Western City Scorpions scored three unanswered second half tries and fought back from 2-0 down to beat Northern Country Knights and claim the NSW City v Country Men’s Opens title.
In a final featuring a number of players from the Homebush and Central Coast sides that met in a thrilling 2019 NSW State Cup decider, very little separated the teams early.
The Knight began to find space midway through the first half and scored two tries in three minutes through Broden Bailey and Jack Cooper, who both found space on the Scorpions left edge.
A poorly executed kick gave Western City territory deep in the Knights end late in the first half, but Northern Country’s defence held strong and the home side went to the break up by two.
Needing to strike first, Western City looked more lively in the second half and soon showed their attacking flair.
Mohammed Tamer somehow spun through three Northern Country defenders to get his side on the scoreboard, before Bunsom Chaipanya showed plenty of pace and raced away to level the scores.
With momentum firmly in their favour, the Scorpions continued to attack from all areas of the field and scored their third try in 10 minutes through Dale Willis to take a 3-2 lead with four minutes remaining.
Northern Country had several chances to strike back and force extra time in the closing stages, but the Knights couldn’t find a way through the rock solid Scorpions defence.
A handful of Homebush players have now won a NSW State Cup, an Australian Championship title with Warriors and a NSW City v Country title with the Scorpions in the past six months.
Scorpions claimed a tight 3-2 win over Knights in the opening match of the day, before going on to beat Southern Country Pride 6-1 and draw 2-2 with Southern City Seahawks.
Pride then went on to beat Seahawks 5-2 to claim third spot in the playoff.