got 140 if it wasn't for him."
Mitch Bower's part-time spin then took the two big wickets of Jason Green and James O'Brien and Moran said his decision to bowl Bower ahead of premier spinners Adrian Carey and Ryan Medley was a gamble.
"Mitchy hasn't bowled much this season but he loves the big occasion," he said.
"I didn't want to bowl the leggys to the left-handers with that short boundary so I thought with Mitchy being a bit quicker it might work and it was a roll of the dice that paid off."
With wickets falling early the Blues were always going to struggle and despite Wade Burrowes making 27 not out late in the match, Macquarie could only manage 120 and captain Jason Green couldn't hide his disappointment.
"We bowled alright early, the first 25-30 overs were good but we just lost our way and didn't bowl to our plans in the last 10 and 'BT' (Taylor) hit some big sixes and we just bowled to their strengths and that was more disappointing than anything," he said.
"We should have been chasing 140-150 and chasing 200 was always going to be a hard task but the better team won on the day and they were too good."
While Bower finished with 3-12 from his eight overs, Ben Patterson also impressed, taking 4-28 while of the Macquarie bowlers earlier in the day, Tyler Cleary and Nathan Reichelt both took two wickets.
While the Rugby players soaked up the moment after the win Moran took a moment to look back on a hugely successful season and said the club was in great shape to be pushing for honours again next season.
"We were minor premiers last year and only lost a couple and we've got a good culture starting and a good young side so it's rewarding and rewarding for blokes like Al (Horrocks) and Par (Moses) and the board."