"Not as special as the pilfer brah, I'll tell you that much," the Queanbeyan Whites giant laughed.

"People my height should never get a pilfer, that's all I'm going to say. That was the highlight."

Tuinona had scored a try to give Queanbeyan a 29-26 lead over the Tuggeranong Vikings with three minutes left at Campese Field on Saturday.

But it was the pilfer that earned his side a penalty deep inside their own 22 after time expired which secured a stirring John I Dent Cup triumph.

MORE RUGBY UNION

Tuggeranong had a 26-8 lead with 20 minutes left on the clock. The competition frontrunners looked as though they would cruise home to leave Queanbeyan's finals hopes in tatters.

But Sam French's side clearly weren't interested in following the script. The decided to write their own.

Because instead of rolling over, the Whites rallied.

Tuggeranong's Andrew Robinson saw red when he tipped Jackson Stuart above the horizontal with 19 minutes left. Michael Oakman-Hunt was given a yellow card for a shoulder charge with 11 to go.

Tries to Tuinona and Brendan Jimenez brought Queanbeyan within four points with eight minutes left. Twice Tuggeranong found a way to hold Junior Tupou up over the line.

There would be no stopping Tuinona on his late charge, a man who should have been on the Gold Coast with the Junior Wallabies this weekend before the under 20 Oceania championship was postponed.

"I never write our team off. If you've got Brendan Jimenez on the field, and Mitch Douch and some of the other guys we've got, then it's never over," French said.

"It was definitely a crossroads [at 26-8 down], and the 2020 Whites team would have rolled over, but not this year.

"To get the wooden spoon last year, we've talked the whole time about sticking together and building something for this year.

"It started off a bit ordinary at the start of the year, but we've started to grind away. There's a bit of belief creeping in now."

The win marked the second week in a row Queanbeyan's men's sides had all prevailed.

Want to talk belief? Those crowded outside the Phill Hawke change room could feel it. So too could Nic White watching from the far corner. So too could Laurie Fisher as he rested against the indoor sports centre behind the goal line.

For years Tuggeranong have been a marvel of consistency, yet even they couldn't bear the weight of defending with 13 men against a young back line willing to roll the dice.

"If you look at the points that were scored after [the cards] happened, it was a game changer, ill-discipline," Vikings coach Nick Scrivener said.

"I'll have to look at the tape to see exactly what happened, but obviously it was close enough to the margins for the ref to make the call so we were in the wrong.

"I was actually with how we turned up to play. Things went to custard in the second half. Queanbeyan were good enough to take advantage.

"It proves again the comp is tight. If you don't put a consistent performance together, anyone can beat anyone."

As the sun set on Campese Field, Queanbeyan would show exactly that. As for their finals hopes, "they're absolutely alive".

Because now they are just two points shy of the fourth-placed Wests Lions leading into their clash in Queanbeyan on Friday night.

A win would be enough to propel the Whites into the top four, with Uni-Norths and Gungahlin occupying third and fourth.

"I've been saying to anyone who will listen that they can write us off at their peril," French said.

"We can beat anyone in the comp. We've proven that. We've got a big test against Wests this week.

"We've got all the momentum now, we've got nothing to lose, and no one expects us to do much this year. We are building. Fred Kaihea is still to return.

"I'm just really proud of the club, the sense of community now is building. I'm going in there to sing the song."

AT A GLANCE

John I Dent Cup round 11: QUEANBEYAN WHITES 29 (Brendan Jimenez 2, Zeph Tuinona 2 tries; Jimenez 3 conversions; Jimenez penalty) bt TUGGERANONG VIKINGS 26 (Thomas Watego 2, Seamus Smith, Maika Ravouvou tries; Jack Evenden 3 conversions) at Campese Field.

UNI-NORTHS OWLS 21 (Hamish Dawson 2, Samuel Mickelson tries; Jordan Thompson 3 conversions) bt CANBERRA ROYALS 15 (Liam Shaw, Ethan Rokorua tries; Thomas Hallam conversion; Hallam penalty) at Phillip Oval.

GUNGAHLIN EAGLES 42 (Corey Toole 4, Brendon Taueki, N/A tries; Tom Haddad 6 conversions) bt WESTS LIONS 14 (Harry Lloyd, Darcy Eason tries; Eason 2 conversions) at Jamison Oval.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: