The Tigers were beaten in the Final of the Woodbridge Cup Tens Competition on Sunday at Eugowra.

Earlier in the day Canowindra took on Peak Hill and raced to a 14 – nil lead, before the Roosters struck back to trail 14 – 11.

Despite this the Tigers led all the way to run out winners 26 – 18.

Game two saw Canowindra take on the Koorawatha Jets.

Once again the Tigers led 10 – nil before Koorawatha tied the game up at 10 – all.

The game ended in a draw, but the Tigers progressed to the final, as per the rules, being the 1st try scorers in the game.

The Cargo Blueheelers had to play an extra game on the day, but didn’t look it, as they bolted from the gated to lead 17 – nil in the final before the Tigers fought back with two tries.

The slick Cargo backline were on fire as every time Canowindra closed the gap, Cargo would respond with a try at the other end and ran out winners 34 points to 19.

The two best players from the tournament were the final team captains – Cargo’s Tim Shephard and Canowindra’s Damian Kennedy.

While an unlikely dual was played out between Brothers Steve Maere (Cargo) and Karl Maere (Canowindra) with both players scoring tries in the final and performing well.

The runners up cheque was a great result as the Tigers build for a better 2009.

The 2008 regular season was the worst in over a decade at Canowindra, despite a star studded team, they failed to reach any great heights – finishing ninth in the regular season but making the semi-finals courtesy of the Koorawatha Jets being deducted 4 competition points for playing unregistered players.

The Tigers have lost a lot of the players from 2008, but appear to have replaced them well with youngsters Aaron Woolley, Brenton Woolley and Jacob Hodge returning to the fold.

The successful tournament comes after a successful trial against Condobolin the previous week.

The trial game ended at five tries a piece after Canowindra led 3 tries to nil at one stage.

The game was played under ‘super league’ rules, where scorers kicked allowing both sides to make the most of the match.

Earlier in the day the open juniors defeated Condobolin 5 tries to 4, showing plenty of flair at different stages.

Canowindra first grade kicks off April 19 while the open juniors begin in the middle of may.