Queanbeyan held off a fast-finishing Wests in the John I Dent Cup season opener as debutant Angus Le Lievre starred with a 21-point haul.
The former Shute Shield star comfortably took man-of-the-match honours in Queanbeyan's 26-20 victory at David Campese Oval on Saturday.
The teams traded penalties in a grinding first half before the game opened up in the second stanza as running rugby produced four tries.
The Whites kicked off the second half with a 6-3 lead and in 15 minutes blew the margin out to 26-6 thanks to tries from Le Lievre and Mitch Douch.
Wests came storming back into the contest in a frantic final 10 minutes and almost pinched an unlikely win, but were let down on the buzzer by a lineout which had failed them all day.
Keith Morgan linked well in the centres with ACT Brumbie utility Andrew Smith who had a hand in both Queanbeayan tries, while Douch was a constant threat at fullback.
Le Lievre, 24, slotted six-from-six off the tee and danced down the sideline to score an inch perfect try in the corner, before nailing the sideline conversion.
The Wagga winger said he is simply grateful for the opportunity from coach Adam Fahey and happy to play his part for the team.
"Goal kicking is something I really pride myself on and you might as well not kick at all if you're not going to get to training an hour early and practice, that's just what it's like," Le Lievre said.
"With the try their fullback didn't commit so I decided to go at him and then stuck the right mit down and it was probably a fluke that I could only do one in 100 times, but I'm happy to do it today and get the win."
Fahey praised his new recruit alongside Smith and Morgan, but added it was a team effort which earned the hard fought win.
"In first grade if you don't play for the full 80 minutes you're going to get rolled so that's what you train for and we hung on today in a good contest in the end," Fahey said.
"Smith is pretty handy isn't he, we welcomed him back with open arms and you can see why he's a professional with the way he conducts himself on and off the field.
"Keith Morgan was outstanding again and has rep honours written all over him but it was good team effort and great to win across all five grades."
Wests coach Craig Robberds was proud of his men for not dropping their heads in the second half but said too many errors cost his side.
"We didn't score enough points in the first half and in the second we gave away 100 penalties and they just ran away with it," Robberds said.
"They didn't have to do a lot to get points which was disappointing, but we fought back, we could have rolled over and got done by 40 points, so to get within in six and nearly steal it was a good effort."
AT A GLANCE
Queanbeyan 26 (M Douch, A Le Lievre ties, 4 pens 2 cons A Le Lievre)
Wests 20 (B Kaino, M Tye tries, 2 cons 2 pens K Ropati)
