A twelve-man Wellington Cowboys has held on to claim a remarkable 14-10 Group 11 reserve grade preliminary final win over Macquarie at Caltex Park on Sunday.
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Clinging to a four-point lead after Trent Forrest, Lewis Stanley and Cody Bruce crossed for tries to help the Cowboys have one hand on a grand final appearance, the Wellington club nearly let it slip in the final 60 seconds.
The Cowboys had a player sent off late with Macquaire on the attack, giving the Raiders a golden opportunity to steal the final place in the 2017 decider alongside CYMS.
But the Cowboys held on – much to the delight of injured skipper Craig Roworth.
“We knew it was going to be tough with Macquarie. They’re a proud club, like ourselves,” Roworth said.
“We were our own worst enemies though. We put ourselves on the backfoot, we’ll have to improve heaps to really give CYMS a shake next week.”
The returning captain said his side’s best throughout its run of elimination semi-final wins have been young guns Brogan Black and Mac Dufield.
Both of which helped the club to the 2016 under 18s title.
“We’ve got a couple of players that played in the grand final side last year, Brog is a super star in the making, young Mak is another one. I can’t speak highly enough of him,’ Roworth added.
The 2017 reserve grade grand final is at Caltex Park.
Nick McGrath
Editor, Central Western Daily
Editor, Central Western Daily
