The Campbelltown City Kangaroos have suffered a heart breaking 29-25 loss to Camden Rams in the qualifying final yesterday at Thirlmere Sportsground.
It took 102 minutes to find a winner after the game was forced into extra time.
In an epic game of rugby league, with 30 minutes left in the second half Camden Rams, leading 24-6, were starting to make plans for the Grand Final.
But the Kangaroos weren’t done yet; they came roaring back and with just 90 seconds on the clock they were leading 25-24.
Then it went pear shaped – Campbelltown dropped the ball twice, while Camden kept their cool and levelled up 25-25 with a Jackson Willis field goal to take the final to extra time.
Kangaroos lost the toss and were forced to run into a stiff breeze, which meant they never really had a chance in extra time.
They bravely held out for 11 minutes but Camden finally scored to take the game 29-25 and qualify for this Sunday’s Grand Final against another Campbelltown club, East Campbelltown Eagles.
Had the Kangaroos won yesterday they would have set up the first all Campbelltown Group 6 first grade Grand Final since 1973 when they played the Collegians.
But it was not to be, while for Camden, who have three grades in the Grand Final, will be celebrating their club’s success.
“Congratulations to the players of both teams; a magnificent effort and certainly one that our club and supporters couldn’t be prouder of,’’ an obviously disappointed Campbelltown City club secretary Alex Melville told the South West Voice this morning.
Camden may be crowing now but after two tough matches to make the grand final it may be an easy assignment for their opponents, East Campbelltown.
The Eagles qualified for the Grand Final after defeating the Rams 28-14 the week before, and enjoyed a rest this weekend.
A Camden victory cannot be ruled out, but the Eagles will be very hot favourites to win the inaugural Macarthur Conference first grade competition this Sunday at Campbelltown Sports Stadium.
Kick off in first grade will be 3.15pm.
