The Boorowa Roverettes catapulted themselves back into the top five with their best win in two seasons against defending Premiers Bungendore last Saturday.
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It was a gutsy win by the local girls who were the better team, hanging on bravely in the dying minutes for a 14-10 win.
Knowing their season was on the line, all the girls played inspired football as though their lives depended on it.
It was without doubt their most impressive and crucial win over their two seasons in the George Tooke competition and issued a sound warning to the remaining teams that they are not in the finals race to make up the numbers.
From the outset of the contest, it was evident Boorowa were up for the challenge.
In the opening minutes, a massive kick from Amanda Noakes put the Roverettes on the attack early.
Numerous attacking raids paid off after seven minutes when Mackella Pye crossed for unconverted try and a 4-0 lead.
Continued pressure saw Boorowa cross again after 14 minutes through Peyton Power who touched down to make it 8-0.
Just five minutes later the Roverettes were in again as Mackella Pye scored her second try.
A difficult conversion attempt was successful by Amanda Noakes and at 14-0 Boorowa was in command.
However, as all defending Premiers do, Bungendore rose to the challenge and struck back shortly before half time to trail 14-6 at the break.
The second half was a battle of inches, with both teams at times being in attacking positions only to see the opponents defence rule the day.
As the minutes ticked away, it appeared Boorowa were heading for victory.
However with just eight minutes left, the Roverettes defence was breached as Bungendore scored an unconverted try to make the score 14-10 and set up a grand stand finish.
The Tigerettes threw everything at the Boorowa defence who stood tall to withstand the onslaught and keep the Premiership dream alive.
Every player was instrumental in the win and the 3, 2, 1 points were hard to pick.
However Danni Gilbert got the three points for the second consecutive week continuing her outstanding form.
Two points were shared by Rachel Corkery for another consistent performance and Peyton Power who never stopped all day scoring a crucial try as well.
One point went to Amanda Noakes who put in some fine long range kicks.
It was a sensational team win that impressed coach Brendon Shean as he heaped praise on all of his chargers in post match celebrations.
The Roverettes have the week off before another huge challenge awaits against the Harden Hawkettes in two weeks.
The top five now sees Harden 26, Crookwell 22, Bungendore 18, North Canberra 16 and Boorowa 15.
Gunning are the major challenger to Boorowa just outside the five on 14 whilst the Grizzlies are barely alive on 11.
Binalong 6 and ADFA 4 can book their end of season trips to Bali now.
In the George Tooke Shield Rovers match, it was a disappointing game for Rovers being outplayed by Bungendore 32-4 in Boorowa’s worst performance of the season.
After skipping out to a 12-0 lead early, the Tigers were never really troubled by the Rovers who were their own worst enemy with an horrendous error rate.
Among very few highlights for the Rovers was a Trent Crawford try from some good backline work late in the first half to bring the score back to 12-4 at halftime.
However Bungendore snuffed out any chance of a revival with a converted try just five minutes into the second Stanza.
At 18-4 Boorowa still plenty of time but despite an in goal roasting from skipper Daniel Roberts, the local side were unable to bridge the gap and leaked three more tries in the second half as the score blew out to 32-4.
Coach Josh Burns lamented after full time that the team has plenty of work to do before their next game at home on July 21 against the Harden Hawks.
Fortunately Boorowa has maintained fourth spot on the ladder with Fifth placed Bungendore still three points behind.
Sixth placed Binalong failed to make inroads as they remained three points outside the top five when they went down in a nail bitter to Crookwell by 8-6.
In the tightest match of the weekend, Harden and North Canberra fought out a thrilling 14-14 draw.
The final encounter saw UC Grizzlies 24 defeat Gunning 0 with both these teams now playing for pride in 2018.
Meanwhile the combined Harden/Boorowa youth continues to impress with a very convincing 28-14 win over the North Canberra Bears.
They are now in second spot on the ladder and will play semi final football in coming weeks.
They will also have this weekend off with a bye.
So this weekend will see all three teams get the final opportunity to rest up before the final four rounds of the regular season.
All three are in contention for the semis but there is plenty of work ahead especially for the Rovers who have some massive games ahead.
See you all at the Boorowa Showground on July 21 for two huge games against Harden.