After falling just short last year, the Rams took control early and never relinquished it to power to a 34-3 win and secure their first piece of first grade silverware since 1997.

“It was nice to get one,” Rams co-coach Barry Hoy said.

“Rather than being the bridesmaid.”

They’ve been that the last two grand finals they’ve played.

“They played really well, they deserved it,” Hoy said of his players.

“We probably rushed a few things early. We had a few opportunities early but spilt the last pass.”

He put it down to a few nerves.

There was a good crowd and plenty of them wearing red and white.

“Then the forwards started to dominate with the scrum and give the backs some go-forward,” he said.

He always felt it was going to come together and midway through the half it finally did, with outside centre Ed Cordingley finishing off a break from Ed Churchill.

It was about the fourth clear break they’d made  and, with the extras, made it 10-nil after skipper Simon Newton had landed a penalty from about 40m out to get them on the board about 10 minutes in.

Hooker Jock Fortescue extended their lead further a few minutes later, combining with prop and player of the grand final Ross Fletcher out wide.

The Highlanders did manage to salvage something from the first half, with Nick Cumming landing a 40m penalty right on half-time.

Any hope that gave them though was dashed when Newton finished off another Churchill break to push out to 22-3 with 19 to go.

They then ran in a couple of late tries for good measure, with number eight Will Fletcher scoring off a pushover scrum, and then right on full-time Soni Halanaokonua from a quick-tap.

For the Highlanders it was  a story of too many errors.

“We didn’t turn up today,” Highlanders coach Simon Clarke said.

“I don’t know whether nerves got us a bit.”

But the basics that had been so good for them the last two weeks just weren’t there.

“We seemed to snatch at things and dropped ball,” Clarke said.

The Rams, in contrast, “brought the complete package”.

Earlier, Gunnedah made up for its own disappointment last year with a 26-17 win over Barraba to win the second grade title.