Gorrell laments costly calls as Riverina fall just short of epic comeback

Monaro progressed to the second round of the statewide knockout with a 36-30 win over Riverina at Equex Centre on Sunday.

In a game of ebbs and flows, Riverina looked gone when trailing 36-18 with 10 minutes to go but went within inches of an amazing comeback.

New Brothers flyer Melvin Quiroga, who only recently arrived from France, intercepted a kick and raced 100 metres to score, before setting up Hayden Jolliffe just moments later with another explosive break.

Riverina kept coming and were stopped agonisingly short of the tryline inside the last minute, where they could have been awarded a penalty, before a handling error dashed their hopes.

Riverina enjoyed patches of dominance to start and finish the game but Monaro's 32 unanswered points in a 22-minute period either side of half-time ultimately proved too much to overcome.

Riverina coach Aaron Gorrell lamented a couple of referee decisions, one late in the first half and the other in the final 60 seconds that he believes cost his team the ultimate price.

"We started well, obviously, then we went through a patch where we couldn't win the ruck for a few different reasons and we lost a bit of urgency," Gorrell said.

"Then when the game was in the balance, we were in front, there was one downtown penalty the whole game and it was probably the best kick we came up with the whole game. I was pretty confident there was probably more throughout the game and I think that was a turning point.

"They score, they hit the lead. Then we hung in there, toughed it out, to the boys' credit we came back fair and again, that's a penalty any day of the week, under the posts. If that's not a penalty, I'm not here."

But Gorrell said they only have themselves to blame for getting in that position.

"We put ourselves in that position. If we play for 80 minutes, they're not in the game," he said.

"We took our foot off and gave them a sniff and then things snowball. You start to be in that bad place, things start to go against you and it's hard to turn around.

"But to their credit, they turned it around. We probably should have scored at the end there but it is what it is. There's not much you can do."

Quiroga's sheer speed and evasiveness was eye-catching and sparked Riverina's comeback.

Griffith second rower Apenisa Driti packed plenty of punch early, Kyle McCarthy was rock solid throughout, while fullback Lachlan Munro was dangerous in attack.

Gorrell praised his team's character for coming again late in the game.

"We knew we had the footy in us but we had that 20-25 minute period where we were awful," he said.

"To their credit, they clawed their way back, most sides would have rolled over and got beat by 40 and it was looking that way at the end but with 10 to go we got the intercept. And to their credit we wasted a few interchange with injuries so we had two interchanges for the last 22 minutes, so it was massive character but we've just got to be a bit smarter."

Riverina's short-lived Country Championships campaign was a far-cry off last year's effort that saw them go all the way to the decider before going down to Newcastle.

Gorrell, in his second season in charge, conceded there wasn't the same buy-in this time around.

"Most captain-coaches (didn't play)," he said.

"Zac (Masters) said from the start, he was out and I understand where he was coming from. We had a few say yes and pull out last minute, which was disappointing. I think you're either in or you're out.

"We had a big turnover, a lot of guys have moved on for different reasons so it is what it is.

"I was still confident with the side we had that we would do enough and we were probably a bit unlucky not to."

Monaro fullback Jack Davison was one of the visitor's best, scoring one try and having a hand in a couple of others.

It was a dirty day for Riverina, going down to Monaro in all five games of rugby league.

Men's Country Championships

MONARO 36 (B Withers 2, J Kiely, S Tepola, G Afamuie, J Davison, L Ingram tries; S Williams 4 goals) defeated RIVERINA 30 (M Quiroga 2, A Driti, L Munro, H Jolliffe tries; K McCarthy 5 goals) at Equex Centre.

Women's Country Championships: Monaro 44 d Riverina 0

Regional Lisa Fiaola Cup: Monaro 64 d Riverina 4

Laurie Daley Cup: Monaro 62 d Riverina 12

Andrew Johns Cup: Monaro 34 d Riverina 8