RUGBY LEAGUE
Canowindra Tigers gained late momentum to claim the win in the local derby over Eugowra's Golden Eagles on Saturday.
On a beautiful day with a good crowd at the Canowindra ground, Tigers took the first grade win in a well-contested game that only had two points in it for much of the second half.
The neighbouring teams sit in sixth and seventh on the Woodbridge Cup ladder after Round 7 and the game was tipped to be a good one.
Eugowra was coming off a win over Orange United Warriors in the first OAMS Cup at Ian Walsh Oval in Round 6 - but were left nervous early in Round 7 as the Tigers established an early lead.
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The hosts put first points on the board just seven minutes in, working their way up to the 20 metres out where a beautiful kick by the five eight was captured with a big leap from James Dine on the wing and he scored out wide to lead 4-nil.
There was some good play from both sides, both teams tackling with ferocity, but it was Canowindra who dominated early scoring twice more to lead 14-0 with 12 minutes to go in the first half.
Then Eugowra’s Dayne Hamilton crossed the try-line for his side and suddenly it was the visitors with some momentum.
They added two more tries to level the scores at 14-all as the teams headed to the sheds, setting up for a thrilling second half of rugby league.
The rivals went try for try in the second half – a kick the difference as Eugowra led 14-18, Canowindra came back 20-18, Eugowra responded to make it 20-22, and Canowindra leap-frogged to be 24-22.
The Golden Eagles were applying plenty of pressure with just 12 minutes left on the clock when Josh Cooney broke through to extend Canowindra’s lead.
The Tigers had the momentum again and they delivered with some beautiful football in the final minutes to put put Bailey Kennedy over in the corner. The kick was good to put the icing on a 34-22 win.
CANOWINDRA TIGERS 34 James Dine (2), Duwayne Mariner, Jaye Fuimaono, Joshua Cooney (2), Bailey Kennedy EUGOWRA EAGLES 22 Dayne Hamilton, Bryce Park, Noah Girot-Serplet, Ponipate Komai.
YOUTH LEAGUE
CANOWINDRA TIGERS 26 Jason McCann, Colby Burling, Archie McDonald, Noah Brown, Thomas Berkrey EUGOWRA 6 Sanjay Buttle
LEAGUE TAG
CANOWINDRA TIGERS 0 EUGOWRA GEAGLES 10 Kirbie Mongan, Evie Barnes
