By Tallon Smith

The Narrandera Lizards have successfully gone back-to-back in the ProTen Community Cup by defeating the Ivanhoe Roosters 20-14 in the Grand Final in Goolgowi on Saturday.

Although the Lizards claimed the Group 17 crown by exactly the same scoreline and against the same opposition as last year, the game could have not been any more different when compared to last year’s decider.

In front of the heaving crowd of well over a thousand people at Goolgowi Recreation Ground, Ivanhoe drew first blood, with Clay Jones scoring to give the Roosters a 4-0 advantage early on.

Narrandera soon struck back, with fullback Caleb Atkinson breaking free of multiple tacklers to run a try in and around, leading to an easy conversion and a 6-4 Narrandera lead.

However, Ivanhoe stood tall once again, with Jermaine Dixon wrestling back a 10-6 half time lead for the boys in Red, White and Blue.

The match then entered a half-hour long stalemate, with neither side able to strike a blow as the clock wound down, and Ivanhoe appearing to be in the box seat.

However, a mountain of possession following a few Narrandera penalties saw the Lizards presented with a golden opportunity to steal the match.

The Roosters’ line was tried and tested, and held firm for the first couple of attacking raids, before a charging Jahrel Tereva stormed on to the ball in a backline movement to tie the game at 10 all.

With two minutes to play, the kick, which crucially was pushed wide by the Ivanhoe defence, saw the Lizards’ hooker Glen Borg narrowly miss out on a chance which would have sealed the premiership then and there, forcing the match into extra time.

Next came the most controversial moment of all, with Ivanhoe crossing through William Charles to take a 14-10 lead in extra time. The competition rules regarding extra time were unclear, with the debate surrounding golden point versus standard extra time and whether it was 5 or 10 minutes each way raging onwards from this point.

The match went on however, as 10 minutes each way of standard extra time, with Narrandera the next to cross, when Tereva scored his second to tie the game at 14-all heading into the second period of extra time.

The second extra time period saw the 12-man Ivanhoe defence hold on for eight minutes, withstanding wave after wave from the Lizards, who had the better of both territory and possession.

However, the Roosters’ wall eventually cracked, with Kyle Prior getting the ball away to Kaijen Johnson, who raced away not only to win the match and the premiership, but to cement himself in the folklore of the Narrandera club forever.

The Roosters, who seemed to be the better side for all but two minutes of the match couldn’t close out the victory, with the side left heartbroken following the outcome. However, the side did extremely well over the course of the match after having fullback Jake Whyman sent from the field in the first half, and Jay Little sin binned in the second half.

Narrandera Captain Nick ‘Bundy’ Brett said the win brought up the emotions of both “excitement” and “relief” amongst the squad. 

“90 minutes is a long time,” he said.

“It was good, you could see the whole crowd lose it, it was unreal.”

Brett said he was proud of the side, particularly given that the side was missing much of its key experience through injury.

“We had a lot of injuries, we lost Greeno [Clinton Green] in the first 10 minutes, and Kye [Longford] went down a little bit later,” he said.

“Gary [Ingram] didn’t play [as well], he’s a very good defender and has that old head and knows what to do direction wise.”

The Narrandera skipper was full of praise for 17-year-old Campbell Lyons, who was adjudged the player of the match.

“I’m glad we did have him, because we needed him,” Brett said, referring to the fact that Lyons has played for both Narrandera and Group 9’s South City in 2023.

“His class showed on the weekend.

“It’s good to see a young bloke coming through like that.”

After a difficult 2021 campaign that saw the club finish with the wooden spoon, Brett said the past two years under Kye Longford have been incredible for the club, who are now riding a “wave” of success.

“It comes in waves, you ride the good waves and you have to roll with the bad ones,” he said.

“The start of this year, we were struggling for players.

“Last year we won on individual brilliance, this year it was all about chipping in with effort.”

Following the controversial ending to the match, Brett was full of praise for his side’s opponents, many of whom were crushed by the final result and the circumstances surrounding the defeat.

“I wouldn’t have been dirty if they won, they deserved to win it as much as anyone,” he said.

“But we just got in front as the siren went, and that’s the way it was.”

In contrast, Ivanhoe President and Second Rower Mark Huntly was shattered by the result, declaring the result was “a tough pill to swallow” for the side.

“The game was pretty tough, but we went out there expecting a battle, [and] that’s what we got,” he said.

“But we won that battle, we defended very well [for] only having 12 men for almost 50 minutes of the game.

“We also played the last 10 minutes of the game with 11 men, and we defended very well for those ten minutes.

“Our attack was second to none, but we weren’t getting rewarded, [and] we had a disallowed try 15 minutes from full time.”

The Roosters President praised many members of his squad, in what he called a “team effort” that saw them nearly take the title home against all odds.

“Jesse Thompson was the standout, alongside Moe Clune, Joel Thompson, William Charles, Kodie Charles and Luke Gras,” he said.

“Lochyer Brennan was a standout as well, taking on the fullback position after Jake Whyman was sent from the field in the first half.

“The young fella stood up and played his role, as did Clay Jones, who was another stand out.

“It was a very big team effort.”

Although the match has been widely regarded over the past few days as being one of the best of all time in the region, Huntly said that the Ivanhoe side feels “ripped off” after the confusion of whether or not the extra time period was golden point or standard extra time, and five or ten minutes each way.

“We feel ripped off, especially given how hard we worked, playing 12 against 13 for most of the game.”

“We thought we had it in extra time when William Charles scored in the corner.

“At the same time I’m not taking anything away from Narrandera, they are a very good young side, and did play well.

“‘Bundy’ [Nick Brett, Narrandera skipper] was a standout for me, he was getting bashed up by our forwards but he stood up and faced up.”

The Ivanhoe club has lodged a formal protest over the extra time/golden point situation, as well as the refereeing in the match.

The competition rules state that extra time is to be held as two ten minute extra time periods, followed by continuous golden point if a team is unable to break the deadlock in the allotted extra time.

What the Ivanhoe club is protesting is that the league should have followed the default NSWRL rules of 5 minute golden point periods beginning directly after a drawn result at full time, as was seen in the iconic 125-minute epic between Denman and Scone in the 2014 Group 21 Grand Final.

The outcome will be resolved by the NSWRL in the coming days.

Final Score

Narrandera 20 (Jahrel Tereva 2, Caleb Atkinson, Kaijen Johnson tries; Glen Borg 2 goals) defeated Ivanhoe 14 (Clay Jones, Jermaine Dixon, William Charles tries; Cassidy Evans goal) at Goolgowi Recreation Ground

Best on Ground: Campbell Lyons (Narrandera)

To read about the Women’s Nines decider, click here.

Cover Photo: Narrandera celebrate following their 20-14 win over Ivanhoe in Saturday’s decider, which secured back to back premierships for the Lizards (Supplied: ProTen Community Cup Facebook)