Valley capped off an unbeaten season with a dramatic win in the Citizens Shield final on Saturday. It was a thrilling game in which the men from Weston had to fend off an inspired comeback from Excelsior to get the 31-28 win. Valley needed one last goal-line stand in the final five minutes with Blues hot on attack. Down by just three points, the back-to-back defending champions carried hard with their forwards as they inched closer and closer to the line. Eventually, the Excelsior ball-carrier was isolated and penalised for rolling too far to avoid the waiting Valley jackal. Valley then secured the ball off a lineout and booted the ball into touch to get the victory. Captain Cameron Rowland could not have been prouder to see his team hold on at the death. “It took a hell of an effort. That started in January when we were slugging our guts out. “Proud of the lads to get that one — we just seemed to find a way to win all year.” Valley dominated the early portion of the final and jumped out to a 26-0 lead after just 25 minutes. They recycled the ball quickly and efficiently, which allowed their forwards to dominate the much bigger Blues pack. Their backs were slick in their handling, which was on full display for their fourth try. Off a lineout in their own half, Valley moved the ball to centre field with their forwards carrying before swinging it back down the blindside. Ben Paton was put in space and dashed away downfield. The Valley fullback linked up with Jake Matthews on his inside before he gave it back Paton, who then found Matt Vocea on his outside to score. After barely touching the ball for the opening 25 minutes of the game, Blues finally got into an attacking position off a nice kick to touch from Josh Phipps. They then were able to chip away and put Apenisia Tuiba over the line to score. Any momentum Blues thought they had was quickly squashed as Valley had one more up their sleeve to round out the first half. A clearing kick from Blues did not find touch so Paton sparked a counter-attack. He drew in a defender then put winger Naelesoni Tuidama in space, and Tuidama in turn passed the ball inside to Matthews. A lovely tip pass from the halfback turned first five found Isaac Clunie, who ran in untouched to score Valley’s fifth first-half try. Excelsior needed to start strongly in the second half and did. They won the ball immediately off the kick and went to work, and eventually Tuiba crashed over for his second try. The Blues forward pack really started to wear down Valley at this point. Their dominance at scrum time was outstanding and a catalyst for their comeback. Tuiba’s third try of the afternoon followed by No 8 TJ Willie crashing over set up the grandstand finish heading into the final 10 minutes. Paton was named man of the match for a phenomenal performance in the No 15 jersey. Everything he touched turned to gold either on attack or defence. The entire Valley forward pack also worked hard in a signature performance.
