A TALENT-packed Bloomfield outfit took the honours in Saturday's Group 10 Junior Rugby League under 16s qualifying semi-final, but they certainly knew they'd been in a contest against St Pat's.
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The Saints led by two at half-time before Bloomfield finished stronger to take the win 26-12 at Tony Luchetti Sportsground, but the physicality of the contest never waivered.
Players on both sides ran hard and tackled harder - evidenced by two Pat's players finishing the game with shoulder injuries and another with a sternum complaint.
Pat's coach Matt Dunn admitted his side, under fatigue and pressure in the second half, were guilty of making handling errors which hurt. But he was still proud of the effort.
"I stressed to the boys during the week that it was all about ball control against this side and when we got stuck with the ball down our end, we pushed a few passes," he said.
"We made some uncharacteristic errors in defence too, we're the best defensive side in the comp, we'd only conceded up until today 12 points in the last four games. We held them to nil last time and we knew they'd come out and be red hot.
"At three-quarter-time we were close, but then we just dropped off a few tackles and they're a good side - they've got six or seven Rams players and a Country player.
"They're a good side, they've won the comp the last three years and put us to the sword. But I couldn't be prouder of the effort of the boys."
The Saints showed that defensive strength Dunn spoke of in the opening minutes as they had to withstand back-to-back sets on their own line.
They then produced a good set when they got the ball and a lucky bounce off the kick - plus a good chase - saw five-eighth Blake Hahn score.
Their lead zipped out to 12-0 shortly after from another piece of luck and determined chase - this time a grubber kick took a deflection off a Bloomfield player close to the line and hooker Lachlan Fitzsimmons ran through to ground the ball for a try.
Though Pat's did not manage another point after that - Bloomfield five-eighth Jaiden Powyer marshalling his side well as they scored 26 unanswered points - the Saints' effort did not falter.
Centre Jacob Kelleher made some top covering tackles and right across the field Saints took tough carries.
BLOOMFIELD 26 (Jye King, Brodie Tarleton, Connor Vardanega, Jaiden Powyer, Ben Meagher tries; Ethan Young 3 goals) defeated ST PAT'S 12 (Blake Hahn, Lachlan Fitzsimmons tries; Oliver Hollow 2 goals)
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