The Wellington Cowboys secured second position on the Group 11 ladder when defeating the Forbes Magpies in a Kennard Park thriller on Sunday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
A late try to Josh Griffiths saw the Cowboys nab the 28-24 victory, after the Magpies had led 12-6 at half-time.
The win came on a special day for the Cowboys, as the hosts teamed up with major sponsor Wellington Aboriginal Corporation Health Service (WACHS) to raise awareness for Donate Life Week.
Wellington wore specially designed Donate Life jerseys for the day, and before the whistle blew held a minute's silence.
But when the game started the Magpies started the better and scored three tries in the first half, two from Jesse Wighton and one coming from Bailey Hartwig, but all were unsuccessfully converted.
RELATED:
Travis Waddell's try - which was successfully converted by Mason Williams - was the only points coming from the Cowboys in the first 40 minutes.
The Cowboys came out firing in the second half and just four minutes in, Griffiths scored.
It was back and forward with points for a while after Forbes then crossed not long after Will Lousick scored for Wellington.
Lousick backed it up minutes later with his second try of the day to have the Cowboys up 22-18.
But with just 13 minutes to go, the Magpies evened the score and Wellington co-coach Aiden Ryan was sin-binned.
But the Cowboys rallied and Griffiths scored his second try of the day, with Williams adding the extra points courtesy of his superb kicking.
Post game Wellington Cowboys coach Justin Toomey-White said going into the game the team spoke about needing to get the job done.
"We're not looking at the ladder or anything like that," he said, despite second now being confirmed.
"They (Forbes) are a really strong side. Earlier in the year we had another close game ans they're playing for points.
"But our boys really stuck it to them. The start of our game was really good but there's some patches that we need to work on but overall I'm happy with the boys."
The Cowboys coach said double try scorers Griffiths and Lousick, as well as Wallace Bruce stood out in the game.
"But overall it was a team effort and our middle really worked hard in stages when we really needed them too," Toomey-White said.
The Cowboys travel to Narromine in the final round to take on the Jets.
The Wellington coach said it would be another tough match as it would be Narromine's last home game of the season.