RUGBY LEAGUE: The Queanbeyan Blues held off a season best second half from the Roos to win the first local derby of the 2015 Canberra Raiders Cup, but Blues coach Simon Woolford said his team needs to remain focused for a full 80 minutes after a 12-point Roos comeback in the second half almost stole the win from the Blues.
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Making the most of the home ground advantage at Seiffert Oval early, the Blues posted a couple of early tries- the Roos only managing to score at the 12-minute mark, but allowed another two tries through before halftime and went into the break with a 22-6 battle ahead of them.
After not getting much of the ball at all in the first half the Roos came out with intensity to start the second and after a back and forth battle it was Adam Pearce who broke through to put the visitors at 22-12, with just under 20 minutes to go and the whiff of a comeback.
Less than a minute later and the Roos capitalised on a dropped ball from the Blues with yet another try and 22-18 with 18 minutes to go.
But the Roos' fairy tale was crushed by Blues Tom Ruediger with a 70-metre run and try, pushing the lead out to 10 points once again.
A Blues try with two minutes to go well and truly sealed the deal for the defending premiers- running out with a convincing 34-18 win.
Roos captain/coach Aaron Gorrell said a 12-point margin against the Blues may have been seen as impossible, but his team never gave up.
"In the first 15 minutes we couldn't get the ball- lesser sides would've thrown the white flag in," he said.
"They're meant to be the benchmark and we got within four points of them. We bombed a couple of opportunities and made a few poor decisions- if a couple of those 50/50 calls went the other way it could've been a completely different game.
"It could've been the game to turn our season around, but we toughed it out pretty well and we should get a bit of confidence from it."
Blues coach Simon Woolfood said his team were "lucky" to come away with the win after letting the Roos back into the game.
"We started well, but then we got into going away from what we'd trained to do," he said.
"At 22-18 we weren't playing well and the Roos were- we could've conceded defeat, but we have players that can get us out of trouble.
"I'm disappointed with the way we played- a win's a win, but I'm disappointed with our second half."
The Roos play the in-form Goulburn at Freebody on May 31 and while Gorrell said he would have liked a better win-loss record he believes his boys are heading in the right direction.
"I would've liked a win or two more by now, but hopefully we'll just keep improving, I'm happy with how we're going," he said.
"If we're giving 50 to 60 per cent against top sides we're going to be against it, but we're not that far away from where we want to be and everything we need to improve on isn't that hard to fix.
"We just have to make sure we don't drop wins, but we're heading up."
The Blues tackle Tuggeranong at Greenway and Woolford said his side will have to put in a better effort than last week.
"The scoreboard said we won comfortably, but it certainly wasn't a comfortable win," he said.
"We haven't put in a full 80-minute performance yet- we let [teams] back into the contest, we're just getting away with it."
Queanbeyan Blues 34 (Tyler Stevens 2, Tom Ruediger 2, Adam Misios, James Woolford tries; Craig Wilkinson 5 goals) def Queanbeyan Kangaroos 18 (Aaron Gorrell, Adam Pearce, Sione Afemui tries; Jack Miller 3 goals)