Rhinos 'have a few gears left' after Magpies 'fightback' in tense final

The Rhinos defeated Cowra Magpies in the Woodbridge Cup qualifying final 20-16 at Jack Huxley Oval on Sunday, August 10.

Yelland, who scored a double alongside dummy-half Kaleb Mullins, said the red and whites could step it up when they run out for a home preliminary final in a fortnight.

"I think we've been holding back a bit all year," he said.

"[Coach] Luke [Petrie] said we still have a few gears left in us. I think if we just cut out our mistakes and really control the ball and keep rolling up the middle, it will come together at the end of the season."

The two sides met twice in the space of seven days with Manildra thumping the Magpies 46-12 in the final round.

Cowra clearly still had coach Phil Ingram's words ringing in their ears as they started with plenty of energy, dominating field position and making it pay off with a well-worked try out wide to Josh Weston.

The home side eventually got a roll on though and would hit back via Yelland and then twice in the final six minutes through Mullins to carry a 14-4 lead into the break.

Yelland said the Rhinos expected a much tougher match and the talk at half-time was that the team needed to earn the right to play.

"It was a very close-fought game," he said.

"Very different to last week, we weren't expecting them to let go easily and they certainly proved it today.

"We expected a massive fightback from them, which they did today, but we didn't really want to change anything from last week, except punch up the middle and earn the right to go out wide, which is what we did in the end.

"We weren't overly happy, we sort of let a few mistakes in and we spoke about coming up the middle strong and controlling the ball well, and we knew at the end there we could start playing some footy."

That did eventuate in the second half as the winger crossed for his second but his effort was sandwiched between two Magpies tries, a brilliant individual run off the scrum by Ricky Whitton and then a try by centre Daniel Hatch.

The Rhinos would defend their four-point lead for 15 minutes, including some extended pressure on their line, before the siren drew some relieved sighs from those in attendance.

As for Yelland's double, the winger was quick to offload praise on his inside.

"I'm very happy to contribute. I have some pretty handy fellas on the left edge with me. They do all the hard work, I just have to finish it."

Manildra's league tag side also continued their quest for another title, a hat-trick, with an impressive 34-8 win against Eugowra Geagles.

The Rhinettes turned it on in the second half after leading 10-4 at the break, running in four tries to book a place in the preliminary final.

In first grade Oberon Tigers showed why Manildra will need to find the aforementioned extra gears by emphatically beating Canowindra Tigers 45-10 in the other qualifying final.

On Saturday, Molong Bulls ended Trundle Boomers' season with a 26-18 win while Orange United Warriors also kept their campaign alive with a strong 34-10 victory against Peak Hill Roosters.