This Saturday Toowoomba Rangers will be hoping ‘third time’s the charm’ as they enter their third Grand Final in as many years at Clive Berghofer Stadium against the Goondiwindi Emus.
After going down to Goondiwindi in the 2019 Risdon Cup decider, 2020 was meant to be Rangers’ year in the Darling Downs competition, with powerhouse clubs Goondiwindi and Dalby both opting not to play in the Risdon Cup due to the ongoing challenges presented by COVID.
The Rangers were the favourites heading into the final, but on the day a young Toowoomba Bears outfit came out of the blocks firing and pipped their cross-town rivals at the post, ending a decade long drought for the Bears.
A year later, and the memory of last year’s Grand Final is still fresh in the mind of Rangers captain and flyhalf Tom Vinson.
“It’s definitely a case of unfinished business for us,” said Vinson.
“Over the past two years we’ve had a really strong squad, we were disappointed with how things went last year, we’ve put it behind us but we’re definitely hungry to get the job done and go one better this weekend.
“We’ve improved throughout this year, our connection between our forwards and packs has developed and we’re more of unit as a whole.”
The 2021 season has seen the Darling Downs competition return to its full complement of teams, and the Emus have returned to their winning ways as one of the Downs’ most dominant forces.
“We’re really keen to get back into finals Rugby this weekend,” said Emus stalwart captain Sam Tweedy.
“It was a bit of hard work to get back to a standard that we like to be at, but we’ve had some great crowds and support this year, everyone was keen to get out, have a beer and watch some Rugby.”
Goondiwindi are a bit of an anomaly in Country Rugby. Despite being over three hours west of Toowoomba and the amount of travel involved every weekend, the club boasts three senior grades and a juniors program, whilst still competing with other sporting codes in the town.
“We’ve got a big following out here. We compete with rugby league and AFL so we have competition, but we seem to have healthy numbers on-and-off the field every year and the club has a rich history in town and that seems to carry on from year-to-year and sets us apart.”
Having missed the 2020 season altogether and the majority of the Goondiwindi players having not played for over 18 months, the 2021 season hasn’t been without it’s challenges for the Emus as the club has battled with injuries.
“It’s been tough, we have had a lot of injuries which is something we’re not use to,” said Tweedy.
“Once you lose your depth it gets hard, especially getting to the back end of a season. But despite the injuries, it’s been great to be back playing Rugby and we’re pleased to make the Grand Final in what has been a close competition.
“It’s good to see the country teams do well, to have Dalby and Condamine in the finals as well was excellent.”
For Tweedy, who has been a long-standing servant of Darling Downs Rugby for the last decade, he is aware of the challenge that lies ahead this weekend with a Rangers side hungry for a Grand Final victory.
“This is their third Grand Final in three years, they’re the team to beat as far as we’re concerned.
“They outplayed us a few weeks ago in the semi-final, it’s going to be tough. They’ve got a mobile forward pack and a slick young backline.
“Any team with Tom Vinson playing ten will be steered around well.”
Despite being on opposing teams this weekend, Tweedy and Vinson, as well as Tom’s younger brother and Rangers vice-captain John, remain good friends having played Queensland Country Heelers representative Rugby together for many years.
“You always enjoy playing against your mates, but we’ll put our friendships aside this weekend and hook in, then we can have a beer together at the end,” said Tweedy.
“Both Vinson brothers are exceptional players and we’ll have to keep an eye out for them.”
Vinson chirped that no matter who wins, bragging rights are on the line.
“In the lead up to the semi, both John and I had a few conversations with Tweedy,” he said.
“We’re looking forward to playing against each other again, whoever wins we’ll be sure let the other one know about it.”
With community Rugby across South-East Queensland still on hold this week due to the COVID lockdown, the Darling Downs Grand Final will be one of few Rugby games played this weekend, and the match will be streamed LIVE via the Downs Rugby Limited Facebook page.
“Watching the stream is a great way to support grassroots Rugby,” said Vinson.
“Both teams will play and expansive style, we’ll throw the ball around and there will be plenty of contact so it should be an entertaining game.”
