Coach Damien Quinn said it best - "That's a Country win every day of the week."
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
It was the best summation of Country's thrilling 26-20 win over City on Saturday, a match that finished with Quinn's side a man down and repelling raid after raid to cling to victory at Kogarah on Saturday.
In the end it was enough, despite a late surge from City reeling in a 20-4 halftime deficit, a well-worked try to Cameron Anderson Country's only points in the second half.
Anderson was then sin-binned after lingering too long in a covering tackle on runaway City centre Tony Satini with nine minutes to go. It left Country to go the rest of the way a man down, something they managed by the skin of their teeth.
City enjoyed three straight sets hammering the Country line only to be repelled by desperate scramble on each occasion. They couldn't find a levelling try, with Country retaining the Shield it claimed in similarly thrilling fashion, 36-34, last year.
"They were tough, they got pole-axed in the middle there," Quinn told NSWRL.com
"They were down on troops and they just kept turning up. I'm very proud of them."
The grandstand finish looked well off the cards when Country led 20-4 at halftime on the back of a four-tries-to-one opening stanza.
It saw Wests Devils back-rower Levi Pascoe cross for the opening try, while Shellharbour Stingrays captain-coach Tom Warner also grabbed a four-pointer courtesy of a neat grubber from five-eighth Sam Clune.
Lincoln Smith and and Gary Anderson also got on the sheet before halftime to put the men in maroon and gold well in command of the clash.
Jake Tago stemmed the bleeding with City's only try of the first half, but it virtually all the hosts in the second half, with Denzal Tonise and Todd Sapienza getting across before Anderson was binned.
Alfred Smalley scored with six minutes left to draw within six, with Country remarkably finding down the stretch to not concede another try despite being reduce to 12 men.
It followed Country's equally thrilling 18-12 win in the women's clash on Thursday night, though it was tougher day for the maroon and gold on Saturday, with City claiming a 30-0 win in the under 16s clash and a 30-10 win in the under 18s fixture.
Our news app has had a makeover, making it faster and giving you access to even more great content.
Download The Illawarra Mercury news app in the Apple Store and Google Play
Mitch Jennings
Sports writer. Sport is my passion, rugby league my first love.
Sports writer. Sport is my passion, rugby league my first love.
