Saturday 15 August, Goondiwindi. A week after Super Saturday and the Darling Downs put on another day of finals rugby that anyone in country sport would have been proud to host.
The conditions were made for it — clear, still, and cool enough late in the day to keep the pace on. The ground came up well for a second big weekend in a row, which is no accident and no small thing. The crowd built through the early fixtures and by the last of the afternoon there was barely a spare metre of fence line, both sets of supporters loud and good-humoured all the way through.
There is a particular quality to elimination rugby: no next week, no second chance, and everyone in the ground knows it from the first whistle. You could hear it in the contact and see it in the way sides refused to give up field position. Nobody went home wondering whether the players had left anything out there.
A Grade — Goondiwindi 24 def Dalby 17. Two of the region's founding clubs, seven points in it, and a Wheatmen side that kept coming right to the end. The win keeps Goondiwindi alive in the hunt for a record-breaking 17th Risdon Cup.
B Grade — St George 34 def Toowoomba Rangers 17. The Frillnecks were the better side for the bulk of it and finished with real authority. A long trip home for Rangers after a season that had plenty to like about it.
C Grade — Dalby 7 drew with Goondiwindi 7 (Dalby advance on ladder position). The match of the day, and the cruellest. Eighty minutes of finals rugby, a single converted try each, and not a point between them at the end of it. Dalby go through on their higher regular-season finish. Goondiwindi's C Graders can hold their heads up — they did not lose a game of football on Saturday.
Women's — Toowoomba Rangers 15 def Gatton 12. Three points in it and a contest that swung until the closing stages. Exactly the sort of game the women's competition on the Downs is producing more and more of.
Women's — Condamine 38 def Roma 5. The Coddettes were clinical from the outset and now go through to the grand final.
One more week until the big dance!
Four deciders, one afternoon, and a fair slice of Darling Downs rugby history on the line.
A Grade — Roma v Goondiwindi. The fixture the whole region wanted. Roma got there the hard way, knocking off the Emus by a single point at Riddles Oval a fortnight ago; Goondiwindi have had to grind through Dalby to get back into it. The Emus are chasing a record-breaking 17th Risdon Cup. Roma are chasing something they have not had for a very long time. Two sides who have already produced a one-point finals match against each other this series — there is no sensible way to pick it.
B Grade — Goondiwindi v St George. A rematch of the semi, where the Emus won 33-15 but had to survive a serious second-half scare to do it. St George have looked stronger every week since and dismantled Rangers to get here. If the Frillnecks bring the second half they produced in the semi for a full eighty, this is anyone's.
C Grade — Chinchilla v Dalby. The Wheatmen come in on the back of that 7-all deadlock, technically unbeaten and yet not quite victorious either. Chinchilla have been the tough out of this competition all year. Expect low-scoring, expect field position to decide it, and expect it to be closer than anyone predicts.
Women's — Condamine v Toowoomba Rangers. The minor premiers against a Rangers side that has won two knockout matches by a combined margin you could fit in a car boot. The Coddettes have set the standard all season and were ruthless against Roma. Rangers know how to win the tight ones — and grand finals are usually tight ones.
Gates open early and there is no better way to spend a Saturday on the Downs. Get to Toowoomba Sports Ground and get behind your club!
