Brodie Slater was a last minute hero for the Lions scoring after the bell to secure a 15-14 win over Scone and spark jubilant scenes at Quirindi Rugby Park.

“We all jumped in the air and everyone was quite excited,” Lions coach Will Pearce said describing the reaction from the sidelines.

The Lions had been peppering the Brumbies in their half for about 10 minutes, Pearce said, but, as had been the case throughout the game, couldn’t finish.

Then in the shades of full-time from a scrum, the Lions worked a move off the back of the scrum between the number eight, half-back and winger that sent Slater over.

It was a monumental result for the Lions after a string of heavy defeats, and has provided a much-needed jolt of confidence, especially for the younger players. 

The turnaround was led by their defence. That was emphasised in the second half with the Brumbies not scoring a point.

“It was definitely our best defensive effort for the year,” Pearce said.

Both in terms of their first-up defence and their scrambling defence. Pearce noted that two or three times the Brumbies had broken their line and were running down the sideline but the Lions pushed them into touch.

“Without that we don’t win,” he said.

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He said in attack they looked “good at times” but as has been the case the last few weeks, their execution at the crucial moment let them down at times. 

Despite trailing 14-10 at half-time, Pearce said they “had their heads up” at the break. Both of the Brumbies tries, while good work from them, were fortuitous rather than constructed. One was from an intercept and the other a charge down.

Barraba similarly came from behind at half-time to upset Walcha.

Behind 26-12 at the break, the home side Rams produced a second half blitz to take the points 40-32.

Served a bit of a wake-up call by Narrabri the week before, Barraba were right in the game in the first half, a couple of mistakes late in the half skewing the scoreline a bit. Centre Luke Smith said they had a chance to score late in the first half, but blew it and instead Walcha snaffled an intercept.

After some “soul-searching” at half-time they came out in the second half “a bit more intense in our running”.

“The forwards ran a bit harder and were a bit more direct,” Smith said.

He said it was almost a mirror of their recent clash against Moree.

Then they clawed back a 14 point half-time deficit to fall seven points short.

“It was exactly the same as the Moree game. The only difference was we panicked against Moree,” Smith said.

Finding themselves in a similar situation on Saturday, he thought that game probably helped them.

The backs did the bulk of the damage but were working off scraps a lot of the time – at least from the set pieces. 

“The set pieces weren’t that strong on the weekend,” Smith said.

Fortunately they were able to win a few scrums towards the end of the game, and provide a few more opportunities for the backs.

The Rams fourth win of the season, Smith said beating last years grand finalists, albeit not a full strength Walcha outfit, has given them more confidence and a bit more self belief.