Souths Juniors: Alexandria Rovers pull off miraculous comeback to end drought, full 100+ pic gallery
The Alexandria Rovers are back on top of the Souths Juniors competition after a 34-year drought. Relive the huge day plus check out our bumper 100+ photo gallery.
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Alexandria Rovers have claimed the most unlikeliest of wins to claim their first Souths Juniors A-grade title since 1990.
Staring down the barrel of being skittled as minor premiers and trailing the Coogee Randwick Wombats 26-16 with four minutes to play, the Rovers pulled out two massive plays to force extra time.
Firstly man of the match Chaise Robinson put a chip over the top that looked too long off the boot, only for it to take a left-hand turn into the path of Kieren Mundine to bring up his hat-trick and cut the margin to six.
A penalty in the next set gave them one last set to try and force extra time, and they needed just three tackles to score the necessary try.
Hooker Travis Robinson was able to take advantage of the rushing goal line defence, holding up the pass and hitting Kareel Phillips on the chest to score.
That left Craig McKenzie with the kick to send it to extra time, and he made no mistake from 20m in from touch.
With extra time underway the Rovers needed less than a minute to take the lead, with Travis Robinson making a break, getting an offload away to Cruise Tweedie who threw a long cutout to Luciano Svagelli, who passed onto Matthew Stewart before getting it onto Alfred Curuenavuli to cut inside and score his second try.
That gave the Rovers a four-point buffer heading into the second period of extra time, where Thomas Johnson was able to pull off an incredible play.
The second rower charged down and caught a Shaun Dowie chip and chase attempt, racing to the 10m line before being run down by Jake Tobin.
It was Phillips again who came to the fore, selling a dummy and scoring his second to give them enough of a lead to secure the title.
Despite all their hope looking gone, Rovers coach Tommy Leal said he never lost hope that his talented team could pull out something special.
“The three or four times we were down there, we created an opportunity but dropped it on an early tackle,” Leal said.
“If we got down there, we knew we were going to score. It looked very dire at the end, but I knew once we got to extra time I was very confident coming home.
“We’re a momentum side, we just had to create a few more opportunities.
“We were in the same situation with reserve grade last year. The score never bothered me because I know the talent we’ve got here.
“It’s just about them doing it.”
With the likes of Mundine, Phillips and both Travis and Chaise Robinson standing tall when it counted, Leal could only watch on in awe at the magic they produced.
“Big game players, that’s what they do,” he said.
“I’ve got the easiest job in the world just putting them on the paddock. They basically coach themselves.
“To do the stuff that they do, you can’t teach that. It’s an absolute pleasure to be able to say I coached these boys to a grand final.”
To say things started poor for the Rovers was an understatement.
Jake Tobin was able to slice through the defence with ease inside the opening four minutes, and the first tackle from the ensuing kick-off saw Jake Trindall come from the field with a dislocated shoulder.
They quickly recovered to score what would be the try of the game.
Inside their own 10, Kareel Phillips double-pumped and hit Ezekiel Phillips short, who put McKenzie into open pastures.
He tried to turn Tobin inside out but couldn’t shake him, before toeing the ball ahead for Mundine to pick it up and score.
That sparked a run for the Rovers with Curuenavuli able to get past his marker off a scrum to give them a 10-4 lead.
Coogee was able to hit back in style however, with Dowie hitting Jackson Willson with a lovely cutout to score in the corner.
They went back-to-back to retake the lead, with Tyrell Mayfield catching a bomb and throwing an incredible flick pass out the back to Penese Risale to score.
The scores were tied at halftime after a lobbed pass from Chaise Robinson inside his own 40m line hit a flying Mundine to break two tackles and pick up his second.
James Kokkinos was able to break the deadlock in the second half with a surging effort to bump through five attempted tackles to score.
Coogee thought they had done enough when Kokkinos showed his power once again to bust through tackles and claim his second with seven minutes to play.
GRAND FINAL GALLERY
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Originally published as Souths Juniors: Alexandria Rovers pull off miraculous comeback to end drought, full 100+ pic gallery
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