The Woodbridge boys were never behind on the scoreboard till the final eight seconds when a 35m field goal from the Hastings fullback found its mark.

Massive forward charges by Braith Smith, George McMasters, Will Purdie and Marty Hotham enabled outside backs Tim Shephard and Daniel Hyde to run riot in the opening periods as the cup side raced to a 22 – 4 lead after 30 minutes. Woodbridge Cup were down to a 3 man bench after Luke Frost went down with an ankle injury.

Hastings clawed their way back into it gaining back to back sets on two occasions and scoring both times. The half time score Woodbridge Cup 22 Hastings League 16.

After the break Cargo flyers Shepard and John Rose both crossed the line after smart play for the maroon and golds to race to a 32 – 16 lead after four minutes into the second half.

Halfback Damian Kennedy left the field with a niggling injury.

From that moment on, Hastings regrouped and dominated possession. Josh Lee, Brett Campbell and Pat Kennedy had massive tackle counts as they tried to stop the Hastings charge.

When Woodbridge finally got the ball a mistake early saw them lose possession and they would have to defend again.

Hastings knack of earning repeat sets saw them finally cross in the 53rd minute 32 – 22 the 57th minute 32- 28 and the 69th minute to tie the scores up at 32 – 32.

Half back Damian Kennedy returned to the field and tried hard to rally the team. The attack improved and the defence was still resilient. In the final moments, Woodbridge Cup repelled Hastings for two consecutive sets on their own line finally getting the ball with a minute on the clock.

Two solid charges saw them on their way downfield, then disaster as the Cup side were unbelievably penalised in possession of the ball. Hastings found the touch line with the penalty kick.

Then from the ensuring 2 plays a 35 metre field goal with only 8 seconds remaining on the clock, saw Hastings win the match.

The Woodbridge Cup backline were fast with Tim Shepard crossing 3 times, John Rose twice and Daniel Hyde crossed once. Shannon Sloane kicked 4 goals.

There is no doubt if they could have received 50% of possession in the second half the Maroon and Golds would have scored well over 50 points and won comfortably. As it was despite massive defensive efforts Hastings took their chances and won a nail biter.

Canowindra’s Rob Burn was impressive from fullback with some great kick returns and chimed into the backline well.

The last second loss saw Hastings take on Midwest while Woodbridge Cup had to turn and face the massive team from Newcastle Hunter on Sunday morning.

The previous game on Saturday saw Newcastle demolish Midwest by 58 points to 20.

From the kick off it was apparent Newcastle were there to do as much damage to the country boys as they could. Trundle back rower James Nixon was off to hospital in the first minute after a viscous forearm to his face. The huge Newcastle pack hit the cup side with elbows, forearms, knees and the odd legal tackle.

A great try by Josh Lee got Woodbridge on the board, but they still went to the break down 26 – 4. The second half started as brutal as ever as front rower Marty Hotham returned fire at the team, with 9 ex Jim beam Cup players and one Australian School Boy. Backed up by Braith Smith there were some massive collisions in the middle of the field. Two more cup players found themselves on the bench with head injuries and the team down to fourteen.

Daniel Hyde left players in his wake as he crossed to narrow the gap and keep the cup side in the game.

When Newcastle crossed again in the 60th minute it was all downhill, despite a valiant effort, the Newcastle team were too big and too fast and ran in 5 more tries to win 58 points to 10.

Matt Watson had a big game along with makeshift winger Brett Jenkins defending well against this large opposition. Mary Hotham was possibly the best against the Newcastle team.

Players’ player for the weekend went to Tim Shephard. Every player tried hard on both days, with coaches and officials very proud of the effort put in.