By Guy Williams, Date: 5/3/13
A COOL-HEADED display from sharpshooter Phil Ramage kept Limoux Grizzlies finals hopes alive with the former Burleigh Bears five-eighth’s boot sealing a 28-26 victory for the home side over second-placed St Esteve Dragons on Sunday afternoon.
Trailing 26-16 with five minutes remaining, Ramage split the St Esteve defence to help set up his side’s comeback. A few minutes later the Grizzlies crossed, and Ramage converted to bridge the deficit to four points, before fellow Australian Scott Blanch equalised in the 79th minute.
A cool-headed Ramage slotted the winning conversion from 10m in from touch seconds before the siren to clinch the win.
A loss for the Grizzlies would have all but ended their finals chances with four competition matches remaining in the 2012-13 French Federation of Rugby League’s Elite One season.
With their championship season still hanging in the balance, the Grizzlies now turn their focus towards next weekend’s Lord Derby Cup semi-final against local rivals AS Carcassonne.
The winner of that match will face the winner of Toulouse Olympique and Avignon Bisons in the Lord Derby Cup final on May 12.
The boot of Pia Donkeys skipper Maxime Grezeque helped his side narrowly escape with a 20-18 win over a determined Toulouse Olympique in Toulouse on Saturday night.
Facing their second loss of the season, Grezeque slotted two late penalty goals to edge the competition leaders in front in the dying minutes of their round 16 contest.
New Zealand-born centre Troy Savage starred as AS Carcasonne maintained second place on the FFR XIII Championship ladder with a 21-10 win over Lezignan on Sunday, while Avignon Bisons cruised to a 42-18 win over last-placed Lescure on Saturday night.
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