Raiders bask in glory after upset

Press, 25 September 1989, Page 44

Raiders bask in glory after upset

NZPA-AAP

Sydney

Canberra staged a sensational recovery yesterday to take the Winfield Cup rugby league grand final over Balmain, 19-14, after extra time.

The Raiders, who trailed 12-2 at half-time, fought back to level at 1414 with the Tigers at the end of 80 minutes. Canberra finished the stronger of the two teams and took the lead after two minutes of extra time when the five-eighth, Chris O’Sullivan, landed a field goal from 25 metres out. It went on to dominate the extra 20 minutes and sewed up the game with three minutes to go when the replacement, Steve Jackson, charged 20 metres through five defenders to score. Canberra, in scoring the biggest grand final upset since Balmain beat South Sydney 20 years ago, also became the first side to win from fourth or fifth place and is the first side to take the Winfield Cup out of Sydney. The Raiders lock, Bradley Clyde, capped a tremendous year by taking the Clive Churchill Medal for best on the field but was only marginally ahead of several other team-mates. The captain, Mai Meninga, worked himself to a standstill after twice being almost concussed, the forwards Gary Coyne, Dean Lance and Glen Lazarus were also superb, while the half-back, Ricky Stuart and the centre, Laurie Daley, were not far behind. The Balmain prop, Steve Roach, who had played strongly up to that point, was surprisingly replaced in the sixty-fifth minute with Balmain leading, 12-8. Scenes after the win

will last forever in the memories of all Raider’s fans, and most others in the sell-out 40,500 crowd. A war-weary Meninga breaking down hopelessly in tears; the veteran second-rower and former captain, Dean Lance, being chaired by his team-mates; Ferguson racing off the field to bring his two young children with him on the lap of honour. The scenes on the other side of the victory dais matched Canberra’s for drama, but for vastly different reasons as the beaten favourites slumped on the dirt. The captain, Wayne Pearce, fought back the tears after realising his chance at premiership glory had again been snuffed; the fullback, Garry Jack, lay motionless on his back for several minutes; the hooker, Ben Elias, sat head between legs. Roach, who missed last year’s 24-12 grand final loss to Canterbury through suspension, was again left cursing at fate. He had to watch from the sidelines after being replaced by the tough tackling Kevin Hardwick in a controversial move as the coach, Warren Ryan, sought to protect a 14-8 lead. Yet one replacement alone could not be blamed for Balmain’s defeat from such an imposing position. Instead, as Pearce and Mr Ryan lamented, it was an unaffordable mistake rate in the second half which saw the Winfield Cup pulled off the Balmain bus and

onto a plane bound for the nation’s capital. The coach, Tim Sheens, in his second year with the Raiders, was lost for words after watching his men end a string of nine sudden-death games with a lap of honour. But he managed to say his team refused to believe it was beaten at half-time, despite trailing 12-2. “At half-time, we all agreed we’d been playing the better football,” Mr Sheens said. “We also said that if we persevered for the first 20 or 30 minutes of the second half we’d come home, and we drew a lot from the fact that we’ve scored in the last 10 minutes of most of our recent games. “At 12-2 Balmain had its hands on the trophy, but their grip started to loosen. The more it slipped, the stronger we got. I’m just glad for all the players, and for everyone at the club.” Meanwhile, courageous Lance declared the Raiders’ forward pack the best in the business after pushing his team-mates to the historic win. The former Canberra captain said he would stick by his decision to retire, but qualified his statement by adding “at this stage.”

Result: Canberra 19 (G. Belcher, J. Ferguson, S. Jackson, tries; M. Meninga, 3 goals; C. O’Sullivan, field goal) bt Balmain 14 (J. Grant, C. Sironen, tries; A. Currier, 3 goals) after extra time. Halftime: 2-12. Full-time: 14-14. Referee: B. Harrigan. Crowd: 40,500. Scrums: Balmain 16-10. Penalties: Canberra: 8-2.