Woden Valley had an upset 22-12 victory over West Belconnen in the match of the round in the Canberra Raiders Cup to shake up the run to the finals.
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"This meant a lot to the club," coach Billy Thomson said after the game. "We've been up the pointy end a little bit this year, but haven't really knocked off the biggest sides, and today we had the opportunity to do it and took it. It was a real team-building effort."
Ladies' day at Raiders Belconnen had a bumper crowd turn out to see the Warriors storm home towards a minor premiership, but the Rams had other plans, claiming back the Memorial Cup in style.
The visitors nabbed an early lead through Antonio Macarlino, finishing a deft grubber by playmaker Sean Maloney to the corner.
The Warriors took a while to find their groove but hit back through Benjamin Flood waltzing through the napping Rams defence that were caught off-guard by a Manu Vanisi offload to dummy-half Harry Brown. Robert Roberts' conversion hit the left upright but sailed in to snatch the lead for West Belconnen.
The contest tightened up but Woden regained the lead before half-time through Jesse Martin who collected the crumbs dropped in goal by Daniel Garner after bobbling a kick.
Chasing a 10-6 deficit, West Belconnen needed a strong reply to start the second half and Kirren Roughley lived up to his name, taking a penalty tap inside the 10 and outmuscling the Rams defence to score under the uprights.
Both teams showed resilience in defence but it was the Rams who were able to go the distance.
The back half of the final 40 minutes was all one-way traffic for Woden Valley, as tries to Jesse Taws slicing through the tiring Warriors defence and a try to hooker Kosta Posantzis, sealed the result.
"They came at us and we made some changes at the 20-minute mark. We had to fight very hard for the result today," Thomson said of the Rams' effort.
"I think Gideon Afemui was one of the better ones today. He just never gives up and he's been a really good asset to our side. There were a lot of boys out there that got into it.
"We are in a position now where we wanted to be, not dreaming of it. We know we were good enough, now let's see where we can take it."
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