RUGBY UNION | Gorillas go down to CSU.

It wasn't the best performance from the students - far from it in fact - but they showed plenty of determination against the Gorillas who were still in the match right up until the final few seconds.

A line-out 10 metres from the CSU line gave them a chance to score and at least have a shot at snaring a draw, but rather than try and maul their way to the line, a short-side play and risky pass was intercepted by the defence.

CSU coach James McLaren was relieved afterwards, but praised the willingness of his side, particularly on their own line.

"We did a lot of defending on our own line, our speed was good and we shut down a lot of their play close to our line where their big forwards were running at us," he said.

"Even the two tries we did concede, we forced them to score very wide and if we're going to concede tries, I'd rather it happen like that than letting them through the middle.

"It has been a tough season and we haven't had a lot of practice at winning, so there were a few nervous moments near the end."

The university outfit were on the front foot early in the territorial battle and were soon on the scoreboard after Sam Robertson managed to find space down the short side, though Pat Hill's conversion was waved away.

Narromine soon had their chance, and though the home side did well to keep them out for five minutes or so, fullback Greg Wynn put in a clever kick to the left where Jacob Short pounced on the ball to score.

Tom Harrison's kick was wide to leave the scores locked.

Almost immediately after the visitors' try, Hill knocked over a penalty to regain the lead for his side, and straight after the restart CSU chances their arm and attacked once more.

Tennyson Vance somehow managed to stay in the field of play as he tip-toed down the left sideline, and he timed a pass perfectly to winger Lachie Brown who scored his team's second.

This time Hill's sideline strike was perfect, helping his team to a 15-5 lead which they looked like maintaining until half-time.

Again on the back of some goal-line pressure, Narromine went wide in search of points and came away with another five, this time through Harrison.

He was unable to convert though, leaving the students with a 15-10 buffer at the break.

Early in the second half Harrison cut it to two points with a penalty, and the game entered an ugly phase of mistakes and frequent back-and-forth penalties.

Throughout the match, CSU's defence was resolute and several times they were able to repel some promising attack from the Gorillas.

With the game still in the balance, a penalty put the hosts on the attack and some neat work from Nick Rutherford saw replacement prop Mitch Brown in space.

He casually bumped off two defenders like speed humps, crossing for a popular try in the left corner.

Hill's conversion was short of the mark, but his team were able to hang on for a win that gives them just the faintest glimmer of hope for a finals berth, provided they can keep the winning momentum.

"We seem to battle to concentrate the whole way through a game and it does become a bit of a habit, not closing out games," McLaren said. "It was nice to see all the basics starting to work though.

"Our consistency has improved, we are doing it for longer and I think at times the boys shock themselves a bit.

"The biggest positives today were just the fact that we were quick off the line, and didn't give away momentum against a big side."

CSU 20 (Sam Robertson, Mitch Brown, Lachie Brown tries; Pat Hill penalty; Pat Hill conversion) defeated NARROMINE 13 (Jacob Short, Tom Harrison tries; Harrison penalty)