Rugby Complex against the Albury Steamers. 

After qualifying for the biggest game of the season the Sunday prior, the boys, their coaches and supporters got their first taste of a ‘Grand Final Week’.  

Parents reminisced about their memorable premiership experiences and trophies were dusted off and put on display.   

With the players still having smiles on their faces after their final two hour training session on Friday afternoon, the Bears were prepared. 

Well wishes were received from an international stage when the ‘Voice of Rugby’ himself Gordon Bray mentioning the Cootamundra Under 11s during his Bledisloe Cup commentary of Saturday night. 

Bray wished the boys well and advised the Bear’s “to never give up”. 

The Bears didn’t know how prudent this advice would be.

The players and supporters’ excitement built when they passed through Illabo on ‘Game Day’. 

Signs of encouragement adorned either side of the Olympic Way. 

The grey nomads passing through with their caravans in tow were wondering if there were bears going to come out of the Bethungra Hills!

The players turned up at Conolly Park as cool as cucumbers.

Settling into their regular warm up drills before kick-off, the team sang the Coota Bears chant with their usual gusto and ran onto the field through a tunnel of cheering fans and supporters.

Brumby Jack made an appearance and had the crowd thinking they were at a Super Rugby Grand Final. 

Play by play 

From the kickoff the Globe Hotel under 11s Bears managed to gain plenty of field position and drove the Albury Steamers deep into their own half.

With the Bears applying mountains of pressure, the Albury backs tried to spin the ball wide to the blind side but couldn’t get it clear of an outstretched Will Crawford hand. With finger tip control, Crawford knocked the ball up into the air, re-gathered, tucked it under his wing and ran like a scalded cat for the corner. 

It was a race between the tryline and the Albury cover but the tryline won and Will had the Bears off to a perfect start.

The rest of the half was a torrid 

struggle between two forward packs trying to assert dominance over each other. 

It wasn’t until the final play of the half, after constant pressure, that the defence of the Bears, which until this point of the final series had proven unbreachable, finally cracked and Albury scored in the corner.

The conversion was waved away and the Bears went into halftime 5 all.

Coota’s forwards had a strong first half. Bears enforcers up front Bentley Thorn, Sam Churchill and Bill Harpley were once again putting their bodies on the line.

Campbell Altenburg was providing quick service from the base of the ruck, and James Hicks’ speed and defensive prowess saved the Coota side’s hides on several occasions with decisive cover tackles. 

Sterling Cooper-Duck and Archie Adams were repeatedly required to stand up at the last line of defence.

With a quick pep talk and a well-earned water break, the Bears ran back on for the second half. 

Neither the players, referee nor spectators could have predicted what was going to unfold in the next 20 minutes.

It was the Steamers who got the better of the opening stanzas of the second half and after 10 minutes of solid Coota defence, it was the border-towners who scored next.

As the conversion sailed over the black dot, Coota knew they had less than 10 minutes to score twice if they were to have any chance of winning.

Solid forward play from Nick Scarlett and Aaron Fuller led Coota back down to their attacking zone. 

A lightning break down the left hand wing by Ethan Blackney saw Coota gain valuable field position.  

Constant pressure allowed Richie Tooth to weave his way through a multitude of Albury defenders to place the ball on the try-line in the corner before being bundled into touch.

The Bears were back!

But with a difficult conversion missed, Coota was still behind on the scoreboard 12-10 with only minutes remaining.

When Albury regained the ball from the kick-off, it looked like it was all over, but back on the field one of the Bears’ impact players, Jaiden Duncan produced the play of the day and stole the Steamers ball.

Realising it was their final chance, a series of strong hit ups by Tom Baldry, Felix Leahy and Sam Bragg saw Coota work their way back into their attacking zone again.  

With everyone looking at their watches, a final scrum feed to Coota saw the ball sail along the backline and out to Jack Ruskin.

With no space to move and with a swarm of Albury defenders in front of him, Jack ducked and weaved agonisingly close to the try-line, only to have the ball ripped away at the last minute.

At that moment everyone on the sideline thought Coota were done for all money - but not the Bears out on the field.

As Albury looked to clear the ball into touch to win the game, a brilliant play by Ethan Blackney saw him charge down, re-gather and ground the ball over the tryline in a single movement.

The crowd was beside themselves, and the boys knowing they had snatched the victory in the last seconds, went berserk.

Jai Glover then calmly lined up the conversion from the sideline, hit it sweetly and it sailed over the black dot. Final score was sweet 17-12 to Coota. 

The Bears, true to their team chant, just never gave up and as a result the Grand Final was theirs.

Congratulations 

Many congratulations must go to these young boys. They have done their town, their club, and themselves very proud and should rightly enjoy their success.

The players would like to thank Hugo Harpley, Charlie Bragg and Scott Churchill for their coaching commitment to the under 11s this season. 

It has been an amazing experience for the boys where they have learnt so many new skills that they will now have for the rest of their lives. 

The entire Junior Rugby Union Club especially wish the Harpley family a fond farewell as they move onto Canberra. 

Hugo, Cath, Lucy, Bill and Joe have been fantastic supporters and players of the Coota Bears.  

The boys will miss Hugo’s friendly, firm and dynamic coaching routine.

Junior Rugby presentation day and AGM will be held at The Globe Hotel on Sunday, September 7 at 12noon.