Rangers and Bears shine on Downs Rugby’s brightest stage
The Darling Downs and South West Queensland’s best rugby union teams battled for grand final glory at the weekend, and The Chronicle was on hand to capture all the action.
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RUGBY: When George Perry crossed the line to give Goondiwindi Emus a 7-0 lead just 10 minutes into the Risdon Cup final, Brandon Murray could’ve been forgiven for thinking “here we go again”.
Murray, who played in Rangers’ 2021, 2020 and 2019 grand final losing teams as well as the 2018 semi-final losing side, wasn’t concerned though.
Rangers had barely touched the ball in the opening 10 of the final, but Murray was confident his side was still in the game.
“Just after they scored in the first 10 minutes I gathered the backs in the in-goal (area),” Murray said.
“I looked around the group and everyone was calm, no one was panicking.
“I talked to them and said our biggest problem was the fact we were not executing well enough – we just needed to start playing our type of rugby.”
Once Rangers started playing “their rugby” the change was almost instant, and Murray was at the heart of it all.
The Rangers veteran reduced the margin to 7-3 with a penalty goal and just minutes later played a leading hand in his side’s first try.
Daniel Cover found Murray with a quality off-load who then shot a pass to Will Wigan before Sean Hamel ran away to score a try.
Murray’s second penalty of the day and Michael Debney’s try then gave Rangers a 20-10 advantage at halftime.
After the restart it was all Rangers.
When Cama Raratabu scored on the left wing after Rangers swung the ball wide from a scrum on the right hand touch line the game was all but over.
Two more Murray penalties pushed the score out to 33-13 before Goondwindi’s Luke Morris scored to narrow the gap with Rangers winning 33-20.
“This is absolutely amazing and will take some time to really sink in,” Murray said.
“For a handful of us it’s five years in the making. We were there in 2018 when we lost in the semi-final and then the last three grand final losses.
“To be able to get this win is really something special – everyone here at the club has worked very hard for this moment.”
Murray put the result down to a refusal to back down.
“A good friend of mine, Levi Power, played for Gundy (in the final) and he came and spoke to me after the game,” Murray said.
“He congratulated us on the win and talked about how we thought we muscled up from about the 60th minute, and I think he was right.
“They’re a very good side, but every time they came at us we stood our ground and gave it right back to them.
“We really wanted this result and we worked for it.”
Emilee Cherry Cup
All season long the Emilee Cherry Cup was essentially a two-horse race.
Roma Echidnas White and Toowoomba Bears were unstoppable through out the regular season and were at their best once again on grand final day.
In the semi-finals, Bears beat USQ Saints 38-5 and Roma beat Condamine 34-0 to set up a thrilling grand final.
Roma’s Meg Jakins and Rhylee Wiedman combined to get the Echidnas off to flyer inside the first two minutes of the game.
Their celebrations were short lived, though.
Bears’ Taleah Ackland scored from the restart and Matilda Leicht’s try just before halftime gave Bears a 12-10 lead at the turnaround.
Roma’s Lilyanna Rayment set up a thrilling end to the game – scoring in the final minute – but Bears held on for a 12-10 win.
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