By Henry Jacobs

Sydney University survived a late Randwick revival to win the W. McMahon Memorial Shield with a 29-26 victory in the grand final at Forshaw Rugby Park on Sunday.

After leading by 19 points with 35 minutes remaining, Dave Haigh’s side held out the Galloping Greens in the last play of the match to claim the 2015 title.

“I don’t think it was ever won, the result proved that, it went all the way to the last minute,” Haigh said.

“For us it was our defence that we were most proud of and I think that’s ultimately where we won the game.”

University started strongly and took the upper hand with a number of early tries as Randwick struggled with its set piece.

“We knew from earlier performances this year that when we let ourselves down it was because we had a slow start, so we knew we had to shut them out of the game early,” Sydney University captain, Jack McCalman, said.

“Defence was key and just that attitude of continually getting off the ground and making our tackles.”

Randwick will be disappointed after setting the standard all season and comprehensively winning the minor premiership and Colts Club Championship.

“When you give away a 17 point lead it’s always going to be hard to come back from that, but I was really proud of the way the boys rallied towards the end and to only lose it by three was really pleasing,” Randwick captain Nick Kellaway said.

“The plan at the start of the year was to get three colts teams into the grand final and we did that, we were pretty pleased to win the Colts Club Championship off Uni.”

After an even start, University opened the scoring in the sixth minute when lock Harrison Willams drove over from close range.

The students continued to attack and a crafty flick pass by pivot Connor O’Shea put winger Christian Yassmin in space on the right hand flank, drawing the defender and passing to lock Joshua Schwager, who ran over unopposed to take a 10-0 lead after 17 minutes.

Ill discipline and poor set piece by Randwick continued to put the minor premiers on the back foot and University capitalised again in the 28^th minute.

Opting for a scrum, instead of kicking to the corner, the Students put on a strong drive and scrumhalf Nick Duffy pounced from the back to dive over, Christian Kagiassis added the extras from out wide for a 17-0 deficit with ten minutes remaining in the half.

A scintillating run by Randwick fullback Ben O’Donnell, finally gave the Galloping Greens some possession in the University ’22.

Folau Fainga’a saw yellow for the students, after a shoulder charge in the subsequent phase.

With an extra man Randwick looked to finally get some points on the board but was denied twice as flyhalf Nic Andrews was held up and knocked the ball on over the line, in separate plays.

The breakthrough finally came on the stroke of halftime; when consistent pressure from the Galloping Greens saw Australian U20s flanker Olly Kamp crash over in the left corner, to trail 17-5 at the break.

University started the second half in a similar fashion to the first as flanker Declan Moore burrowed over next to the posts; Kagiassis converted for a 24-5 lead.

However, another yellow card to the students gave Randwick a sniff with 20 minutes remaining.

Travis Partridge’s side finally found some momentum and were rewarded with a penalty try after an Andrews cross kick saw his winger tackled in the air as he caught the ball over the line; halfback Sam Horwitz converted and the Galloping Greens trailed 24-12 with 15 minutes on the clock.

University struck back immediately as Schwager drove over to score his second in the left hand corner.

Randwick did not give up hope and captain Nick Kellaway reached over the line to give his side a chance, with eight minutes left.

The University defence continued to push Randwick back inside its half but was left exposed on the left as a cross-field chip from Andrews bounced into the hands of flanker Daniel Hughes, who outpaced the covering Students defence to run 80m and score under the posts.

Horwitz hastily drop kicked the conversion and the Galloping Greens trailed 29-26 with three minutes remaining.

The students looked to have closed the game out after the Randwick scrum was penalised in its own ’22. David Haigh’s side took another scrum to wind the clock down but a short arm went in the Galloping Greens favour.

Randwick spread the ball wide to be within 40m of the University line, but lost control to give University a memorable win.

“To get through 20 minutes with a man down, having to defend and a penalty try under the posts, that’s what makes it so rewarding,” Haigh said.

Randwick will rue missed opportunities and poor set piece in both halves, ultimately giving it too much work to do.

“We turned over too much of our set piece ball, which killed our strength – that has been our strike play throughout the year, so that was crucial,” Randwick coach, Travis Partridge, said.

“Our lineout play was just a little bit off, our phase play was just a little bit off and that hurt us.

“We said earlier in the week that they [Sydney University] are just specialists at playing grand finals and they just did us today and full credit to them.”

The day capped off a successful year for both programs, with University defeating Randwick in the final of all three grades but Randwick taking out the Colts Club Championships.