The Cowra Magpies have a lot to celebrate, taking their winning streak to comp favourites Trundle, and handily securing themselves a tidy 32-24 win on Trundle's home turf at Berryman Oval.
The Magpies launched strongly with a 12 point lead, eventually having the Boomers fight back and answer the call.
"It was a really good win for us, we ground it out after a great start," said Phil Ingram "We completed our sets, and then sneaked away with another couple of tries - it seemed whenever we got a try, they'd answer it and we'd have to mount a comeback."
Mr Ingram said Trundle was generally a tough side.
"Trundle's been one of the top sides for the last few years, they've won three grand finals in a row back in 2018-19, and it's always a hard game there no matter what happens." Mr Ingram said.
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With Cowra's numbers down due to injuries, Mr Ingram said he was proud to see the Magpies show up for eachother.
"We were down on troops, we've got a bit of an injury list with seven or so injured. We were thinking we'd have 17, but had a couple of guys who helped us out putting boots on again and having a run. We ended up with 19 and it was really pleasing that the boys came over and helped us out. We really needed them."
Ricky Whitton's previous 250th game performance wasn't taken as a chance to rest on his laurels, with clean kicks on all conversions and skilfully allowing the Magpies to traverse the field. Coach Phil Ingram said of Whitton, "He's a cool head, a good presence on the field." Mr Ingram said, with Whitton as quick on his feet as he is accurate: "They made a bit of a mistake and Ricky swooped on it and got an eighty metre run, and he was strong with his kicks and goal kicking."
"We got our line set to defend and it was really a solid, good defence while building pressure on them. It was really pleasing.
"Our chase at times was a little bit poor, but that's something we can work on. Our defense is really a key for us. We were low on troops but the boys turned up for each other and really scrambled when Trundle pressed our line. Whenever Trundle made breaks we'd scramble and shut them down. We were able to turn up for one another and not let your mate down."
The Magpies are looking at a home game this weekend on Saturday, with the whole club assembling across the grades to face off against Molong.
Noteworthy performances by Mr Ingram included Sam Frazer, who was 'really strong in the second row, Toby Apps was solid, playing a lock, Jack Grant came back from injury, and gave us a bit of a spark, Ricky Whitton was really solid, played well and very strong and accurate kicks, Tyler Nobes was able to come back and was strong across the board."
Mr Ingram also credited two returning players from injury to assist, Brendan Tidswell and Blake Duncan giving the starting forwards a rest, along with a third - Kyle Kemp.