The weather was dull and the floodlights failed to light up the football at times, but Mounties have momentarily retaken the competition lead in the Canterbury Cup from Penrith for at least the next 24 hours, following their 18-12 win over Western Suburbs at Campbelltown Stadium this afternoon.
Mounties may have been without their classy spine of Aiden Sezer, Ata Hingano and Tom Starling for their clash with the Magpies, but the visitors were still too classy when it mattered, despite the home side being strengthened by late inclusions, Elijah Taylor, Chris McQueen and Paul Momirovski.
Both sides eased their way into the game without creating any opportunities in the opening minutes of the game, but after 16 minutes, it would be the Magpies who would open the scoring through an unconverted try to the backrower, McQueen after he cleaned up a Mounties error close to the try-line to dive over in the south-west corner.
Through lost possession from the kick-off, Mounties had the opportunity to hit back straight away but centre Sebastian Kris was held up over the line by some scrambling Magpies defence.
But the visitors would eventually be the next to score, when half Brendan O’Hagan sliced through some ordinary goal-line defence from the Magpies, to touch down behind the posts and with Niko’s simple conversion, the visitors led 6-4 after 29 minutes.
The home side’s cause wasn’t helped when Aupouri-Puketapu limped from the field soon after, replaced by Soni Luke, but with both sides were guilty of making errors, it would be the Mounties who would hold on to their slender two-point lead at the main break.
However, it took just seven minutes of the second half for the Magpies to regain the lead, doing so in spectacular fashion through an AFL-style mark from winger Billie Maarbani, who was able to hold on to Tyson Gamble’s cross-field kick to score in the north-east corner and give his team an 8-6 lead.
The home side could have extended their lead through a second try to McQueen shortly after, but the back-rower had bobbled a Gamble grubber into an opposing player before grounding the ball and the try was correctly denied.
Mounties took full advantage of that piece of good fortune, regaining the lead a minute later through a try to Niko, after his centre partner Reubenn Rennie, on the back of a quick left shift play, was able to get the offload away for the winger to score unopposed in the corner and with the successful conversion, Mounties led once again, 12-8.
After play ebbed and flowed from one end to the other, Mounties became the first team to extend the lead beyond the converted try margin for the afternoon, after a pin-point grubber kick from Dean Matterson, was dived upon by Rennie and with Niko’s third conversion in succession, the visitors lead pushed out to 18-8, with 11 minutes remaining.
But having regathered possession from a short kick-off, the Magpies weren’t done with just yet and setup a grandstand finish after winger Kane Bradley dived over in the corner to reduce the gap to just the converted try in the 74th minute.
But the visitors were up to the task and held on for a crucial 18-12 win, that sees them regain top spot in the Canterbury Cup pending Sunday’s results.
Mounties RLFC 18 (O'Hagan, Niko, Rennie tries; Niko 3/3 goals) def.
Western Suburbs Magpies 8 (McQueen, Maarbani, Bradley tries; Aupouri 0/1, Momirovski 0/1, Gamble 0/1 goals)
