A JOEY Drahm miracle try at the death lifted Barron Trinity to a thrilling 38-35 Cairns District Rugby Union A-grade victory over Southside at West Barlow Park on Saturday.

With less than three minutes remaining, Drahm launched a high kick into Southside's in-goal area, sped past the Crusaders' defenders and threw himself on the ball to secure the match-winning try, his third of the game.

Pictures: Cairns District Rugby Union 2009

The lightning-fast winger caused Southside headaches all day, but five minutes earlier, it had seemed the Crusaders would get the points after a Derek Faaofo try and Darren Gima conversion lifted them to a 38-35 lead.

The lead changed five times throughout the match with Southside twice reeling in the Bulls in the first half to go into the break at 14-14.

Barron Trinity five-eighth Dane Furphy, whose combination with halfback Hami Love was a feature of the match, was thrilled the Bulls had overcome the absence of several leading backline players to secure the win.

"A few of the guys put their name in the ring today to push for A-grade spots," he said.

"Especially in defence. We didn't always make the ball sing as much as we would have liked to in attack, but our defence, when it needed to be, was very good."

Furphy said the Bulls' forward pack, led by another tireless effort by No. 8 Kani Simiona, had laid the platform for the victory against their larger Crusader counterparts.

"I also thought our set pieces were very good, and we stuck it to them a few times, as (Southside) also did to us," he said.

Southside fullback Sonny Rea, who along with flyhalf Otto Suavai posted two tries, said the Crusaders had improved on their previous 34-31 loss to the Bulls earlier this season.

"It was a better effort than last time, we played with a bit more structure," he said.

"Our rucks and mauls were also a lot better and we put in a big effort. It was just one of those games."

Rea's running game caused the Bulls great troubles.

The Kangaroos rugby league player and former Parramatta Toyota Cup star scored a long-range try and backed up Suavai to post another.

Suavai, hooker Penani Moevao, winger Quincy To'oto'o-ulugia and Faaofo also battled hard for the Crusaders with centre Ben Leonardi, hooker Dane Jeffries and flanker Haru Kernan also starred for the Bulls.

In other CDRU A-grade games, Brothers outgunned Wanderers 50-17 with Kele Degei posting four tries for the victors, and Port Douglas continued their resurgence, racing in eight tries in a 52-21 win over Innisfail.

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