Trinity 10 – 9 Wanderers

It’s becoming quite the habit for this side, as Trinity again left it to the last kick of the game to snatch their first J3 league victory of the season. It was Wanderers however that started the brighter of the two sides and found themselves camped out in Trinity’s 22 for large periods of the first half. A defiant Trinity defense refused to give an inch but repeated transgressions at ruck time gave Wanderers several shots on goal. The first penalty kick ricocheted off the upright; the next three sailed over. Towards the end of the first half, the tide had begun to swing and it was Trinity’s turn to lay siege to the wanderer’s line. Unfortunately they could not convert this pressure into points and went into the break trailing 9-0. Trinity started the second half with huge intensity, now with the wind behind them, they kicked deep and forced an early turnover.  Keeping the ball through countless phases Trinity would eventually crash over under the posts through Tom Austin to reduce the gap to 2 points. With their tails up, Trinity controlled possession and territory for the majority of the second half but their dominance would not be reflected on the scoreboard. Small errors were costing Trinity in attack and the game seemed to be slipping away. Finally their moment came, with 2 minutes left on the clock – Trinity were awarded a penalty on the 22 meter line, directly in front on the posts. Up stepped John Lane, the hero of last year’s cup run who slotted 2 last ditch penalties on the road to the cup. The ball sailed just left of the upright – A miss! Wanderers ran the ball back and even won a penalty which they kicked to touch. They secured the line out and as their maul began to chug forward it seemed liked the end. Somehow the ball came bobbling out and some aggressive defense saw trinity win a penalty of their own on the 10 meter line.   No 8 Ross mullen took a quick tap and drew in an early tackle gaining a vital 10 meters. The mark was wide out to the right and around 40 meters from the posts. After being informed this was the last play, all eyes turned to John Lane. Still fuming from his earlier miss he grabbed the ball and indicated to the posts.  The ball dissected the posts, the final whistle blew and yet again trinity had snatched victory at the death.