Rangers add icing to 50 year celebrations

AS the party continued following a celebratory breakfast at Woodend Park, the Ipswich Rangers will long remember their 50th anniversary year.

The club's Pegg Cup rugby team completed a fantastic season, beating Caboolture 38-12 at Ballymore on Saturday.

Although Rangers' Wyatt Cup team lost their grand final 19-10 the night before, everyone at the proud Ipswich club had plenty to savour.

"In our 50th year, it's exceptional to get up,'' Pegg Cup captain Jarred Lacey said after a couple of hours sleep.

"We worked hard for it so we're stoked.

"We really dominated in the forwards . . . the forwards were amazing yesterday.''

The Ipswich Rangers team celebrate their 38-12 win over the Caboolture Snakes in the Pegg Cup grand final at Ballymore. Bruce Clayton

Lacey praised his entire squad for capping a tremendous season in style after earlier wrapping up the minor premiership.

"We emphasised on our game plan and our structures to be a team game,'' he said.

"Our forwards are really dominant and we were able to play as a unit.

"It worked really well yesterday and throughout the whole year.''

Rangers captain Jarred Lacey accepts the Pegg Cup trophy after his team's fantastic grand final win. Bruce Clayton

Rangers number eight Taei Lafaele was named man of the match.

"He was exceptional. He ran hard, tackled hard,'' Lacey said.

The captain said having two teams battling for honours on the famous Ballymore ground was a highlight.

"It was an awesome experience for everyone,'' the captain said.

"You don't get to run out on Ballymore every weekend or at a stadium like that. To do a grand final weekend and get the win, the younger fellas really enjoyed it.''

Flanker James Anderson and lock Matt Hobbs announced their retirements and hooker Daniel Melila is moving to the Sunshine Coast.

"It made it even better getting the premiership for those boys yesterday,'' Lacey said.

Lacey said the club was already looking to next season.

"We'll enjoy this and success brings numbers,'' he said. "So hopefully we can build on this for next year . . . really make Rangers a strong, competitive rugby club again.''

Pegg Cup grand final: Ipswich Rangers 38 (scorers unavailable) def Caboolture 12 at Ballymore.

Wyatt Cup grand final: Med XV 19 (James Baumann, Matthew Wood, Reid Cornell-Farrell tries; Byron Dunstone 2 conversions) def Ipswich Rangers 10 (Joel Dennis, Jarryd Verrenkamp tries) at Ballymore.