September 16, 2012
Their fans call them the “Mighty” Cherbourg Hornets … and the team lived up to the nickname in Saturday’s Rugby League grand final played at Nanango.
The Hornets faced the Kingaroy Red Ants – the only team to have defeated them this year – and came out triumphant in an amazing finish to an exciting game of football which had supporters of both teams yelling wildly from the sidelines.
Cherbourg looked to have it won at half-time, but Kingaroy staged a strong comeback at the midpoint of the second half, scoring three back-to-back tries in less than 10 minutes to surge to the lead.
Their fans could taste victory with the full-time siren only minutes away when an early kick in the tackle count was gathered by Carl Aubrey and calmly flicked to Fred Aubrey who charged to the corner, leaving Red Ants in his wake.
The game began in Cherbourg’s usual fashion. A blitzkrieg from the opening whistle saw Man of the Match Cecil Sullivan – who ended up scoring three tries – open the account for the Hornets barely seconds after the match started.
The start may have stunned Kingaroy supporters, but the Hornets’ fans, who just moments before had formed a tunnel of hands to usher the team onto the field, went wild.
The teams tested each other out for the next few minutes before Kingaroy’s Mitch Schilling broke through the Cherbourg defence to even the score, 6-all.
With penalties starting to mount against the Hornets, Kingaroy’s Mick Smallwood crossed the line, taking it to Kingaroy 10, Cherbourg 6.
The Hornets’ attack then began to show: Cecil Sullivan, Thomas Simpson and Justin Pryor all scored.
At half-time, Cherbourg led 22-10 and looked to be dominating the match.
In the second stanza, Cecil Sullivan was again first to score. At 26-10, Red Ants supporters would have been worried.
But then Kingaroy – aided by Cherbourg having a player sin-binned – found their second wind.
Joel Smallwood, Michael Jarvis and Ashley Smallwood scored tries, and Ashley’s boot was on target, putting Kingaroy into the lead 28-26.
Kingaroy looked to be on top and the Hornets were making little headway against their defence before the surprise kick after a scrum win led to a contest for the ball which Carl Aubrey won, sending Fred Aubrey tearing down the paddock with his finger in the air and supporters screaming.
There was confusion after the successful conversion.
Several tackles after the re-start, Cherbourg supporters – thinking the game was over – started streaming onto the ground when the ref signalled time-off because of an injury to a Kingaroy player.
After the field was cleared, the game resumed for a couple more tackles before Cherbourg could officially claim victory.
The final score was Cherbourg 32, Kingaroy 28 in a very exciting game of rugby league worthy of a grand final.
The Hornets dominated the first half but the roles were reversed in the second, with the Red Ants outpointing Cherbourg 18-10.
- Related article: Grand Final Day Draws Big Crowd
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