Griffith Blacks 19
Albury Steamers 12
THEY might have beaten the Albury Steamers on Saturday, but the Griffith Blacks certainly did not feel victorious when the final whistle went after just missing out on the last place in the Southern Inland Rugby premier competition finals.
The seven-point win at Coro Club Oval was not enough to extend the Blacks' season with the side going into the clash only a minor mathematical chance, if they scored four tries and the result of the Tumut and Young clash fell favourably.
But a 28-all draw to the Bulls and Yabbies meant that even with the fourth try the Blacks would not have been playing finals football, with captain-coach Luke McKay left wondering what might have been.
"It was a bit of a weird feeling when full-time was blown, we'd won but we didn't quite get there so it didn't feel like a win," McKay said.
"But it was still a great way to finish and everybody dug deep because they realised the enormity of the occasion and the situation we found ourselves in and they had a real crack at trying to play another week."
Albury showed no signs of a hangover after their impressive win over Ag College the week before, with the Steamers showing the kind of intensity normally reserved for finals, but thanks to tries from Zac Bristow and McKay, the Blacks held a slender 14-12 lead going into the break.
With Griffith fighting for its survival the structure that had got them the lead fell away and scrappy play and turnovers dominated the first 20 minutes of the second half as both teams tried to grab the ascendancy.
"Possession was always going to be key for us, as soon as we put phases together our forwards were destroying them in that five-eighth channel with Leon (Tiere), Ben Groat and John Tag were all over them," McKay said.
Flanker Tiere scored mid-way through the second stanza to give his side a glimmer of hope of securing the bonus point.
But a willingness to attack from everywhere by Albury caught the Blacks' defence on the hop several times as they looked to bundle Griffith out of the competition.
"Both teams really made the most of the ball, we ran it out of our 22 (area) instead of kicking it so we had to be on our toes because they were doing the same thing to us," McKay said.
Griffith had looked to have scored the fourth try when lock Hugh McDonald crashed over in the corner, but he was ruled to have touched the corner-post in grounding the ball and the Blacks had to settle with a hollow win.
Andrew Higgins continued his rich vein of form late in the season to again be one of Griffith's best, with his combination with Vaea Mateo again crucial to the Blacks' win.
It's not all bad news for the club, with third grade earning a place in next week's finals when they tackle Rivcoll in the minor-semi-finals.
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