It was a day to remember on Saturday when the Bowral Blacks brilliant season marched ahead in front of a packed home crowd at Eridge Park.

Spectators were left on the edge of their seats in a display where the club finished on top of the strong Campbelltown outfits in all four grades.

The once fallen Blacks proved that they had turned the corner with a revamped spirit, which sounded a warning to their Illawarra rivals that they would be a force to contend with in 2002.

And it was again the first grade that led the way with a gutsy 20-17 win over defending premiers Campbelltown in the Illawarra District rugby union competition.

The Blacks came out firing with a penalty goal by halfback Damien Tyson, which was followed with a quick try from hooker Bob Payne.

But it was the speed and agility of Blacks' winger Trent Rengger that stole the show.

Rengger weaved in and out of Campbelltown's sloppy defence to cross the line and push his side closer to a first grade victory.

Considering they played a quarter of the game a man down, Blacks' co-coach Craig Clothier was happy with the result.

Blacks' halfback Damien Tyson was sin-binned for an elbow to the head in the first half and was sent off with seven minutes to the final hooter for stomping.

"A lot of the players were backing up for their third game in a week and it showed in the second half when the fatigue set in," he said.

"Playing against last year's defending premiers we were prepared for it to be a tough hit out and it wasn't pretty.

"We tried to be over anxious but if over enthusiasm is our only problem then that's okay.

"However the error count was too high and unsatisfactory."

Campbelltow n coach Dave Everitt expected a lot from Bowral considering their great start to the season.

"Bowral didn't give it to us in the second half like they did in the first and I'm sure if that had happened then the score would be a different story," he said.

"Everything we had spoken about at training did not convert onto the field.

"But we can take a lot of positives out of the game.

"We have lost a large number of players from last year and are in the rebuilding stages at the moment."

Bowral 20 (Bob Payne, Trent Rengger; Damien Tyson conv 2, penalty 2) d Campbelltown 17 (Jason Joerdens, Jason Thompson, Justin Hamilton )