YEOVAL’S rugby union team, the Eagles, are through to the Oilsplus North Cup grand final this weekend.
The side’s advancement to the premiership match came by the slimmest of margins, with Yeoval getting up over the Coolah Roos, 29 to 28, at Coolah in last Saturday’s preliminary final.
With the game going tri-for-tri all day and the gap coming via penalty goal, club president and full-back Damian Doherty said the positive result came after a tense last part of the match.
“I’d say the last 10 minutes of the game was very nerve-wracking,” he said.
“I know the coach, Bruce (Lees) said if you went back to the sideline and looked where he was standing in the five-metre path, there’d be no grass left there.
“Coolah scored first, and then we’d score, and then they’d score, then we’d score.
“We chose to take a penalty goal when we were down by seven, and that made the difference in the end. We got the last try, and that just kept us in front.”
The Eagles will go in underdogs against a Blayney side that’s undefeated all season, but Doherty said it’s a good moniker to have.
“I think we’ll definitely have the underdog tag,” he said.
“They’ve played well all year, but I think at the same time that our boys would be confident that if we go out there and play our absolute best, then we can definitely turn up and get the win.
“Like in any sport it can go either way. If we turn up and play at 110 per cent and give our best, then we’re definitely in with a great shot.”
Yeoval’s late-season success has lifted the town and the district, but it hasn’t come easy.
Some weeks the Eagles have struggled to get a team out on the field.
“I think we’ve had something like 52 players play for us through the season, and a couple of games we went with only 15 players,” Doherty said.
“Mates have brought mates along to keep us going every week so we didn’t have to forfeit, and that’s a real positive thing, I reckon, that someone can bring a mate out, and they’ll help us out for the weekend, chuck on a pair of boots.
“It’s definitely a battle, we’re definitely struggling. There’s so many rugby clubs in Orange, Molong, Dubbo, and Wellington, we’re kind of just stuck out in the middle of nowhere where there’s not that great a deal of jobs, and not as many farmers that would’ve used to play.”
With a dedication to the club stretching beyond the district, Doherty said the Eagles’ recent success had brought a positive environment to games.
“There’d be under 10 like boys that actually live in Yeoval now,” he said.
“A lot of them have a local background, but people travel from Dubbo or any direction, Peak Hill way.
“There’s boys that are just coming from everywhere to help out and play with us, that just means a lot, and they all love it.
“They bring their families out and they all seem to love it. I think everyone’s really happy that we’ve finally made a grand final.”
It’s the first time Yeoval is through to a premiership match in more than a decade – having lost at home in 2015, and they are chasing their first major trophy in 15 years.
Doherty said the club’s recent run of good form, especially in the finals, was uplifting.
“The first one that we won in Yeoval against Canowindra, that was a good feeling to start with,” he said.
“The whole town enjoyed that. We stayed at the bowling club, our local sponsor, for a long time.
“It felt like a big turnout back there for us anyway, and yeah, I think that got everyone talking a fair bit.
“Then the feeling on the weekend when we won again was next level after that.
“Like I think warming up with the boys and everything before the game, everyone realised that yeah, we can actually do this, we can win this game today and go to the next step.
“The whole day was just a different feeling, being inside the team.”