The Woden Valley Rams recorded a tight 24-20 victory against the Queanbeyan Blues, keeping their final hopes alive.
After a hard fought first half, the Rams held on to seal their third consecutive win in a special multicultural match at Seiffert Oval.
Only seconds in, the Rams opened the scoring with Brendan Jimenez sprinting half the length of the field to grab the first points of the day. An unsuccessful conversion left the score 4 – nil.
A knock on by the Blues handed possession to the Rams within their own twenty. They successfully manoeuvred the ball to the right edge with Sean Maloney planting the ball down to extend Woden Valley’s lead.
Another error from Queanbeyan gave the Rams another opportunity to cross the line. Joe Sale came close to securing the Rams’ third try, but an offside penalty cut the chance short.
The Rams made another break, almost scoring on the left edge but a forward pass disallowed a certain try.
The Blues capitalised on the error and powered down the park to secure their first points of the day as Jacob John busted through multiple Rams defenders. An unsuccessful conversion brought the score to 8 – 4.
Moments later, a missed catch from the Rams put the Blues in the red zone, where a high tackle earned them an extra set. However, they failed to capitalise and came away empty-handed.
But luck was on Queanbeyan’s side when Woden Valley knocked the ball on 30 metres from their own line. The Blues made the most of the opportunity, with smooth passing to the right sending Uasi Leota over for a try.
The Blues were not done, when seconds later a line break by Jamie Mazzarol-Kotz paved the way for George Morseu to score just shy of the post. This time the conversion was successful by Mazzarol-Kotz.
With just eight minutes remaining in the first half, the Rams crossed again, as a brilliant pass from Shammah Tiumala sent Jimenez over to keep the game locked in a tight contest.
Just before halftime Queanbeyan extended their score line by four more with Dylan McLachlan dodging multiple defenders with a successful conversion to take the lead 20 – 14.
The start of the second half saw both teams in stuck in a see saw battle, playing end to end football. The deadlock was finally broken 15 minutes in when Rams’ Alex Sweeny scaled the right edge for Daine Spencer to score a try. A successful conversion by Jimenez locked the scores up at 20 all.
Both sides pushed hard to add to their tally, but incomplete sets and errors cut their chances short, until the Rams broke through again, with Spencer grounding his own grubber kick just in play to bag his second of the day and the match winner.
The Blues fought hard to score as the clock ticked down, but the Rams proved too strong, securing a gutsy 24–20 victory.
