Two tries from Manildra Rhinos halfback Joseph Lasagavibau have secured the minor premiership in a 30-20 win against Canowindra Tigers.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
It was a brutal final round Woodbridge Cup encounter at Jack Huxley Oval as the top two teams played off for first place.
Amid several flair ups, Tigers forward Jakiel Mariner was sent off as the two sides belted each other.
Lasagavibau was quick to shuffle the praise onto his teammates.
"It was very tough even though they lost a man early," he said.
"That [tries] just comes off the back of the boys. The boys really dug deep coming forward and I just had to finish.
"Lucky I did!"
Despite being down to 12 men for the majority of the afternoon, Canowindra managed to match Manildra's three tries to head into the sheds level at 16-all.
Fullback Ryan Clarke opened the scoring by getting on the end of a grubber kick before Grant Williams hit back for Manildra.
Zac Reimer scored in the corner to put the home side ahead, an effort cancelled out by his counterpart Luke Watt.
Lasagavibau again put the Rhinos ahead with a swerving run but Lewis Dwyer scored off a powerful run from a penalty tap after returning from the bin.
Tigers' half Jack Grant shooshed the vocal home crowd as he slotted the conversion.
Manildra gradually wore down the Tigers in the second half with tries to Mitch Gibson and a second for Lasagavibau.
The former Fijian international said he was proud of how the Rhinos' forwards stood up.
"We dug deep, as you can see our boys are all the same size we don't have any big boppers but we worked hard," he said.
"We were really happy with our forwards. They [Tigers] across their whole pack are big. The defence was good especially in our middle."
Dangerous Tigers centre Ofa Siale lit the fuse for a comeback with an unstoppable run close to the line but the scoreline would stay 30-20.
If Rhinos win next week's qualifying final they won't half to travel for the rest of the season with grand final hosting rights given to Manildra.
"That's big," Lasagavibau said.
"To play a home grand final would be a massive achievement but we have to get there first."
Reading this on mobile web? Download our news app. It's faster, easier to read and we'll send you alerts for breaking news as it happens. Download in the Apple Store or Google Play.
