A brave Nyngan Tigers outfit has held on to defeat the Macquarie Raiders in a bruising Peter McDonald Premiership clash on Sunday.
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Apex Oval hosted the meeting between two of the proudest clubs in the competition and it was the away side who came away with a narrow 26-18 victory.
Two tries to Jak Jeffrey and a strong performance from former Macquarie playmaker Josh Merritt was key for the Tigers, with the latter happy to get the job done.
"It was a gusty effort, it felt we were defending for the whole second half," he said.
"Our defence was pretty strong and we finally broke them at the end."
Macquarie co-captain/coach Jack Kavanagh felt his side arguably played their worst match of the season on Sunday, something they will reflect on this week.
"It was very, very tough," he said.
"We train to play a certain way and it went out the window today, we trained to take these blokes on in a certain way."
Nyngan opened the scoring in the seventh minute, with Jeffrey darting out of dummy half to score under the posts, five-eighth Mason Williams converting the try.
But Macquarie hit back not too long after, with Clayton Daley muscling his way over before Harry Kempston's conversion evened the score up at 6-all.
Raiders lock Billy Gilbert soon found his way through a gap close to the line and scored, with Kempston also converting as Macquarie took the lead.
The two sides went back and forth attacking each other's try lines before Cale Dunn crossed for Nyngan, with Williams again converting.
At 12-all, Macquarie was awarded a penalty for a late hit on Kempston and had great field position but the Tigers held strong to keep them at bay.
Eventually, Filisone Pauta regained the lead for Macquarie as he found his way over the line.
The Raiders wouldn't hold the lead for long however, Tigers winger Matty McDougall snuck over for a try off a clever cut-out pass.
Williams' kick went wide as Macquarie went into half-time with an 18-16 lead.
Nyngan came out of the gates firing in the second half and a Merritt dummy pass fooled several defenders as the Tigers playmaker scored a try of his own.
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The two sides went back and forth for the next chunk of the match, with Macquarie having multiple chances to break through and score.
But, Nyngan kept forcing the Raiders to make mistakes.
Leading 20-18 with 10 minutes to go, Nyngan produced another brilliant defensive set before marching down the field.
Jeffrey's second try of the match was converted by Corey Cox late in proceedings, a match-sealing effort by the Tigers' hooker.
Nyngan lost Mason Williams midway through the second half, meaning most of the playmaking duties fell onto the shoulders of Merritt.
However, the Tigers playmaker knows it was their defence which got them over the line.
"They kept coming and we just kept turning up," he said.
"That's what we build ourselves on, just having a crack for each other."
Fletcher Hunt and Aidan Bermingham were two of the Tigers' best, with the former taking on some playmaking duties once Williams left the field.
It's their young core which has been given a lot of praise by several people around the club and Merritt can see why the town is excited for the Tigers' future.
"They are unreal, they just don't give up," he said.
"They just do a job for us and do it really well, they do it for the whole 80 minutes."
Kavanagh will return from suspension next week just in time for Macquarie's meeting with rivals Dubbo CYMS, a match he believes could have a few new Raiders players featuring.
"We had a lot of a ball but we couldn't do anything with it," he said.
"It's back to the drawing board, there will definitely be a shake-up."
NYNGAN TIGERS 26 (Jak Jeffrey 2, Josh Merritt, Cale Dunn, Matty McDougall tries; Mason Williams 2, Corey Cox conversions) defeated MACQUARIE RAIDERS 18 (Clayton Daley, Billy Gilbert, Filisone Pauta tries; Harry Kempston 3 conversions)
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