By MARK CASHMAN

Grand finals are all about managing the big moments and Gordon captured their first Shute Shield premiership in 22 years by doing just that.

The Highlanders capped off what has been a magnificent season for a club that was on its knees a little over two seasons ago with a 28-8 win over Eastwood on Saturday at Leichhardt Oval in the premiership decider.

The scoreline and three tries to one suggest that this was a lopsided contest, but it was anything but that with Gordon only really feeling comfortable when replacement forward Brendan Mitchell burrowed over from the back of a rolling maul in the dying minutes of the game.

Midway through the second half Gordon survived a tense five and a half minutes of scrums on their own line with the score delicately poised at 14-8.

Gordon coach Darren Coleman had been worried about the way his set piece would stand up in a game like this and although not perfect on the day it did manage to get the job done.

The Woods forced four penalties and a yellow card to Peter Chanel-Tagaloa in that time deep in the Gordon 22m, but amazingly they found a way through that and got play down the other end of the field.

A penalty gave them the breathing space they needed and it seemed to flick a switch in the Highlanders attack and unfortunately also in the Woods defence.

Barely two minutes after that series of game-saving scrums Brandon Quinn, who had played a key role in fullback Reece MacDonald’s try in the first half, busted a tackle and managed to unload to Rodney Iona for the crucial score.

That took the score from 14-8 to 21-8 with Iona’s conversion and coaches Coleman, Brian Melrose and Liam Winton were still tense but more comfortable in their seats high in the grand stand.

That score threw the Woodies into catch up mode and from that a number of penalties and field position went Gordon’s way and they managed the rest of the game well that resulted in Mitchell’s try.

Earlier the Woodies showed that they wouldn’t be a pushover when Tim Anstee got the scoring underway when he pounced on a high ball that was spilt by the Highlanders about 40m out.

That made the score 5-0 to Eastwood but Gordon weren’t out of the game long and some nice work from No.8 Jack Dempsey and others in the Highlanders pack soon saw the lead whittled down to 5-3.

Gordon then caught Eastwood offside again and Iona put the minor premiers ahead for the first time with a penalty goal from in front.

The game was then halted for a touch over five minutes as Covid-19 safety officials tried to get a section of the crowd to respect social distancing protocols.

Once every thing was in order the game continued and Gordon continued to chip away and get the upper hand.

This was rewarded with a penalty goal and then a try to Gordon fullback MacDonald in the shadows of halftime to take the score to 14-5.

Young Woodies flyhalf Tane Edmed got his side closer just after the break with a penalty goal and that set the scene for the scrum drama midway through the second half.

There were many special heroes for the winners with none better than the Catchpole Medal winner Mahe Vailanu who broke his hand in the second half.

Coach Coleman said they tried to help Vailanu with the pain but he had to quit the game late in the piece when he couldn’t pack properly at hooker and his one out throwing was compromised. 

“Obviously a great and proud day. Just so happy for the boys and everyone at the club that has worked so hard to get that point,” Coleman said.

“You don’t realise how many people  in the Gordon community it affected.

“I must admit I haven’t watched the game back yet, but sometimes with these things it best left how you remember it.

“Respect to Eastwood it felt like a tense and tight game right up until the Iona try and the score wasn’t reflective of the battle it was. It sort of summed up our season.

“We showed Tartan Toughness and Resilience to turn them away from those series of scrums in the second half and then when we click we can score points in bunches.”

Eastwood coach Ben Batger said the rugby gods weren’t with his side of Saturday.

“Obviously we are really disappointed with the loss,” Batger said.

“To win a grand final you need to be clinical, disciplined and you also need a bit of luck. 

“The effort as always was brilliant but I think we lost the big moments.

“Unfortunately our discipline was poor in the first half and probably gifted them all 15 points, then we failed to take our opportunities in the second.” 

“We had a line break, got held up over the line and then obviously the sequence of scrums was the big turning point.”

Batger added:  “People will debate whether or not we should have got a penalty try but in the end we didn’t and there was still time but we just weren’t good enough.

“Credit to Gordon they were the best team all year and were probably a little bit more clinical on the day and deserved the win.”

GORDON 28 (Reece Macdonald, Rodney Iona, Brendan Mitchell tries; Iona 2 conversions, 3 pen goals) d EASTWOOD 8 (Tim Anstee try; Tane Edmed pen goal) at Leichhardt Oval.

IMAGE: JAMES O’DONOHUE