With another promising performance Orange City forced Cowra to pull out all the stops to earn a 31-27, bonus-point victory at Pride Park on Saturday afternoon.
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The hosts bolted out of the gate to lead 10-nil early and while Cowra barged their way back into the clash to lead 21-17 at half-time, the gutsy Lions swung momentum back in their favour to edge back in front by a point with 20 minutes to go.
They looked a genuine shout to cause a monumental upset and had a chance to in the dying stages as well, even after a converted Joe Dakuitoga try in the 67th minute gave the Eagles a four-point buffer.
But it wasn't quite to be.
If we had've laid down, I think they would have come right over the top of us.
- Cowra skipper Tim Berry, paying Orange City due credit
Orange City had possession with a minute left on the clock, were in Cowra's half and piling on the pressure, but a loose pass allowed the Eagles to grab the ball, earn a penalty and seal the narrow win.
"It was hard. Both sides really wanted to win. We wanted it for different reasons, probably, to City. They gave it to us for the whole 80 and we had to dig deep," Cowra captain Tim Berry said.
"(But) we'll take a win, take a bonus point win which is always good coming here. It's not the nicest place with the breeze always coming over the hill today. It's always tough.
"The last 20 minutes there was a lot more communication, a lot more determination in getting up off the line and making those tackles, which made it a lot harder for City towards the end.
"If we had've laid down, I think they would have come right over the top of us."
Although the scoreline may not necessarily suggest it, the breeze played a big role in the clash and it was something both Berry and Orange City coach Viv Paasi highlighted after the game.
Berry said his side didn't utilise it as well as they should've, Paasi was pleased his young Lions didn't "let the conditions control us".
We had the breeze in the first half but probably didn't utilise it as much as we should have and we knew the second half was going to be tough," Berry explained.
"They utilised it quite well in their second half. We just had to try and stick to our plan and lucky enough we got away with the win."
"We spoke about the fact that when it rains or there's a lot of wind it takes you away from your game plan," Paasi said.
"We spoke about trying not to let it dictate how we played. So against the breeze in the first half, we knew we just had to stay direct and hold onto the ball.
"On the reverse we tried to make sure if we made a kick there was a reason behind. We put one dead and we realised we can't do that again and we didn't. That was a really key thing that we didn't let the conditions control us."
Paasi said, as he has so many times this season, that his side impressed him, especially considering their jam-packed casualty ward, to which hooker Nick Fisher was added on Saturday afternoon.
"I think from the original side that started the first round we've lot seven genuine first graders. Both our co-captains in [Josh Tremain] and Cam (Cole) and a few other decent players," Paasi lamented, although he found a positive in that too.
"That's obviously another example of just how well these guys are going considering we don't have the depth of a lot of other clubs. We've got a young squad and we've lost a lot of experience and big-game players and these guys are still stepping up and really representing the club really well.
"I'm so proud of them, the way they're doing it."
Even so, Paasi said his troops were understandably disappointed, but the performance rates as well as their effort in drawing with reigning premiers Emus earlier this season.
"The players are disappointed, as they should be because they put everything in. But it's really nice to get pretty close to a team that's going to go deep into the semi-finals," Paasi said.
"I thought we functioned really well as a team, from one to 15 our communication was really good, we were really direct in attack. We were also able to get off the line and make a difference in defence. We played for 80 minutes.
"The last three weeks we've [started well]. I think these guys are starting to realise to just go out and enjoy it. We're no longer playing for the win, we're just trying to play our best rugby and the style of rugby that we want.
I think that's been very evident and showing in the last three weeks that's it's no longer about the win, but about playing our best rugby as individuals and as a team."
- COWRA EAGLES 31 (Sailasa Taukei, Kaliova Nicina, Ratu Rotaiova, Alivate Karalo, Joe Dakuitoga tries; Garrizo Gonzalo 3 conversions) def ORANGE CITY LIONS 27 (Duncan Young, Ben Dennis, AJ McNiven, Sam Hoare tries; Keegan Harding 2 conversions, penalty goal)