ST Pat’s under 14s are Group 10 Junior Rugby League champions after they held off Bloomfield Tigers on Saturday at Carrington Park to win the grand final 12-6.
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Bloomfield had gone the entire season undefeated but Pat’s rallied at the right time to hand them defeats in both the major semi-final and Saturday’s decider.
Pat’s kept the Orange side scoreless in the first half, but had to survive through a Bloomfield resurgence before getting their hands on the winners shield.
The victory ensured Pat’s won all three junior grades they contested on the day – even more success for a club still smiling after premier league success.
With some players not feeling their best going into Saturday’s game, Pat’s coach Mark Booth said his team did a great job to get the desired result.
“It was a big battle for us today. We had two troops who probably shouldn’t have been playing, our two centres. They couldn’t train all week because they had been crook so it was a great effort by them,” he said.
“The boys stuck to the plan and because of that we got the cash ... Their mateship got them there, they had a crack for each other. I couldn’t be happier. We built towards this each week.”
The blue and whites put the foot down early to score within the first three minutes.
Sam Hunt reached out from short range to put Pat’s ahead and were nearly in again minutes later when an awkward bounce off a bomb almost left Bloomfield embarrassed.
Pat’s had the Tigers pinned in their own half, and it got worse for Bloomfield when a poor play of the ball 10 metres out from their own line led to another Pat’s try.
Bailey Akroyd found himself on the end of an offload and found his way through from short range to take the lead out to 8-0 12 minutes from the break.
After the completion rate started to lift for both sides and the possession evened out, the score remained unchanged up to half-time.
If Bloomfield needed a shot of confidence it came in the form of front rower Elijah Smyth on the kick-off.
Smyth’s huge hit on the end of a long kick kept Pat’s stuck in their own in-goal and forced an early drop out.
After a penalty against Pat’s for lifting in the tackle Bloomfield were granted a fresh set of six, and it was Jesse Astill who punished the Bathurst team as he pushed aside two defenders to score.
The Luke Burnell conversion brought the gap back to just two points before a knee injury to Pat’s centre Cooper Fox brought the match to a halt.
After a lengthy wait both teams looked out of sorts as the errors snuck in more frequently for both teams.
With the match coming to a crawl, Pat’s hooker Nik Booth lit up Carrington Park when he picked a gap from dummy half and found a line break.
Bloomfield fullback Chris Anderson desperately tried to come across to stop Booth, but the Pat’s player found his way over in the left corner to take the lead out to six.
When Orange centre Tyson Davis failed to re-gather his own grubber kick in the final minute, the result was sealed.
ST PAT’S 12 (Sam Hunt, Bailey Akroyd, Nik Booth tries) defeated BLOOMFIELD 6 (Jesse Astill try; Luke Burnell conversion)