Orange United captain Kurt Beahan praises CSU's effort in major semi-final

That was the vow from Orange United captain Kurt Beahan after his side suffered a 28-16 loss to CSU in the Wallerawang Landscaping Cup major semi-final on Saturday.

While Beahan's Warriors challenged CSU up the middle of the field with their size superiority and were the first to score and enjoyed consecutive sets on at least eight occasions at Diggings Oval, the Mungoes defended staunchly on their line and took their chances in attack.

It was an effort from the hosts which drew high praise from Beahan.

"They are the benchmark, I said that a week ago and that hasn't changed. You saw it out there today, it doesn't matter who they field, they just keep coming and keep coming," he said.

"They don't make mistakes, they play down in their opposition half for most of the game and they force errors and that's what they did to us.

"We had plenty of chances, and look, I'm normally pretty confident when it comes to our attack but today we didn't fire.

"Full credit to CSU, they were the better side today and they've been the better side all year."

It was a tough loss for Beahan and his players to take, but he is adamant they will throw everything into their bid to join CSU in the decider.

They will host Portland in the preliminary final after they downed Oberon 27-18 in the minor semi-final.

"We've got seven days to turn it around and it's going to be hard for us. It's a game we didn't want to play, we wanted to win today," he said.

"It's a little bit heartbreaking, we want this more than anyone I think. So it doesn't die here, we've just got to get back to the drawing board and come back and play next weekend and hopefully get the bikkies."

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