RUGBY UNION: It was the third 'so close, but yet so far' for the Queanbeyan Whites, knocked out of the finals in a 13-point loss to the Royals in the preliminary final at Viking Park on Saturday, August 1.
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Queanbeyan coach Adam Fahey said the club as a whole was "devastated" at the loss, as he believed the cup was theirs for the taking.
"It's very disappointing, I'm more disappointed because we really could've given it a shake- we had the discipline to go all the way this year," he said.
"Opportunities like this don't come around too often. We lacked composure at crucial moments- our execution needed to be spot on and it wasn't."
The Whites kept up with the Royals early, leading by three-points at halftime, but the Royals responded well in the second and eventually ran away with a 40-27 win.
Fahey said his bet for Saturday's grand final would be a Vikings win, but said "stranger things have happened" and the Royals are not to be discounted.
The Whites will identify what went wrong and comprehensively review their season, but not before willing their lower grades to victory.
"We're hoping our second and third grades can get over the line because they've been excellent all year, so we're developing some good young talent and there are positive signs at the club," Fahey said.
"Hopefully they can learn from what we didn't do. We always like to fill up the trophy cabinet, it doesn't matter what's written on it."
ROYALS 40 (Lausii Taliauli 2, Jason Swain 2 tries; Craig McMahon 3 pens, 4 cons, drop goal) bt QUEANBEYAN WHITES 27 (Les Leuluaialii-Makin, Mitch Douch, JR Morgan tries; Mitch Douch 3 cons, 2 pens).
