THE Keech Australia Bendigo Fighting Miners advanced to the Victorian Rugby Union division 2B grand final with a 46-15 shellacking of previously unbeaten Cerberus at HMAS Cerberus on Saturday.
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This will be the fourth grand final in succession for the Miners and in the past 12 years, they’ve have contested 10 grand finals for seven wins.
Going into last Saturday’s game, the Miners were the underdogs as Cerberus was unbeaten and playing on its home turf in front of a parochial supporter base.
The game started ominously for Bendigo when Cerberus latched onto a loose ball inside its own quarter and scored.
This stung the Miners into action as they took play inside the Cerberus quarter where winger Phil Keech evened up the score with a try in the corner.
Tries to full-back Fareni Moefaauo and prop Jesse Tuitupou saw Bendigo go out to a 15-5 lead after 25 minutes, but Cerberus struck back with a converted try from centre Ketchel.
A second try by Tuitupou and a penalty goal from Cerberus resulted in Bendigo going to the break up 22-15.
With their forwards dominant in the inside channels and at scrum time, the Miners took control in the second half, holding Cerberus scoreless and adding four more tries.
In the minor semi-final, Eltham beat the Melbourne Unicorns 30-15 to advance to the preliminary final against Cerberus to be played at Harlequins next Saturday.
