The Mudgee Dragons U10s Red side stormed into the grand final decider after putting in a big effort last Saturday in front of a parochial Mudgee crowd at Wade Park Orange defeating Bloomfield Tigers 34 points to nil.
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The first five minutes was a bruising affair with both sets of forwards trying to assert their authority with punishing defence.
It was the Mudgee side however that drew first blood through a charging run from Logan Huia and with the ever reliable boot of Lachlan Clayton converting the young Dragons were away to a 6-0 lead.
The Tigers however soon capitalised on some Mudgee handling errors and camped themselves on the Mudgee try line only to be denied by some brick wall defence led by Kai Fisher.
The Dragons then found their rhythm and worked their way back up field through some big charges from T.A Dermott, Darren Vine, Jackson Pascoe and Kai Fisher.
Dermott took on the big Tigers pack to Bullock his way over the try line for a well earned try.
The Reds pack began to stamp their authority and were once again within striking distance of the Tigers line when Vine steamed onto a well timed pass from Huia to reach out and plant the ball over the line.
Despite running up hill in the second half the fired up Dragons come out with all guns blazing.
The score was taken to 24 - 0 after Huia capped off a big game with a 40m dash down the touch line to score in the corner.
The Tigers began to pressure the Mudgee try line but were repeatedly turned away by resilient defence that seems to be getting stronger with every game, in particular Seth Berridge who came off the bench to stop several attacking raids.
The Reds began to work their way out of trouble when Vine tucked the ball under his wing and split the defence 20m from his own line, not looking back and with the crowd going wild the big prop pinned his ears and set sail for the tryline.
With only one chaser closing in, it was sheer determination that he was able to reach out to score his second try.
He was handed the ball for the conversion attempt which he landed to take the score to 30-nil.
With only minutes remaining, the Reds worked their way up field where the ball was flung wide to Bobby Pascoe who showed good speed to skirt the Tigers defence and score in the corner.
The final score 34-nil.
In the other game, Mudgee’s U14s went down to Bathurst St Pat’s in a tough tussle 10-6