By MARK CASHMAN

They call them the championship minutes, the final quarter of games, and Gordon showed that they have the will and the skills to make the most of them following their 28-10 win over Eastern Suburbs in the Shute Shield semi final on Saturday.

The Highlanders scored three critical tries in that time when their season looked on the skids and the Beasties had taken the initiative just after the halftime break and had edged out to a handy 10-3 lead.

That lead came through some nice work by Easts late inclusion, the Wallaby and Waratah Jack Maddocks when he snaked and bumped his way through the Gordon defence and managed to give space to Richie Woolf on the right edge.