EMUS KEEP ALIVE CUP DEFENCE
ALL OF THE NEWS FROM RISDON CUP SEMI-FINALS
GOONDIWINDI kept its Risdon Cup premiership defence alive after ending Toowoomba Rangers season at Heritage Oval on Saturday.
Goondiwindi bounced back from its opening finals loss to Dalby a week earlier to rack up a 42-19 over Rangers.
The Emus victory sets up a second meeting with Dalby in the space of 14 days when the sides meet again in Saturday’s preliminary final at Dalby.
The victor earns the right to meet Toowoomba Bears in Saturday week’s grand final.
Goondiwindi’s victory was highlighted by four tries from 2012 Downs Rugby player-of-the-year Sam Munsie.
The Emus raced to an 18-0 lead after 30 minutes before Rangers dragged themselves back into the match through a converted try to five-eighth Matt Darcy five minutes out from half-time.
Goondiwindi maintained a steady pace in the opening 20 minutes of the second session to set up a 30-14 advantage before Rangers staged a late rally to close to 30-19 following tries to Michael Wedlock and Tom Simpson.
But any thoughts Rangers had of reeling in Goondiwindi for a “miracle” win during the final 10 minutes were snuffed out by late tries to Munsie and John Cranney to round out their 23-point victory.
Goondiwindi coach Pat Herde reported his team came through the match largely unscathed as they prepare for their Dalby rematch.
“We have a few sore boys, but it was a big effort from them today,” Herde said.
“Our defence needs a bit of work on today and we did go to sleep for 20 minutes or so but we just seem to do that sometimes.”
Rangers coach Tom Crockett who took the field for the final 20 minutes of play with an injured groin said he couldn’t have asked anymore of his players.
“I’m proud of the boys,” Crockett said.
“We didn’t leave anything in the tank.
“We left it all out on the park there today, and you can’t ask for any more than that.”