COMING from 10 points down to hand the Parkes Boars their first loss of the New Holland Cup season - it's an effort CSU coach Dave Conyers has labelled a "massive plus" for his side.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
CSU ran in the last 17 points of Saturday's match at University Oval to post a 28-21 win which was more about a physiological boost than ladder positioning.
While Parkes had already locked in the minor premiership and CSU had cemented second, Conyers was desperate for his men to have a win over the Boars before the finals series.
Not only did they get that win, but that they came from behind against a quality opposition made it a result Conyers relished.
"To score 17 unanswered points to come back and win, to come back like we did last week [round] against Rhinos, it was fantastic," he said.
"They had some really big, long passages of possession there where they really threatened, but our defence was much improved today and we just wanted it more than they did really.
"That's great for our confidence, we know we can beat them now, we can come from behind and beat them. That's a massive plus for our mental psyche."
It was CSU who opened scoring via a penalty goal, flyhalf Ethan Cusick then crossing for the opening try to give his side an 8-0 lead.
Parkes responded with a try from prop Jason Lowe which Luke Bevan converted, then Cusick slotted a second penalty from around 40 metres out.
With just over a quarter of the game gone Parkes hit the lead for the first time. They strung together a number of phases up the middle before spreading the ball left to barnstorming centre Vereti Tupou.
He sliced through CSU's defence and ran away to score, Bevan adding the extras to make it 14-11.
That's how the two sides went to the break and when play resumed, it was Parkes on the attack.
The Boars won the ball back after kicking off, won a penalty to get inside CSU's 22 then two line-outs and a scrum later created an overlap on the right edge that Josh van der Stok capitalised on.
Bevan once again converted to make it 21-11.
Both van der Stok and then CSU's Sam Chamberlain spent time on the sideline after being shown yellow cards, but it was a penalty for a late tackle which saw CSU begin its come back.
It gave CSU a line-out five metres out from Parkes' line and shortly after - even though there was a nervous juggle - prop Marcus Burrell went over in the right corner.
Cusick nailed the sideline conversion, the playmaker then producing an individual effort with a line-break and 35-metre run to hand CSU the lead.
The final minutes were pressure filled - Parkes repelled CSU for 14 phases on their line at one stage - but the hosts had one last play to seal the win. After five scrum resets and six pick and drives, Burrell went over for his second to make it 28-21.
"That was a really gritty win, to finish with a try in the corner after all that work, it was fantastic," Conyers said.
"It was a really good last 15 and a really good first 20. We've still got a little bit of work to do in the middle bit, but we've proved now we can come back and beat good teams."
CSU 28 (Ethan Cusick 2, Marcus Burrell 2 tries; Ethan Cusick conversion; Ethan Cusick 2 penalties) defeated PARKES BOARS 21 (Jason Lowe, Vereti Tupou, Joshua van der Stok tries; Luke Bevan 3 conversions)
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:
- Bookmark www.westernadvocate.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News