CSU Bathurst Mungoes snatched victory from the jaws of defeat at Wade Park, handing the Orange Barbarians an agonising 28-26 loss in Saturday’s eighth round of the New Era Cup.
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With the hosts leading 26-24 in the shadows of full-time CSU second-rower Mitch Gallagher – standing out on the wing – latched onto the final pass of a desperate, somewhat ugly shift and barged over in the right corner as the siren sounded.
A Jason Gangaram try with less than three minutes to go gave the fourth-placed Barbarians a two-point lead, potentially sparking the upset of the season.
After a cautious attacking set the Orange side kicked deep, a nudge that landed with winger Oliver Briggs, who promptly produced a stunning 30-metre return.
That started CSU’s match-winning set perfectly and despite the Barbarians still being in the driver’s seat, Gallagher found a way over the stripe to seal a thrilling win for the men in yellow.
“It was panic stations for a while there but we were quietly confident,” CSU forward Oscar Thorburn said.
“We’ve got a few players who can perform on call (though) so we stayed positive.”
Barbarians captain-coach Ben Gosper was upset after the loss but said he’s proud of how his troops performed.
“It was unreal,” Gosper said.
“We thought we could go close it but I don’t think anyone else expected that.”
Gosper felt his side’s completion rate and discipline were two of the areas that could have been better.
“We made too many errors and we gave away too many penalties late in the tackle count,” Gosper said.
Orange is placed fourth and will travel to Wallewarang this weekend in what will be a challenging clash against the league leaders.
Gosper knows it’ll be an arduous game and needs his forward pack to be up for it.
“As long as our front-rowers can match it with theirs we’ve got a chance,” he said.
Orange Barbarians will travel to Wallerawang Sports ground this Saturday for a 2.30pm kick-off.