The clash of body on body echoed across Campese Oval on Saturday, April 17 as the Queanbeyan Whites prevailed against the visiting Uni North Owls 15-14 in a brutal encounter that went right down to the wire.
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The first half went by largely scoreless until the Whites found the try line and missed the subsequent conversion. The Owls fought back hard and Sam Irwin crossed the line, nabbing the equaliser with ten minutes remaining on the clock, before successfully bagging the conversion and bringing the score to 5-7.
It looked as though the home side had regained the lead prior to half time when a rolling scrum found the line and a premature celebration erupted, but the points were disallowed due to an alleged knock-on and the visitors entered the break with the advantage.
That all changed within the first five minutes of the second session when Whites’ number 8 OJ Noa powered through the pack and nabbed a try, extending the lead to 12-7 following an accurately placed conversion. A field goal minutes later increased the lead to 15-7 but the Owls continued to look dangerous as they relentlessly pressured the home side’s defensive line and with 12 minutes remaining on the clock, the visitors scored a try and bagged the conversion, bringing the difference in scores to a single point.
The risk of the Whites’ losing their first match on Campese for 2016 looked to almost come to fruition in the dying seconds of the match as the Owls continuously battered Queanbeyan’s defense in their pursuit of a final try, but the home side held on for a gutsy win and sidelined captain Dan Penca was proud of the squad’s efforts.
“That was always going to be a typical Owls fight,” Penca said.
“I think they have beaten us a couple of times in previous years by a drop goal or something like that - in the death of the match - which we were all hoping not to happen on the weekend but they got quite close, and a bit too close.
“But I think the boys ended up defending quite well on that line, we did most of the attacking and we got the win which was great.”
The next match for the Queanbeyan Whites will be against the Gungahlin Eagles at Campese Oval on Saturday, April 23 from 3.05pm.
