September 5, 2017
The Murgon Mustangs have earned the right to take on the Cherbourg Hornets in Saturday’s South Burnett A Grade Final after a thrilling Preliminary Final played out at Nanango last weekend.
The Murgon side lost the Major Semi-Final against the Hornets in the last 60 seconds; on Saturday they turned this around by defeating Nanango in the last minute after the Stags were confident they had the game in the bag.
Nanango was playing on their home ground and a guard of honour welcomed the Stags on to the field and there was no doubt who most of the crowd were cheering for as the game proceeded.
Murgon was first to score, but just two minutes later Nanango crossed … an indication of just how close the game was going to be.
At half-time, Murgon was just ahead 20-18.
The sides continued to swap tries in the second half but with Murgon managing to stay in the lead.
With 20 minutes to go, a Nanango player bombed a try by losing the ball while grounding it over the line; Jameel Sullivan scored soon afterwards for the Mustangs, and suddenly Murgon had a handy eight point lead 30-22.
Nanango were not about to quit, and the Stags scored two tries in five minutes, to Ashley Smallwood and Shane Argent.
When Argent placed the ball down next to the uprights, the Stags players celebrated. Smallwood’s conversion attempt was on target and Nanango was in the lead 32-30.
Nanango defence was determined to keep Murgon out as the minutes ticked down.
But with one minute to go, Arthur Saltner broke through to score and Jameel Sullivan kicked a difficult conversion from the sideline.
The final score was Murgon 36, Nanango 32.
The Stags’ 2017 season is over but Murgon has one last shot at glory.
After back-to-back tough games, the Mustangs will be facing a rested Cherbourg Hornets at 2:00pm on Saturday in the Grand Final on the neutral turf of Wondai Sportsground.
Murgon tries were scored by Arthur Saltner (3), Cody Beggs (2), Mark Saltner and Jameel Sullivan. Jameel Sullivan kicked four goals.
Nanango tries were scored by Shane Argent (2), Matthew Brown, Patrick McCallum, Drew Jackson and Ashley Smallwood. Ashley Smallwood kicked four goals.
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The action was frenetic in the junior Preliminary Final games played earlier on Saturday at Fred Kassulke Oval.
All sides were determined to book a berth in the Grand Finals … possibly the reason why ambulances were called out to the Nanango ground six times to aid injured players.
A young Kingaroy player was possibly the worst hurt. He was flown to Toowoomba Hospital with a suspected spinal injury but has since been discharged.
In the Under 16s Preliminary Final, Cherbourg defeated Kingaroy 20-12, after leading 16-2 at half-time.
Cherbourg will now play Nanango in the Grand Final on Saturday at Wondai from 12:30pm.
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The Under 14s Preliminary Final between Murgon and Kingaroy was one of the closest junior games played in the South Burnett for years.
At half-time, Murgon was leading 20-0 but the young Red Ants rallied and staged a magnificent comeback in the second half.
At full-time, the scores were locked at 26-all.
After five minutes of extra time each way, the scores were still locked, 32-all.
The game then went to Golden Point; ie. first to score anything wins.
Murgon broke the deadlock first with a Golden Point try which secured their Grand Final berth against Chinchilla.
The Grand Final will be played on Saturday at Wondai from 11:15am.
* * *
In the Under 12s Preliminary Final, Nanango defeated Cherbourg 30-16.
Nanango will now play Murgon in the Grand Final on Saturday at Wondai from 10:00am.
