Saturday 2nd April 2016
Shadbolt Park No: 1
Suburbs 30 Eden 29

The Suburbs and Eden Rugby Premier teams met in the semi-final of the Pollard Cup pre-season championship last Saturday, 2nd April.   As an added incentive to the two Clubs they were playing for a new Trophy “The Suburbs/Eden Challenge Cup” which was donated this year by an old boy of both Clubs and in memory of 2 players - 1 from each Club - who recently passed away.  The Cup is to be played for between the two Clubs on their first encounter each season.  The Cup was donated to celebrate the long held camaraderie between both Clubs over many years and to recognise the competitive rugby that is always played between both teams whenever they meet.

However, the first occasion of the Cup’s outing will not be forgotten for a long time due to the circumstances surrounding the final moments of the match on Saturday.  
It was a close game between both teams, with Suburbs making all the play in the first quarter and Eden making a strong come back in the next two quarters to pip Suburbs for the lead in the final quarter before Suburbs clawed their way back and cemented the win with a drop goal by their Captain in the last seconds of the game.  As Suburbs were congratulating each other on a tight fought battle a loud cheer went up from the Eden team and everyone was left wondering what for!  The word went around that Eden had won and they lost no time in grabbing the Cup for a winners photo shoot.  Meanwhile some checks and balances were undertaken and it was established that Suburbs had indeed won by a very close margin of 30-29!  Suburbs then grabbed the Cup for a happy and relieved winners photo shoot.

Needless to say the spectators were left feeling very confused by this bizarre turn of events and it could be said that it might have caused some tension between both the teams and the their supporters.  However, rugby proved to be the winner on the day and the words engraved on the Cup held true in stating “To commemorate the longstanding fellowship between the two Clubs” as proved by these photos and the good humour in the Clubrooms afterwards .  Some are still laughing about it and for those who were last to leave after the second round of rum from the cup all had smiles on their face.  To be sure, there was possibly even some chuckles from above!