IT WAS fifth time lucky for Tumut's McAuley Central School as they finally broke through for a win in the Small Schools Final on Wednesday at Dubbo.
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Tumut won the final match of the action-packed finals gala day, defeating Nyngan Central School 32-28 in a thrilling under-13s Small School Final.
The lead changed five times but a barnstorming try from man of the match Paul Grove, his fourth of the game, sealed the win for Tumut inside the final two minutes.
"The game could have gone either way but I think we got the bounce of the ball in the end," winning coach David Turnbull said.
"We hung in there and full credit goes to the boys.
"This is our fifth time up here and first win so that was good."
In the kind of cold conditions more similar to those in Tumut than Dubbo, it was the Nyngan Tigers who opened the scoring but the two sides went into the break at 14-all after going try for try for the entire first half.
Grove, playing in the centres, scored one of his tries in the first half, complimenting the classy Braithan Keenan at five-eighth, and he was the first to score in the second stanza.
Kyle Hall scored a double for Nyngan, sandwiching Grove's third, but a missed conversion saw Tumut still clinging to a 26-24 lead with five minutes remaining.
Bill Quarmby, outstanding all match for Nyngan, barged over in the corner to give his side a late lead but a powerful run from Grove, starting 20m out from the line, gave his side the match-winning try.
"There's a couple of boys there who are very handy," Turnbull said.
"Paul Grove, who scored four tries, is also a state athlete, a state high jumper, too so he's a talented boy.
"But this is an excellent initiative by the Country Rugby League so they should be congratulated for it, it's really good."
Tumut's win epitomised the entire day with hard-fought matches with thrilling finishes a hallmark of all the deciders.
The day began with St Joseph's Banora Point defeating St Francis De Sales from Leeton 32-16 in the under-15s Country Cup Final.
Terrigal High School then knocked over Forbes' Red Bend College 32-10 in the Open Aged Country Cup decider and that was followed by arguably the match of the day.
Moree Secondary College and Kildare Catholic College from Wagga couldn't be separated in the under-13s Country Cup final and it took until golden point for Moree to eventually break through and win 32-28.
Inverell's Holy Trinity then got past Sacred Heart of Cootamundra 26-16 before Tumut brought the day to a close with another eye-catching performance.
"All the games were very good," Country Rugby League chief executive Terry Quinn said at the conclusion of the day.
"Even the little fellas were champions and it was great to watch and good to see kids competing."