Police Bank Cup Grand Final 2015
BY TERRY LIBEROPOULOS of RUGBY LEAGUE REVIEW
at New Era Stadium, Cabramatta
The Easts Wombats won their 12th Police Rugby League title after they defeated Parramatta 30-10 in the grand final held at Cabramatta.
The Eels were playing in their first ever grand final, a great performance considering they had not won a match in the past two seasons.
Easts, who last won the title in 2010, took just two minutes to open the scoring when John Hopkins dived over in the corner.
A break up the middle by Parramatta second-rower Joel Patterson resulted in Alex Samyoun racing away to score in the 10th minute
Easts replied with a try to Ryan Good in the 15th minute after a break by Adam Munday, who managed to get a good ball away for his centre to score.
Four minutes later, the Wombats were in again when skipper Mitch West scored wide out to give his side a 16-6 advantage at half-time.
Easts took just three minutes of the second half to add to their tally when Nathan Jones collected a cross-field bomb from Good to score in the corner.
Nathan Clarke increased Easts Wombats' lead to 24-6 when he scored in the 47th minute before the Eels added their second try of the game when Samyoun showed great pace to score five minutes later.
Four minutes from full-time, the Wombats scored again after the Eels knocked on inside their own half. Easts made them pay with Reece Millar diving over in the corner.
PLATE FINAL
The Bankstown Giants defeated the Macarthur Bulls 28-18 after the scores were locked at 12-all at the interval.
The Giants opened the scoring after just seven minutes of action when centre Shahzad Jamal raced over.
The Bulls then took control with three tries in six minutes from John Jackson, Ben Fuler and Tyson Cloos to lead 12-6 after they failed to convert any of those tries.
Adam Packer collected a cross-field bomb and was able to barge over to score in the 26th minute. Shayne Fogarty added the extras to square up proceedings at 12-all.
Right on half-time, Andrew Atkins lost control of the ball trying to score from dummy-half.
Five minutes into the second half, Maltese Rugby League international Paul Harris, playing his last game before retiring, dropped the ball with the try line wide open.
The Giants made them pay with two tries in three minutes from Orry Weir and Billy Kimasi to lead 24-12. The latter try came after a wonderful cut-out pass from Fogarty to put Craig Burton flying down the sideline.
Daniel Drew raced over to score with seven minutes remaining when he scored under the posts. But the Giants made sure of the win when Josh Baihme raced 25 metres to score from a scrum win.
Thanks Terry for a great story....