Mounties have broken the hoodoo of this years VB NSW Cup and recorded the first ever victory by a team coming off a bye after beating the Canterbury Bulldogs 38-36 at Aubrey Keech Reserve on Saturday.
The Bulldogs were first to score when they found a yawning gap on Mounties left edge in the second minute and scored in the corner to take a 4-0 lead after the conversion attempt failed.
Mounties didn't waste any time in getting back to their game and in the 7th minute Matt Allwood saw a chance and pushed his way over from dummy half to make it 4-4 after Matt Place couldn't convert.
In the 14th minute Mounties took the lead when Reece Goldsmith dummies his way through the line close to the posts and dived over to make it 10-4 with the conversion and three minutes later Mosese Pangai claimed a try when a Ryan Carr kick was spilled by the Bulldogs and he was on the spot to dive on the ball before it went dead for Mounties to lead 16-4.
The 27th minute saw Goldsmith get his second try when he kicked through on the last tackle and finding no one at home he easily pounced on the kick to make it 20-4 and five minutes later Allwood followed suit to claim his second try when he leapt high to take a Matt Place bomb on the goal line and extend Mounties lead to 26-4 leading into the break.
Mounties looked to go on with it after the break and in the 46th minute Reece Goldsmith got his third try of the day when he backed up Rodney Coates who made a mess of the Dogs defence and got a great offload for Goldsmith to dive over near the uprights to make it 32-4.
Canterbury then mounted a comeback and after scoring three tries in the space of eight minutes they had Mounties at sixes and sevens dragging the scoreline back to 32-20, and in the 63rd minute they were right back in the game when Jeremy Hawkins threw a long pass from a kick return in front of his own posts for the Dogs to pounce and make it 32-26 after the conversion.
Mosese Pangai then got Mounties back on track when he took on the Canterbury defensive line from 10 metres out and beat several defenders to record a converted try and put Mounties comfortably back in front 38-26 with ten minutes remaining however the Dogs would not lay down and returned the fight to the home side.
In the 75th minute another converted try by Canterbury saw them close the gap again to six with Mounties leading 38-32 and in the 77th minute, former Raider Drury Low was able to slide over in the South East corner to make it 38-36 however his conversion hit the posts and was waved away to the delight of the crowd.
In the final minutes Canterbury looked as though they would steal the game and with a minute left on the clock they created a classic three on two and looked ready to score and claim the win but the final pass could not be taken and Mounties were able to come away and play out the set to record their eight win of the season.
In the Ron Massey Cup Mounties were able to exact revenge on rivals Wentworthville by taking out the match 30-24 and in the True Blue Chemicals Sydney Shield a much improved Mounties outfit came from behind 22-4 at half time to lead Wentworthville 24-22 late in the second half before Wenty scored two late tries to take the match 32-24.
Next week the Sydney Shield and Ron Massey Cup take on Burwood Nth Ryde on Sunday at TG Milner while the NSW Cup take on the Newtown Jets at Allianz Stadium on Saturday with coverage live on Fox Sports 1 from 3:15pm.
