Only one team called Eagles would go through to the next round of the Sydney Shield finals and unfortunately it wasn’t the one with East Campbelltown in front of its name.
Last year’s premiers were gallant in defeat, going down 26-14 to the Belrose Eagles yesterday at Cabramatta’s New Era Stadium.
Campbelltown fought all the way but as coach Richard Barnes said afterwards, the team made it hard for themselves by finishing in sixth spot and forced into an elimination final.
Barnes said he was “very disappointed with the loss, but I have to praise the guys’ efforts and they didn’t give in.
“We really needed a couple more wins through the year to finish with that top 4 spot,’’ he said.
“But the team has done well to make the finals when we only have five members from last year’s premiership winning team.
The club also issued a statement thanking its sponsors and supporters.
[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]“The Eagles would like to thank all our loyal sponsors that make it possible for the team to represent the Campbelltown area in the NSW Sydney Shield Rugby League competition, we thank you so much,’’ the club said.[/social_quote]
Both teams started yesterday’s game at a fast pace and the Campbelltown boys were putting plenty of pressure on the Belrose attack, but to their credit they defended very well.
Campbelltown were unlucky not to post first points when Fusi Toutai crossed the line but was ruled to have dropped it over the line.
There was still no score after 25 minutes of play when Belrose drew first blood to go 6-0 up.
Belrose crossed again to take their lead to 12-0, but before the break second rower Mason Talolua scored out wide for the Eagles of Campbelltown to go to the break at 12-4.
Second half saw another early try by Belrose and with their kicker on target the score at this stage was 18-4.
Five minutes later Belrose looked like they had the game in control at 24-4 after another converted try.
The Campbelltown side then lifted and started to bust the Belrose defence and when Amanono Tovio scored for the Eagles it looked like it was game on.
East were in again with 10 minutes remaining when half back Chris Standing found a gap to score to again close the gap and give the Eagles a chance at 24-14.
But Belrose knuckled down to some fine defence work to keep out Campbelltown.
They only managed two more points from a penalty themselves, which completed the final score of 26-14.
Best for the Eagles in their last match of 2015 were Fusi Toutai, Chris Standing and Guy Thompson, who put in a man of the match effort.
