Yanco Wamoon Hawks hosted a rugby league 9s competition on Saturday at the Leeton sportsground.

The hungry home side matched it with Young Cherrypickers in the men’s grand final, after a close win over Yenda Blueheelers.

Young earned their spot after blitzing Griffith Black & Whites in the semi-final, defeating the Griffith side 20 points to six.

Yanco attacked the Young defensive line from the kick-off, however the Cherrypickers held them out and launched their own attack at the opposite end of the field.

Handling errors in the wet and slippery conditions hampered Young’s efforts, and instead Yanco scored first points when Caleb Atkinson found a gap and ran straight through Young’s defence. 

In a match where every point counted the vital conversion points were also added, one of the handful of successful drop punts for the entire day.

Nicolas Canellis for Young scored next, through another defensive gap and at half-time the score stood at 6-4, with the home side holding the narrow lead.

From the restart Yanco attacked, pushing the Cherrypickers winger from the field to regain possession, but were unable to capitalise. 

Young aimed for the tryline but once again the slippery conditions allowed Yanco to drag players from the field, in try-saving efforts.

Yanco upped the pressure and peppered Young’s line until powerful forward and 2025 first grade coach Tomoci “Jim” Ratulozo crossed.

Not to be outdone, the Cherrypickers passed the ball along the line to find a gap and hit back with their own try soon after, to again come within two points of the Hawks.

Arguably Yanco’s player of the day Petero Taitusi capped off a stellar performance and crossed in the dying minutes of the match to seal the Hawks 16 to 10 win.

Taiusi is shaping up to be the Hawks secret weapon - whenever opponents threatened, Taiusi was sent in to turn the games around. 

He was the day’s highest try scorer, and will be a dangerous player to watch in the upcoming Group 20 season.

The women’s grand final was played out between the Ivanhoe Roosters and Cobar Roosters.

Despite defeating Cobar earlier in the day, and heading into the game as favourites, Ivanhoe’s forwards fatigued early and errors crept in. 

Cherokee Dixon’s defense was in top form and Ivanhoe scored first, in a match full of big hits and powerful runs.

Ros Evans and Monique Higgins led the way, pushing off Cobar defenders to gain every inch.

Cobar scored two second half tries to take the lead, which was all that was needed in such a tight game, and took the win eight points to four.

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During the day Darlington Point Coleambally lost two player - Josh Veivers and Isaac Railo to the bin, and Yenda’s Saul Railo was also marched, after striking an opposition player. The trio is expected to face the judiciary next week.

Ivanhoe’s women’s team lost a player to injury in the second half of their first match.

Men’s results

Yenda 28 defeated Darlington Point Coleambally 0

Griffith Black & Whites 16 defeated Ivanhoe 4

Young 16 defeated Cobar 4

Griffith Black & Whites 20 defeated Darlington Point Coleambally 10

Young 18 defeated Yenda 8

Yanco 16 defeated Cobar 0

Yenda 16 defeated Ivanhoe 4

Young 22 defeated Darlington Point Coleambally 6

Cobar 28 defeated Ivanhoe 4

Yanco 31 defeated Griffith Black & Whites 8

Semi final - Yanco 14 defeated Yenda 12

Semi final - Young 20 defeated Griffith Black & Whites 6

Women’s results

Ivanhoe 12 defeated Cobar 

Ivanhoe 10 defeated Hay 4

Cobar 12 defeated Hay 8

Grand final - Cobar 8 defeated Ivanhoe 4