ST Pat’s White provided coach Peter Colling with the perfect retirement present at Carrington Park on Saturday as they held on to win the Group 10 Junior Rugby League under 12s grand final 16-10 over Bloomfield.

That victory made it two consecutive undefeated premierships for this group of Saints, but Bloomfield certainly made them work for their latest win at Carrington Park.

The Tigers, who had lost both their prior meetings against the Saints, looked a real chance of an upset when they attacked down the right wing with three minutes left.

At that stage they were only two points off the lead.

However, Josh Hanrahan came up with a strong tackle to put Bloomfield lock Jack Barclay into touch before scoring on the stroke of full-time to seal the win.

“There was just one little lapse there in the second half when they let them in, but they hung on and got the job done,” Colling said.

“Two years undefeated and I’ve just retired as coach – I am so proud of the boys.

“But Bloomfield are a great little team. They’ve got great defence, they threw the ball around, they tested us alright. I can tell you, I would rather coach a wooden spoon side than go through that sort of pressure again.”

Pat’s made a strong start to the match when Ben Matthews scored on the back of a line drop out and Josh Belfanti converted, but Bloomfield responded to the challenge.

Winger Angus Wilson scored when the Tigers created an overlap on the left wing to make it 6-4 after 10 minutes, the effort lifting his team-mates.

The Orange side got through a mountain of work in defence to keep themselves in the contest, holding out Hanrahan when he tried to muscle his way over in the shadows of half-time.

The second half saw both sides struggle to complete their sets as they felt the pressure of the occasion, but Pat’s managed to give themselves a handy buffer when Matthews broke clear down the left wing and scored.

However, Pat’s allowed the resulting kick-off to bounce into touch to gift Bloomfield an attacking set. Three tackles later prop Noah Cain crashed over next to the sticks and Addison Williams converted to make it game on at 12-10.

When Pat’s knocked on two metres out from their own line soon after, the visitors had an ideal chance to pull off a grand final upset.

Barclay made a strong charge down the right wing for Bloomfield, but was bundled into touch and the chance went begging.

From there Pat’s quickly worked their way back down field where Hanrahan scored in the right corner with seconds left on the clock. The final conversion was waved away, but by then the blue and whites were already celebrating a perfect season.

ST PAT’S WHITE 16 (Ben Matthews 2, Josh Hanrahan tries; Tyler Colley, Josh Belfanti goals) defeated BLOOMFIELD 10 (Angus Wilson, Noah Cain tries; Addison Williams goal)