The mighty under-17s, the last team standing in the semi-finals race, bowed out at Forbes on Saturday when they came up against a determined Mudgee side which had only lost one game all season, when they were beaten by Cowra last weekend. These two sides will meet in the grand final this weekend.
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Wellington knew Mudgee would come out hard right from the start, but if they could weather the initial onslaught would be right in it for the rest of the game.
Unfortunately Mudgee, on the back of a string of penalties, advanced straight to the Wellington red zone and with only four minutes gone were over for the first try.
They missed the attempt at goal and not long after missed a penalty shot from close range.
The next 18 minutes of defence by the Redbacks was probably forgotten by all of us due to the fact that we did end up losing the game.
Mudgee have some big tuff forwards but the boys just threw themselves at them, eventually turning tenacious defence into attack, Wellington then found themselves in some unfamiliar territory for the first time and our big number eight Henry Redfern seized the opportunity from a line-out maul and charged over to score the first points.
Mudgee came at us again and even though they were camped on our try line, it looked like we could hold them until the break, but two penalties against us and with only a minute to go the exhausted Redbacks line broke, a successful conversion and a penalty goal earlier left us behind 18 points to 5.
Wellington had to be the first to score in the second stanza and everyone knew it but when Mudgee scored first with only seven minutes gone, we also knew the killer blow had been struck.
The boys never looked like giving up. Tom Swainston, playing half back behind a pack that couldn't gain momentum, had his best game of the season, the highlight being one incredible run where he cut threw a number of defenders making it half the length of the field.
Henry Redfern tried everything possible to turn the game, running himself close to exhaustion.
He was finally rewarded with another try midway through the second half.
The try reinvigorated the boys and they kept coming hard and fast, but the clock by now had become the enemy and the lead was too big to chase down leaving the final score Mudgee 23, Wellington 10
For 14 of our under-17 boys the final whistle blew for the last time in junior rugby, some of them have played with us since the under-7s.
We sincerely thank them and their families for being such a big part of the club for all these years and wish them good luck in their future.
Don't panic it's not all over yet this Sunday the under-7s, 9s and 11s play in their final Walla carnival of the year at Orange City.
Presentation night will be held at the RSL club on September 13 at 6pm
On Saturday October 11, we will be conducting a family car rally where participants will follow a set course and gather clues along the way with prizes to be given at the end of the day.
Everyone is welcome to join in, I will have a further update in the coming weeks.
Kenny's Excited
