When the Wallerawang Warriors hefted the New Era Cup championship trophy on Saturday, September 2, it was the end of a 16-year drought for the club.
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The home crowd roared as, in the final minutes, the Wallerawang Warriors put the grand final result beyond doubt after a hard-fought and tense match against the CSU Yellow Mungoes.
“This has been a long time coming and we have worked hard all year,” Warriors coach Brad Cornwell said.
“It’s the end of a 16 year drought for us. We’ve worked hard, now we’re gonna party hard.”
The match began evenly with CSU Yellow keeping out a determined attack on their line in the opening minutes and making their own raids on the Warriors’ territory without success.
It was CSU that finally broke through, with Alec Walsh crossing for a try. A successful conversion from Brad Rushby took the score to 6-0.
The try pulled the momentum CSU Yellow’s way, with Brendan Bartlett crossing just minutes later and another Rushby conversion taking the score to 12-0.
Wallerawang’s attack stepped up, making raids into the corners, with one attempt missing by just a fingertip.
The sustained attack paid off with Josh Howarth crossing the CSU line and successfully converting. The score remained at 12-6 to CSU at the half-time siren.
The opening of the second half saw Wallerawang take control of the game.
Nathan Redding crossed to take the score to 10-12. The home crowd was tense as Josh Amos crossed for Wang with 27 minutes to go, with a successful conversion by Josh Howarth taking the score to 16-12.
CSU Yellow fought hard to defend their line against multiple chances before Dave Howard powered over to take the scoreline to 22-12.
A series of penalties saw CSU step up again, with some good defence keeping them out until, with eight minutes to go, they were in again, once more through the work of Alec Walsh.
A successful conversion resulted in tight scores once more, 22-18. It was a nail-biting finish, with Wallerawang making an unsuccessful field goal attempt and missing a penalty goal opportunity.
With every chance to still take the title, CSU Yellow fought hard, but it was the Warriors who put it beyond doubt, with Nathan Redding crossing for his second try with just under two minutes left to play.
With a successful conversion, the final score was 28-18.
Hayden Cornwell was named the player of the grand final.
Kirsty Horton
A journalist with 15 years of experience, Kirsty Horton has been the editor of the Lithgow Mercury newspaper and a journalist for mastheads including the Great Lakes Advocate, Nambucca Guardian News and Moree Champion. She is now a member of ACM's features and special publications team.
A journalist with 15 years of experience, Kirsty Horton has been the editor of the Lithgow Mercury newspaper and a journalist for mastheads including the Great Lakes Advocate, Nambucca Guardian News and Moree Champion. She is now a member of ACM's features and special publications team.
