25/08/2026
The cutters traveled to Wagga on Saturday to face Wagga City in the southern inland rugby union grand final.
It was a cloudy day with a light southerly breeze and city elected to run with it.
City came out firing and after some quick play and numerous offloads they ran their first try in just 3 minutes into the game.
The cutters didn’t seem too phased but knew they had to muscle up. The cutters responded well as Harry agar bumped off a couple of city defenders he got the ball wide to fletcher ryan who scored the cutters first. Conversion unsuccessful. Score 7-5 to city.
After a few drop balls the cutters had defended for the next 20 minutes back to back with some great shots put on by flanker W***y Ryan and halfback James Graham. Although the defence was great it wasn’t enough to hold city out from scoring their second. Score 14-5 halftime.
The cutters went into the break looking for the water bottle. They knew they’d defended well but needed to control the footy more and slow it down when they had it. Coach Lilburne said we need to play the ball down their end as their big boys get a roll on coming into our half.
The second half opened up with another run of big hits and good ball running. Tempers started to flare and city had 2 players sent to the bin in the first 15 minutes of the half. Quick thinking by captain James Graham off a penalty put him over for the cutters second. Score 14-10 to city
The cutters looked good and started to gain momentum, making their way down the field they looked stronger and stronger. After a loose carry city responded quickly and threw the ball wide and their fullback ran in their third try. Only minutes after city were back in cutters territory and kicked three penalty goals to take their score out to 28.
After another quick tap on about halfway Rupert lilburne capitalised on the city forwards napping and ran his way through to put the cutters back on the board. 28 - 17 to city
The cutters needed two more to get there and they weren’t going anywhere. City had the ball coming into the cutters half and through a 2 man cutout to their winger, only to be intercepted by Oli Cameron who ran 70 metres to score for the cutters. Only to be brought back by the ref who called a penalty after the ball was put down. The crowd was going ballistic. With only 2 minutes left the cutters kept at it and managed to find their winger Oli Cameron again and put him in the corner to score right on full time. Full time score 28-22
It wasn’t the result we wanted but the cutters gave absolutely everything they had and what a great game it was.
We had the biggest crowd from any team on the day filling the whole hill and grand stand and the cutters would like to thank everyone who made the effort to come and cheer them on. We wouldn’t have gotten anywhere near as close without all the support.
Thankyou to all our sponsors and volunteers throughout 2026. We look forward to seeing you all again next year.
Cutters best
Oli Cameron
James Graham
Rupert Lilburne
💛❤️💙
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