THEY came to Canowindra confident of starting a magic Woodbridge Cup league tag finals run, and that dream remains alive for the CSU Mungals.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The uni side scored a 28-14 win over the Canowindra Tigers as the lower ranked team in the fifth-plays-eighth contest, and showcased their title credentials in a ruthless second half display.
The Mungals carried a 16-14 lead into half-time following a tense and scrappy opening period of play but the team turned up raring to go after the break, holding the Tigers to no points from that point on.
It sets up a semi-final clash away to minor premiers Condobolin Rams this Sunday.
Mungals co-coach Ike Eggleton said the team were able to see off a rollercoaster first half and put things together once they re-emerged from the sheds.
"It was unreal," he said.
"At the start of the game we scored pretty much straight away, had an unreal attacking set and scored from it, but then Canowindra had the ball for the next 15 minutes.
"The attacked and attacked and we dropped a lot of ball. They scored three times but we got two back to lead at half-time and then we ran away with it in the second half."
CSU cut back on the errors and started to play more of the clinical football that had help take them to the finals series when they came back onto the field for the second half.
It was an impressive effort from the team to shut out the Tigers completely in the second term, especially considering that Canowindra had beaten them 12-6 them when they'd met earlier in the season.
"Once we scored our second try in the first half everyone's mood seemed to go through the roof and we started to play some unreal football," Eggleton said.
"The girls had a lot of belief in themselves, that was the main thing, and they stayed positive throughout the whole game.
"The mood was amazing especially because we'd lost to Canowindra by six points last time. It was a game we knew we could win, and it was the best feeling to come away with it."
Mungals will now travel to face a Rams side who were stunned 32-4 by the Cargo Blue Heelers in their qualifying final game over the weekend.
That makes the game a first-against-eighth encounter but that does faze Eggleton and the club.
"That'll be a really interesting game. We played them at the start of the year and we drew with them," he said.
"I'm not worried about this game at all, to be honest. I'm confident that the girls will come away with the win, in all honesty.
"We travel well and we'll have everyone back so I've got a lot of confidence for this one."
Reading this on mobile web? Download our news app. It's faster, easier to read and we'll send you alerts for breaking news as it happens. Download in the Apple Store or Google Play.
