ROBERTSON showed that self belief is an all-conquering force, when they fought back from a 12-4 halftime deficit to win the Group 6 under-18 Veolia Pennant grand final 20-12 against Warragamba at Community Oval yesterday.

A huge crowd of Spuds supporters braved the cold weather and an 8.45am start to back their boys, and they sang along loudly as the team belted out the Robertson victory song after the youngsters’ gutsy come-from-behind win.

Captain Mathias Wann told his team at the break that it had been 40 years since a senior Robertson team had won a title and in the second half his team “stuck to their game plan and they lifted.”

“I’m so stoked, 40 years is a long time ... all the guys who used to play are proud and it has lifted their spirits,” Wann said.

“It was great to see a big Robbo crowd at this time of the morning.”

Mitchell Wright took matters into his own hands after halftime with back-to-back tries to give the Spuds a slender 14-12 lead and then a comfortable eight-point buffer as Robertson put on three unanswered tries .

Earlier in the game, the Wombats went ahead 12-0 through Mitch Robertson and Liam Ible. But Spud Ross Dolan managed to cross in the corner right before the break to reduce the gap to 12-4.

The momentum swung the Spuds’ way in the second stanza and fullback Michael Wortz scored to make it 12-8 before Wright twice pierced through the Wombats defence late in the game.

For the full story see the Southern Highland News, Monday, September 1

sport.highlandnews@ruralpress.com