They didn’t have things all their own way on Sunday, but Brothers found a way past Wests at the death in the final match of the season yet again.

Trailing by a point inside the final five minutes, the experienced Brothers’ forward pack controlled possession and earned a penalty deep in Wests’ territory, which delivered the Hospital Cup to Crosby Road for the second straight season.

“The whole day was tough to be honest and Wests were really good. That’s what we were expecting and that’s what we prepared for but they really did make things tough for us,” Brothers coach Ben McCormack told Rugby News a few days after the big win.

“They were great at set piece time and their lineout defence was really good so we didn’t get the quality ball that we would have liked and that’s where we thought we’d get them.

“We got enough in the end though and then our defence, although it struggled at times and they scored some really good tries, it was good enough to hold them to a reasonable score that we were able to chase down.”

Brothers led 21-7 half an hour into Saturday’s decider but trailed 22-21 following a Wests’ penalty goal in the 51st minute.

Both sides scored five pointers in the final 15 minutes, before James O’Connor knocked over a penalty goal late in the match to seal victory by just two points again at Ballymore.

“When you look at the size, the strength and the quality of Wests, we were never going to keep them to a nil score. We knew we were going to need to score points because they were always going to get over the line at some stage,” McCormack said.

"They scored some great tries and probably missed a few other opportunities. But at the same time, I think we put some good pressure on them and then had a few things go our way.”