THEY are the champions of the New Holland Cup and now thanks to a four-try haul from Chris Shephard, the CSU Mustards have university bragging rights as well.
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On Tuesday night at University Oval, the seventh edition of the annual CSU Mustards versus CSU Mungoes match was played and for the second consecutive year, the union side got the nod with a 34-16 result.
It was a hard-fought and physical affair played with rugby league rules, but the Mustards pulled away from the Mungoes in the final quarter of the match.
Mustards coach Dave Conyers, who attended the challenge for the first time, was impressed with the atmosphere and intensity of the contest.
"It was serious, there were a few fisty-cuffs in there and quite a few heated moments after some big hits from both sides. It was dead-set serious, it was no place for the faint-hearted," Conyers said.
"They are all mates, they live together, they go to classes together and though they belted each other on the field, the respect and camaraderie after the game was just fantastic."
Shephard, who played on the right edge, was one of the Mustards who brought previous league experience into the fixture. He scored the opening try with just under three minutes gone and went on to cross three more times.
But he was not the only Mustard to impress, which has Conyers thinking about more regular challenges.
"Regan [Hughes], he had a very strong game but he didn't breakthrough as many times as he did for us during the season. There was some great defence on him," Conyers said.
"Everyone sort of thought our backs would be our strength and admittedly they played really well, but our forwards they just charged in there.
"Lachlan Buckton our prop, I would have given him man of the match because he made 15-20 metres every time he carried the ball. He was a real weapon.
"The more I watched that game the more I thought 'This is a great coaching tool for the boys.' I'd really like to see this incorporated with our practices, we could play a game of rugby league once a month, just for the defensive side of it."
In the women's match it was again the rugby union club which earned bragging rights, with the Custards defeating the Mungals 24-6.
