{"id":119580,"date":"2015-09-07T03:39:17","date_gmt":"2015-09-06T17:39:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=119580"},"modified":"2020-11-10T14:28:29","modified_gmt":"2020-11-10T04:28:29","slug":"emotional-victory-for-red-ants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2015\/09\/07\/emotional-victory-for-red-ants\/","title":{"rendered":"Emotional Victory For Red Ants"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Kingaroy Red Ants A Grade coach Darren Geiger and captain Jayden Jarvis with the premiership trophy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Jye Hopkins was named Player of the Match<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

September 7, 2015<\/strong><\/p>\n

An emotional Red Ants coach Darren Geiger turned to his players after their courageous Grand Final win at Murgon on Saturday: “I am so proud of you …”<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, the thought of Kingaroy taking out the premiership was almost unthinkable.<\/p>\n

The Red Ants didn’t manage to secure a win against any South Burnett team until July (although they had done well in the mid-year Burnett Championship against the Central Burnett teams).<\/p>\n

But then they unexpectedly defeated last year’s premiers, Cherbourg … a task they repeated in the sudden-death Preliminary Final last weekend.<\/p>\n

Even so, minor premiers Wondai Wolves – who have looked unstoppable all season – went into the Grand Final as favourites and lauded for their fitness.<\/p>\n

History was also on the side of the Wolves. The last time the two teams met in the A Grade Grand Final was in 1976 … and Wondai had won.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Wondai started the Grand Final\u00a0strongly, with Brenton List scoring just two minutes after kick-off.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Danny Alberts easily slotted the kick over – as he has been doing all season – and the Wolves were leading 6-0.<\/p>\n

As befitting a Grand Final, the defence from both sides was unrelenting which made for a low-scoring first half.<\/p>\n

It took another 15 minutes before Kingaroy managed to break through, with Mitchell Crossley getting over the line.<\/p>\n

Wondai was ahead 6-4 at half-time.<\/p>\n

The second term began with another super-quick try, this time by the Red Ants.<\/p>\n

Jye Hopkins scored between the posts but an infraction in the tackle led to an eight-point try being awarded. Ashley Smallwood kicked the two goals, extra points that Wondai would later regret giving away so easily.<\/p>\n

Six minutes later, Wondai responded with Joshua Porter scoring his first try for the season. Alberts’ conversion was again on target, and the teams were locked at 12-all.<\/p>\n

Wondai had the opportunity to slip ahead while Kingaroy had a player in the bin. Shane Borninkhof scored, Alberts converted and the Wolves were back in the lead 18-12 with 28 minutes left.<\/p>\n

Kingaroy then went on the attack, holding possession and mounting back-to-back attacks on the Wondai line, only to be repelled by strong defence.<\/p>\n

With nine minutes left on the clock, Jye Hopkins\u00a0 broke through to score his second try for Kingaroy. Ashley Smallwood converted, and again the scores were locked, 18-all with eight minutes to go.<\/p>\n

A few minutes later, Wondai tried to break the deadlock with a field goal attempt which was waved away.<\/p>\n

As the full-time siren sounded with the scores still locked, Kingaroy was awarded a penalty in an unkickable position (and a Wondai player was sent to the bin).<\/p>\n

Under the rules, five minutes were then played both ways in a bid to get a result.<\/p>\n

At the end of the first five, Kingaroy led 20-18 after Ashley Smallwood kicked a penalty goal.<\/p>\n

Swapping ends, the second five minutes began. Almost against the run of play, Kingaroy’s Leini Taufa broke through and ran away from the defence.<\/p>\n

The shell-shocked Wondai players were sitting on their haunches as Ashley Smallwood converted, taking Kingaroy to a 26-18 lead.<\/p>\n

But the Wolves weren’t about to give up even though there was less than two minutes left.<\/p>\n

Now again at full-strength with their sin-binned player back on, Wondai mounted another attack which Shane Borninkhof capitalised on to score his second try for the game.<\/p>\n

Alberts’ kick was good and Wondai was just two points behind … but time had run out for the Wolves.<\/p>\n

The final score: Kingaroy 26, Wondai 24.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Wondai’s Brenton List put the first points on the board in the 2015 A Grade Grand Final<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
The first half was low-scoring with neither team able to make much headway<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Both sides had difficulty breaking through the rugged defence<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Kingaroy was awarded an eight-point try a minute into the second half; Jye Hopkins scored under the posts and Ashley Smallwood easily gathered the extra points<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Red Ants player Leini Taufa celebrates – and is congratulated by team mates – after scoring a dramatic runaway try during extra time<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Kingaroy Red Ants captain Jayden Jarvis is handed the 2015 Premiership trophy by South Burnett Rugby League president Greg Pomfret<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
We’re number one! … the triumphant Red Ants celebrate after the game<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

* * *<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n

\"\"<\/a>
Paddy Alberts accepted the Club Championship trophy on behalf of the Cherbourg Hornets; the club finished with 103 points<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n
\n

\"\"<\/a>
Kingaroy Red Ants president Mick Dugdell was presented with the trophy for “Most Dedicated Delegate” by Greg Pomfret<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Greg Pomfret congratulates Wondai captain Luke Hedges who was named Senior Representative Player of the Year<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
An emotional moment for members of the Williams family was the presentation of the inaugural Charles “Chaz” Williams Memorial Shield for ‘Best & Most Respected Player” to Kingaroy Red Ant Ashley Smallwood; Chaz, a well-known local footballer, died earlier this year<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An emotional Red Ants coach Darren Geiger turned to his players after their courageous Grand Final win at Murgon on Saturday: “I am so proud of you …”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":119583,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16,3,82,6],"tags":[1140],"yoast_head":"\nEmotional Victory For Red Ants - southburnett.com.au<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2015\/09\/07\/emotional-victory-for-red-ants\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Emotional Victory For Red Ants - southburnett.com.au\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An emotional Red Ants coach Darren Geiger turned to his players after their courageous Grand Final win at Murgon on Saturday: "I am so proud of you ..."\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2015\/09\/07\/emotional-victory-for-red-ants\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"southburnett.com.au\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-09-06T17:39:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-11-10T04:28:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/20150805kingaroy1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"385\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anne Miller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Anne Miller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2015\/09\/07\/emotional-victory-for-red-ants\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2015\/09\/07\/emotional-victory-for-red-ants\/\",\"name\":\"Emotional Victory For Red Ants - 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