The Gungahlin Eagles were restricted to 14 men for more than a quarter of their John I Dent Cup minor semi-final against Canberra Royals on Sunday afternoon but still managed a "gutsy" 24-3 victory.
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A handful of knock-ons and simple skill errors from the Eagles allowed the Royals to occupy dangerous territory in the first 20 minutes, but the former's scrum and and breakdown dominance kept the scores level.
Royals had their chances to convert a number of penalties before flyhalf Pedro Rolando finally converted his third shot to give them a 3-0 lead.
They threatened the Eagles' defensive line with quick passes, but a brain-snap from their winger deep in defence led to a line-out, a rolling maul, and a converted try right on half-time to give Gungahlin a 7-3 lead.
The game remained tight after the break until a poor pass in the midfield gifted a simple interception and try, and suddenly the lead had blown out to 17-3.
Royals persisted, again relying on continous play and short passes to put the Eagles on the backfoot, resulting in a yellow card to lock Ben McGee, which was then upgraded to a red-card for initiating a melee.
But despite being a man down, Gungahlin's defence gallantly held out a pressing Royals pack before wrestling back ascendancy and scoring the match-sealing try in the final three minutes.
"It's pretty gutsy, and I suppose that's been our character all year," Eagles coach Daniel Atkins said.
"We really dig in every game, we take every game pretty serious and that's what we did there.
"There are a few guys probably needing an ice bath there, but we'll regroup on Monday and see how we're going at training. That's semi-final football, it's always going to be bruising but we're prepared for it."
The Eagles now move into Saturday's preliminary final gainst Queanbeyan Whites, who went down 30-22 to the Tuggeranong Vikings in Saturday's major semi-final.
JOHN I DENT CUP
Sunday — minor semi-final:
GUNGAHLIN EAGLES 24 (R Dobson, M Connolly, S Taufuiu tries; X Duffey 3 cons, pen, drop goal) bt CANBERRA ROYALS 3 (Pedro Rolando pen).
Saturday — major semi-final:
TUGGERANONG VIKINGS 30 (J Rakic, E Suavai, I Thompson tries; I Thompson 3 conss, 2 pens, drop goal) bt QUEANBEYAN WHITES 22 (S Tai, B Spears, OJ Noa tries; B Spears 2 cons, pen).
