John Fitzgerald

Minor premiers Oberon Tigers booked their place in next Sunday’s Woodbridge Cup Grand Final after a 28-20 win over the Molong Bulls in the Preliminary Final at the Oberon Recreation Ground on Sunday.

The win sees the Tigers set to meet three-time defending premiers Manildra in the decider in Canowindra next Sunday after their 32-12 win over Canowindra on Saturday.

Oberon, a little dusty after a week off, were surprised by the Bulls’ early intensity coming off a good win over Cowra a week earlier.

Molong camped themselves in Oberon’s half, attacked the Tigers’ line strongly, and were rewarded with first points in the sixth minute with a converted try to Jackson Gersbach.

Oberon counter attacked on the Molong line but the Bulls scored again after an intercept and a 90-metre sprint with a try to Bailey Peschka, and again converted by Sebastian Backhouse the visitors went out to a 12-nil lead.

The Bulls reaffirmed their lead and took the ball deep back into the Tigers’ half to receive a penalty, Backhouse’s successful kick pushing their points to 14.

With the breeze behind them Oberon began to settle and moved the ball deep into Molong’s half and looked likely to score before an illegal strip by Ben Blimka saw him sinbinned.

Molong, on their own line and reduced to 12 players, were left vulnerable, the Tigers’ Blake Miller then scoring first points for his side, converted by Blake Fitzpatrick.

Within four minutes Oberon’s Will Melchers was over in the corner for the Tigers’ second converted try, and with a 14-12 scoreline the home side was well into their fightback.

Oberon skipper Nic Barlow’s try transformed his side’s pushback into a four-point lead 10 minutes before halftime, and the sides went to the break with an 18-14 scoreline.

It was not long into the second half before Oberon winger Senio Lefaoseu was across in the corner to consolidate the Tigers’ lead but the conversion kick was unsuccessful, the score 22-14.

The Oberon side, against the breeze for the last 40 minutes, were gaining ascendancy, running freely and defending their line against spirited attempts by Molong to score more points.

Twenty minutes into the half, Oberon fullback Robby Walsh’s try took some sting out of the rivals’ attack, but the Bulls were still able to score the final try to Kade Cotter to bring the final score to 28-20, a scoreline closer than Oberon would have preferred.

Meanwhile, Manildra was the first side into the grand final courtesy of their 32-12 win over Canowindra on Saturday.

Last year’s grand finalists Canowindra kept old rivals Manildra to 12-all at halftime before the Rhinos hit top gear and romped away with 20 unanswered points in the second half.

Reigning premiers Manildra, the seemingly perennial grand finalists, had played a less dominant role through this season’s premiership rounds but, as usual, showed their strength during the finals and now line up in their fifth-straight decider.