THREE weeks out from the New Era Midwest Cup grand final CSU have thrown out a challenge to minor premiers Wallerawang Warriors in the race for 2017 premiership honours.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
In last weekend’s first round of semi-finals CSU showed they were peaking at the right time of the season with a 58-22 defeat of cross-town rival Villages United in the main game.
Villages scored first, and then the sides went try-for-try in the first half, with CSU’s Regan Hughes’ 39th-minute try and Brad Rushby’s accurate goalkicking giving the students an eight-point advantage going to the break.
Two minutes into the second half the university side strengthened its grip on the game with Oscar Thorburn’s converted try for 30-16, but Villages fought back again nine minutes later to reduce the deficit to 30-22, but they would be the final points for last year’s premiers.
The CSU side added another 28 points to thoroughly dismantle Villages’ defence.
The game was anyone’s in the first 60 minutes but the final quarter was all CSU, piling on the pressure to take the game by 36 points and forcing Villages into a sudden-death match with Orange Barbarians.
All matches for Villages are now sudden-death situations.
At Portland, in the elimination semi-final, after leading 12-6 at half-time the Barbarians’ 36-6 win ended Portland Colts’ year, Orange’s victory giving them a second life in the competition.
In the league tag games, Villagettes’ 4-0 loss to CSU Blue gave the university teams three wins on the day with a clean sweep of their matches.
Early in their game the Blue team scored the one-and-only try in the contest and, despite knuckling down to semi-final football and keeping the Mungals pointless for the rest of the game, Villagettes were unable to get points on the board even after getting across the line only to have their try disallowed.
CSU Yellow’s defence was strong enough to allow Kandos just one try in the top game, winning 22-4 and moving on to the main semi-final against Wallerawang, leaving Kandos to play CSU Blue in the elimination match.