UNE Barbarians will take winning form into their first New England first grade grand final but left it until late to get over Robb College on Saturday.
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Baa Baas were behind for most of the match but in front when it mattered, with a late try to fullback Keith Ellis seeing them pip Robb 20-19.
The game didn’t mean a lot in terms of the finals and the Baa Baas struggled to match the intensity of the students for a fair part of the game.
“Robb played really well. They’re a well-drilled side and were very quick up off the line in defence, and good at the breakdown,” Baa Baas coach Dan Dooner said.
“Our set pieces were still good but we didn’t play with enough passion.
“We were asleep in the first half.”
Off the back of that, they trailed 19-5 at half-time.
“We woke up in the second half and started to dominate more,” Dooner said.
“We played smarter football, made better use of our ball and played with a bit more control.”
They were things they weren’t doing in the first half.
Robb was also very strong on the ball and forced a few penalties and turnovers.
The second half they made sure they didn’t get isolated, Dooner said, and enjoyed a lot more go-forward.
“We started to play it back down their end,” he said.
“They were in our quarter a lot in the first half.”
It was their final hit-out before the big one – the grand final – and there were a few good signs looking toward that.
“The main positive is we turned it around in the second half,” Dooner said.
“It shows we can grind out a win.”
They haven’t been in the position of having to grind out a win a lot and, leading into Ellis’s try, played good tight footy to make their way upfield.
The forwards dominated the points, with Tim Robbins picking up the three, Joe Piddington the two and Nick Dooner and Dan Raye sharing the one.
Robb coach Gordon Williams said it was a little bit disappointing to lose the way they did with Ellis scoring in the last couple of minutes, but he was pleased with a lot of what his side did.
“We were very sharp the first 50 minutes of the game,” Williams said. “We just tailed off a bit towards the end.”
Particularly in the last 10 they “ran out of a bit of cohesion and puff”.
He attributed that a bit to having had a couple of weeks off.
There was little sign of that early though.
“The boys played well, had a good intensity and moved the ball well,” Williams said.
“We got on the front foot in the first half and stayed on the front foot.”
But they couldn’t maintain the intensity in the second half and had a battle to hold Baa Baas out.
Jake Smith at number eight was Robb’s best.
He won the man of the match and three points.
Andrew Fuller, Joe Melino and Nathan Banks were also in the points.
