THE Cootamundra Homes Bulldogs under 13s rugby league side qualified for their forth consecutive grand final appearance with a hard fought 16-12 win over the Temora Dragons at Temora last Saturday in the major semi final of the Group Nine Northern Division.
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The young Dogs, having secured the minor premiership following an undefeated season to date, have booked themselves a date against the winner of tomorrow’s final between the Dragons and the fast improving Wagga Brothers.
The final will be played at Wagga on September 14.
In a typical finals match, full of strong defence and mistakes from both sides, the Dogs started the best to race to a 10-nil lead after 11 minutes thanks to two tries to centre Jackson Bridge, one from an excellent kick from Matt Knagge that eluded the Temora defence and the second from a strong backline movement ending up with the lightening quick Bridge slamming the ball down in the corner.
The Dogs seemed to go to sleep at this point and let the Dragons right back into the match with an 18th minute converted try making the score 10-6 and from then on the Bulldogs had to work overtime to keep Temora out for remainder of the stanza to take a slender 4 point lead into half time.
Forward James Howse put his stamp on the match in the forth minute of the second half bursting through a gap close to the line to give the Dogs some breathing space at 16 to 4 with Jack Caldwell adding his second conversion for the Match.
The match was an arm wrestle for the remainder of the second half and although the Dogs certainly looked the better of the two sides they failed to convert on the scoreboard with at least two tries bombed and too much ball put on the deck.
With the match basically over with less than a minute on the clock the Dragons put in a desperate kick to the corner of the Dogs line and although the result looked to be an obvious knock from both sides the Dragons were awarded a consolation try to complete the scoring.
The Dogs had plenty of good performers with none better than Howse who stood out over the entire match and proved a perfect foil for the rampaging runs by big man Wayne Parker who once again proved a major headache for, what must be said, was a well organised and committed Temora defence. Dogs five eight Matt Knagge was given little room to move by the Dragons but managed to give good service to his outside backs with Jackson Bridge in particular producing an outstand all round performance.
Jack Caldwell and Josh Deep set very high standards in defence and produced again on Saturday with Campbell Cooper Duck and James Cummins very safe and effective in a strong team performance.
A major positive for the Dogs was the fact that forward James Doyle got through the match coming back from injury and improved greatly as the match progressed and will certainly be a major factor in the Grand Final.
The Dogs will now train hard over the next two weeks in an effort to tidy up in a few areas and will look forward to producing their best performance of the season in the decider in their quest for back to back premierships.
The coaches of the side have called a training run for 1am this Sunday at Nicholson Park, to be followed by a team barbecue. The side will then move to Fisher Park as a team to cheer on the Bulldogs senior side in their match against Kangaroos.
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