Papua New Guinea flyer George Moreau spoiled the Gungahlin Eagles' party on Saturday as the former sevens flyer hammered a dagger into their 50th anniversary celebrations.
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Moreau scored a double after being called into the Royals' first-grade side and his second try was the heartbreaker for the Eagles' party.
The 41-29 win at Gungahlin Enclosed confirmed Royals' status as John I Dent Cup premiership favourites and gave pint-sized speedster Moreau a chance to show his potential.
The winger was on the radar of former Australian sevens coach Michael O'Connor and Royals players invited him to Canberra after watching his electric speed at a sevens tournament in Darwin.
He got his chance to impress in a first-grade start after Andrew Muirhead was called into the ACT Brumbies squad and Royals skipper Ben Johnston withdrew from the clash against Gungahlin.
He didn't disappoint, opening the scoring on Gungahlin's big day and then icing the game with time running out.
Moreau's rise and Royals' win was even more impressive considering they were missing Muirhead, Johnston, Tom Cusack and Faalelei Sione.
They also had to withstand a passionate Gungahlin charge in the second half after Tom Staniforth was sent to the sin bin, but they maintained their unbeaten record this year.
"I thought we had a lot of courage, especially when one of the tight five [forwards] is in the sin bin," said Royals coach Wayne Southwell.
"They got within five points and we were going to go one of two ways. That's testament to the players and what [fitness and skills coach] Timmy Cornforth has been doing.
"We still tried to play our game and the intensity didn't drop off, guys stepped up and that's the smooth transition for us."
Gungahlin ran through a 35 metre guard of honour before kick-off as past Eagles and Daramalan turned up to help the club celebrate a significant milestone.
Royals were unfazed, racing out of the blocks to a 24-3 lead before something sparked the Ealges into action and they rallied in the second half.
They closed the gap to trail 27-22 in the final 20 minutes after tries to Eli Sinoti, Jackson Duffey and Xavier Duffy and they had Royals on the slide when Brumbies lock Staniforth left the field after repeated infringements.
But an error gave Royals the jump when a Gungahlin kick was charged down and fell into the hands of Jamie Bodman, who raced 20 metres to score.
Moreau then latched on to a cross-field kick, turned on the after-burners and scored the clincher in the final 10 minutes.
The Eagles got the final say, with United States sevens player Chris Coyle scoring after the siren but it was too little too late.
It was the only blip on the Eagles' day of celebrations, winning all four lower grade games against Royals.
The Eagles also scored more points against Royals than any other team this season, and coach Dan Atkins praised his side's resilience.
"It's a bit disappointing not to come away with the chocolates on a big day, but we won every other grade and that's a good sign of the strength of the club at the moment," Atkins said.
"We can build on that. We kept going all the way to the end, but a couple of mistakes let us down and let Royals back into the game.
"It wasn't a win, but it's the history of this club and shows the big strength we have in this community. We're the only club in Canberra with seven grades."
AT A GLANCE
John I Dent Cup: ROYALS 41 (G Moreau 2, M Fakava 2, J Bodman tries; P Rolando 5 conversions, 2 penalties) bt GUNGAHLIN EAGLES 29 (J Duffey, E Sinoti, X Duffy, C Coyle tries; J Kotz 2, I Walker conversions, J Kotz penalty); UNI-NORTHS OWLS 25 bt EASTS 15; TUGGERANONG VIKINGS 38 bt WESTS 17.
