Bulldogs v Blues - Round 12: Narrabri stay No 1 with tough win | Group 4

The Blues won 26-20 after a late charge, scoring two converted tries in the final 10 minutes to snare the John Donnelly Cup and retain their one-point lead over Kootingal-Moonbi in the minor premiership race.

Down 20-12, the Blues fired up late after what captain-coach Jake Rumsby described as a "flat start".

"We knew they (Gunnedah) were going to be up for this game," Rumsby said.

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"Everyone wants to knock us off now and Gunnedah had a big day. We got out of jail in the first round against them and did the same today.

"They led most of the game and it wasn't until we scored with about four minutes to go that we hit the lead.

"The final score didn't reflect the game. They were very good and we dropped too much ball, we didn't get many of the 50-50 calls either.

"But in saying that, I couldn't be prouder of our boys. We were down in troops and we defended real well in what was a difficult game."

Rumsby was loathe to single out for praise any of his players, preferring to thank and congratulate them all for their wholehearted performances.

"It was a massive team performance," Rumsby said.

"Toughed it out for 76 minutes and got lucky in the end. It was another massive result for us. We have another tricky away game at Dungowan (next round). They are a good side with Fergo (Shaun Ferguson) and Brett (Jarrett).

"We're slowly getting people back (from injury) too but we've got just two more games and if we win both, we'll be minor premiers. That's big for the club and the town."

Narrabri last claimed the minor premiership in 1990, when they won their last premiership.

On Saturday, Blues centre Sam Sadler was outstanding again.

He celebrated his birthday in fine style with an energetic effort, ripping in with great gusto to spearhead the win.

Meanwhile, Roosters coach Geoff Sharpe had no hesitation in describing Saturday's 36-24 win over Dungowan for the Steve Pepperell Shield as a "tough game".

The Roosters led all match after striking first via a customary Kurt Hartmann scamper from dummy half.

They led 18-6 at half-time after Jordan Sharpe and then Ethan Parry crossed.

But it was Dungowan who were next to score when Matt Wilson and Ferguson engineered a try for Lochie Collins, to make it 18-12 and give the Cowboys a sniff.

Tries then went tit for tat. Logan Howard crossed to edge the Roosters out to a 24-12 lead but then Trent Taylor broke through as both Howard and Brodie Sowter spent 10 minutes in the bin for trivial offences.

Liam Hatch and Parry then set up Sam Taylor's first try of the season and the goalkicking halfback celebrated being off the nudie run by converting.

Taylor kicked six goals from six attempts while Trent Taylor kicked a perfect four from four, as Wilson and Hatch scored final tries for their respective teams.

Geoff Sharpe said: "Dungowan played some good, tough footie and we gave away some penalties and made some silly mistakes but we also played well in patches. Losing Benny (Williams) after 10 minutes didn't help."

Roosters captain Williams was KOed after just 10 minutes when he got crunched making a head-on tackle and took no further part in the game."

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