The Phantoms fought hard throughout the first half and no one escaped the piercing cold.

Both sides were moving slower than usual and struggled for control of the ball.

However, the Phantoms had difficulty maintaining possession as Griffith would strip the ball away while Leeton struggled to provide cover.

When time ran out in the first half, Griffith held the lead at 10-5.

The intensity increased for the second half and the lead passed back and forth between the teams with Leeton not willing to go away quietly.

As the clocked ticked into the final seconds, Griffith had the 19-17 lead.

But Griffith didn't count on Siti Watkins, who had already proved to be dangerous with a try scored with flair earlier in the match. 

With only seconds left on the game clock, Watkins took full advantage of Griffith’s oversight and powered his way past defenders to slide across the line and snatch victory away from Griffith.

“It just shows what we can do,” said Phantoms coach Seru Rogo.

“It comes down to preparation, I’m happy we came up with a win on this one, but I wasn’t expecting a win.”

Due to the poor weather, Rogo felt the team had not been able to get in a thorough practice.

“We haven’t had a good training session in the last few weeks,” Rogo said.

“We’ve been working in the gym but that was it.

“We need to be out on the field and running and we couldn’t.”

The Phantoms seemed slow to start and at that struggled to build momentum throughout the game.

“We weren’t ourselves out there today,” Rogo said.

“We defended well and when we needed to play we played.”

Rogo felt the increased attendance at Saturday’s game helped encourage the side.

“We definitely appreciate the fans turning up in numbers on a day like this to support the boys,” he said. 

“We are glad to give them a win.”

First grade

Phantoms 22 d Blacks 19

Second grade

Blacks 45 d Phantoms 12

Women

Dianas 24 d Blacks 17