By MARK CASHMAN

Sometimes in rugby you’ve just got to find a way and that’s what Gordon did in their 26-23 Shute Shield win over Southern Districts at Chatswood Oval on Saturday.

It took until the 86th minute for the Highlanders to feel good about their Back To Tartan day that had been chopped around first by Sydney’s weather and then the COVID restrictions and Super Rugby bubble that stripped them of their hooker Robbie Abel.

Firsts and reserve in the end played at Chatswood with the lower grades and colts transferred to Forshaw Rugby Park so as not to clutter an already busy footy calendar later in the year.

It all came down to one final scrum, a couple of yellow cards and scrum half “sneak” from the base of the set piece on the Gordon try line that manufactured the home team’s victory.

The Highlanders were down 19-23 before the extra time heroics played out and No.9 Jacob Abel was more popular than a Yum Cha brunch in the Chatswood shopping and restaurant zone on a Sunday morning.

Gordon captain Jordan Goddard even admitted that Abel “had saved his arse” in extra time.

The Highlanders got a messy looking shove on Souths after Airi Hunt (Rebels replacement prop) had been sin-binned and the pushover looked likely when it all momentarily appeared to turn to custard.

“No he saved me that’s for sure,” Goddard told Rugby News.

“I had control of the ball at the back of the scrum, but it bobbled out and Jacob was quick enough to pick it up and go for the try.

“As long as we score it doesn’t matter who gets them but I’m just going to have to get better with my control at the back of the scrum and get a few for myself later in the season.”

Goddard added: “Our forward pack is a pretty experienced group and have been in similar circumstances before.

“We’re well coach (by Liam Winton, Cam Blades and Michael Spalding) at scrum time and it was just a matter of making sure that we executed our set piece skills under pressure.”

Souths and Gordon swapped momentum throughout the game with the visitors grabbing the lead just before the break and looking highly likely winners when they led 23-14.

But the Highlanders weren’t to be denied and Abel’s first try got them within a shout and set up the drama at the death.

Goddard, who works in the Aboriginal Education Unit at TAFE NSW, said the Round Three loss to Northern Suburbs and the following bye weekend had been hard to work through but productive all the same.

“It was a tough ask that’s for sure,” Goddard said.

“But great that we were able to show some resolve and come out at the other end with their victory.

“Souths grew a lot at us through the 80 plus minutes but we were able to ride our way through that and come back at them when things started to go our way.

“One of the great things about the game is that momentum can shift quite quickly and you’ve just got to make sure that you make the most of it when it’s with you.

“That win though was good for the young fella in the team – it showed them that if you hang in there things can happen.”

The injury toll has been particularly heavy at Chatswood Oval with a collection of backline stars not available for a number of weeks and the very real possibility that Lucas Price may have played his last game because of a neck problem.

For Souths it is their second heart breaking loss in as many weekends following their game against Norths the weekend before.

They now have only one win from their five games and sit in 10th place, two wins out of the top six.

They have had a rugged start to the season but have a much kinder draw at the back end of the season.

Souths are not out of finals contention but head coach Todd Louden and the playing group know that just about all these close ones need to start going their way or it will be a season of “what might have beens”.

IMAGE: ANDREW QUINN /GORDON RUGBY