ONE of the best battles for finals positions you'll find across any western sporting competition this season can be found in Woodbridge Cup league tag.
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Just six points separates second through to ninth place with three rounds of the regular season to go, and the CSU Mungals have put themselves right in the middle of that battle thanks to a win over the Oberon Tigers on Sunday.
The Mungals were a cut above the Tigers in a 24-4 win at Diggings Oval, giving the team its third win in the past four games.
Mungals co-coach Joe Fixter said the team have battled through a tough period of the season to get themselves into a great position.
"We're really coming together. We've had a couple of missed training sessions with uni holidays and some of the girls on placement, but uni's back and getting ready for finals," he said.
"[Grace] Farmilo's out there doing what she does and all the other girls are clicking really well. It's looking really good."
It's the second win this season for the Mungals over the Tigers after they recorded a 42-14 victory back in round one.
Condobolin continue to lead the way in the women's competition on 19 points and look all but certain to finish as minor premiers.
But from there it becomes tougher to see how the top eight might pan out.
Manildra Rhinos (16 points), Orange United (15) and Canowindra Tigers (14) fill out the remainder of the top four.
CSU are right behind on 13 points and then Molong Bulls, Grenfell Goannas and Cargo Blue Heelers all sit level on 12 points.
The win over the Tigers was vital for the Mungals since the run towards the finals is a brutal one.
They'll have to play Orange United twice and then face Rhinos inbetween those two meetings - a team who beat the Mungals 22-4 when they met earlier this year.
Fixter said it's a hard path to finals but it's a challenge that his team are capable of meeting if they play at their best.
"It's pretty rough. We haven't played Orange this year yet and Manildra were the first team to really put the sword to us. They beat us by a convincing margin," he said.
"It'll be interesting but I believe our girls are up there with the best and they can beat anyone on their day.
"We've dropped some games that we could have won, and we've had games where a few of our girls have been out with uni stuff, so when we get our team together - which we should have from now - we can go really well."
Meanwhile, the battle for a finals spot got an extra bit tougher for the CSU Mungoes men after a 32-4 loss to Oberon.
It leaves CSU locked in a two-way battle with Grenfell for the remaining spot inside the top eight.
The students trail the Goannas by two points with three rounds to go.
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