John Fitzgerald

Trundle Boomers’ 60-point win in the previous week’s last-round regular season game made a statement they would be the dark horse going into the Woodbridge Cup finals.

The Boomers proved this, taking down one of the premiership favourites Manildra 30-8 at Manildra’s home ground in their first semi-final.

Trundle had led the competition for the first six rounds before beaten by Oberon and then remained undefeated one point behind Oberon and Manildra for the remaining premiership games.

The Boomers, in their semi-final defeat of Manildra, have made a statement they will command the respect of all the remaining finalists.

Their 22-point win declares them as a definite premiership threat, and after taking down Manildra, they will now set their sights on minor premiers Oberon later in the finals series.

Oberon’s 28-10 semi-final defeat of Cargo came as no surprise despite Cargo’s good season finishing in fourth spot, the Blue Heelers giving a good account of themselves against the competition favourites.

Before the Cargo semi-final, Oberon captain-coach Nic Barlow stated that despite his side strongly finishing the regular-season games he was still wary of Cargo as the Blue Heelers had been the only team to beat Oberon this year.

“They are the only ones to beat us, but they don’t necessarily have the wood on us, we’ve put that behind us and that loss will definitely motivate the boys,” he ssaid.

“Cargo was in the top four for a reason and Jake Blimka (Cargo captain-coach) had bought into their semi-final because of it.

“We only have one player out, Lleyton Lothian (Tigers fullback) with a pinched nerve but Calum Limon is a very capable replacement at the back.”

The 28-10 win by Oberon, not unexpected by observers, was still hard fought for, Cargo’s Charlie Huggett scoring first points for his side at the six-minute mark and the Blue Heelers holding Oberon out for another 10 minutes before Jesse Lua Lua went across for Oberon’s first points.

There was no score for 10 minutes until Abel Faifua Lefaoseu’s try put Oberon ahead for the first time.

Cargo’s Tom Blimka scored six minutes later, neither side looking dominant at this stage.

However, with another two first half tries, to Matt Ranse and Jesse Lua Lua, Oberon took momentum to the halftime break.

Cargo were shut out of scoring in the second half while Oberon scored another two tries, to Nic Barlow and Blake Rigelsford, Oberon successfully putting down Cargo’s semi-final challenge.

Other first-round finals results saw Cowra beat Peak Hill 26-24, and Blayney were 48-12 winners over Orange United.