ACT Third Grade: There have been a few games this year where both of the Goulburn Men’s sides have lost a match in the last few minutes, but this was a great opportunity for the Dirty Reds firsts to dig deep and snatch a last minute win. Trailing by 13-7 at the break, that gap expanded shortly into the second half when Royals ran in another try. But Goulburn piled on three tries in response… the last one in the final minute to overturn Royals 21-19 lead for the win. Despite the closeness of the match, it was a four try to two result for the Reds, with nine of Royals points coming from three penalty goals. Next weekend they’ll play Gungahlin who lost 62-7 to Uni-Norths yesterday, and it will be crucial that they don’t assume an easy win and look to put together a dominant performance.

ACT Fourth Grade: This is another match that could be filed under “the ones that got away”. The Dirty Twos led 21-10 at the break but didn’t go on with it. Royals added two converted tries and a penalty goal in the second half but Goulburn didn’t trouble the scorers. Goulburn only lost the lead with 13 minutes remaining and it’s a pity a last minute rally didn’t come to fruition. There were a lot of gun efforts and a lot of things to like about Goulburn’s performance, but ball security and ball control weren’t among them. Goulburn committed a bunch of unforced errors and struggled to string phases together, and as a result were starved of possession and territory. It was a slight step backwards from the momentum and confidence the Twos had been building in the last few weeks and will give them a benchmark to aim for next week match against competition leaders Gungahlin who’ve lost only once this year.

ACT Women’s 10s: Look, a wins a win. Royals forfeit to Goulburn was very disappointing, especially as the women’s side has only played five games this year and could really use some match time (plus also the whole fun in playing rugby each year is actually playing rugby). Next weekend they have two scheduled games at Bungendore. After a very unsettled season so far, the opportunity is there to continue the form they showed in their last outing (55-15 against Hall) and to have an enjoyable and productive back nine. The women’s competition has been split into two pools. I’m not sure if it is the intention to play two sets of semi finals (one for each pool) but the Goulburn Women are within striking distance of fourth spot in their table – a mini-goal worth setting their sites on.