THE Macksville Sea Eagles were minor premiers and favourites to win the under 18’s title, but no one told Nambucca who started their grand final hard and fast with plenty of confidence.

After giving away a penalty on the first tackle, Nambucca’s rushing defence put pressure on Macksville from the opening, forcing an error in the next set.

Receiving a penalty after the scrum, they spun the ball to the left where Wilson Baade threw a nice pass to Toby Batten who dummied and ran through the defence to score the opening try after just two minutes of play.

Batten converted to have Nambucca up 6-0.

Macksville made an error off a Nambucca kick, giving the Roosters prime field position with a scrum feed ten metres from the goal line.

Cale Ogilvy crossed and Batten converted to have Nambucca up 12-0 after eleven minutes of play.

Nambucca turned the ball over on the first play from the restart and both teams made errors close to the Roosters’ line.

Macksville then passed the ball to the left where Mitch Martin stepped back on the inside and dodged the defence to dive over for his side’s first points.

Rielly Laverty converted.

They would be the only points for the minor premiers in the first half as Nambucca’s Connor Corbett found the tryline twice more.

One off a nice draw and pass from second rower Brodie Saunders and the second off a well placed Batten kick.

The conversion had Nambucca leading 22-6 at half-time.

The second half started with a 40/20 from the boot of Batten but Macksville’s defence held firm and kept the Roosters out.

A Nambucca error on their 30 metre line gave the Sea Eagles possession in the attacking zone.

Cohen Welsh ran a great line off Brayden Luffman to bring the ball around, grounding it behind the posts.

The conversion from Laverty reduced the difference to ten.

Nambucca struck back five minutes later with Wilson Baade kicking through a loose Macksville pass.

He was pulled down about eight metres short, but Dominic Robertson jumped out of dummy half, passing back to Baade to score.

The conversion was wide; Nambucca led 26-12 with 20 minutes to play.

Errors continued to prove costly for Macksville at the attacking end until Nakein Adams showed some great footwork to score for the Sea Eagles with five minutes left.

With a minute to play, Nambucca put the icing on the cake with Toby Batten kicking the ball down field on the last tackle, and Dominic Robertson flying down the wing to collect it to score in the corner.

This sealed the match for the Nambucca Roosters at 30-16, giving them their first Under 18’s premiership since 2013.

Nambucca hooker Cale Ogilvy was voted best on ground.

By Nigel WILBOW