Led by a fighting unbeaten 41 from Andrew Hogan and some disciplined bowling that had the home side under pressure late in the chase, the Rhinos threatened an upset before Cobram steadied to reach the target in the 33rd over.
Playing in Cobram for round two, the home side won the toss and elected to bowl.
The Tigers had an early breakthrough with Will Trower removing Rhinos opener Boddie Arthur, caught and bowled, from the fifth ball of the innings without scoring.
Lachlan Holloway and Hamish Baker then combined at the crease before Holloway was removed for 11 in the eighth over off the bowling of Jeremy Baden caught by Jimmy Daniel.
Melisha Deshapriya was the next Rhinos batter in, but was out off the bowling of Daniel caught by Mikael Artavilla-Bennett in the 13th over for seven.
Griegan French was the next batter in but was dismissed for four by Rakibul Hasan Reday caught by Daniel.
Andrew Hogan joined Baker in the middle, but it was the set batter who was removed by Shaun Downie caught by Lachlan Hyde for 14 at the start of the 22nd over leaving the Rhinos 5/53.
On a difficult pitch for scoring, Darcy Finn joined Hogan.
The pair batted until the 31st over, where Finn was bowled by Chase Hardwidge for nine.
From the last 15 overs the Rhinos had Anthony Bradley out for 8, Brad Todd for 2, Rory Bartlett for 1 and Joice Mathew dismissed for 13 the final wicket.
Hogan was the not out batter making 41 as the Rhinos made 121 from 44 overs.
Chasing 122, Cobram got off to a decent start to their innings before Bartlett had Downie out in the fifth over caught by Baker for 15.
In the ninth over Deshapriya’s leg spin had first drop Artavilla-Bennett bowled for 14.
In the next over French had other Cobram opener Bryan Eddy caught by Deshapriya out for a run a ball 23.
This brought Adam Decicco and Lachlan Hyde together to bat.
However, a stingy next 10 overs between Deshapriya and French saw Deshapriya remove Decicco for 10 stumped by Rhinos’ wicketkeeper Arthur in the 17th over and French get Lachlan Hyde for 6 caught by Todd in the 20th over.
At this stage Cobram were 5/70 with wickets in hand set to be the match’s deciding factor.
Eamon Hyde and Jimmy Daniel were Cobram’s next set of batters.
The Rhinos kept things pretty tight as Lachlan Holloway and Hamish Baker came on from the 27th over.
When Baker had Daniel out caught by Todd for seven in the 28th over and new batter Hardwidge out for two caught by Deshapriya two overs later the Rhinos were in with a chance of a comeback win.
Cobram were 7/105 needing 17 runs off 15 overs with three wickets in hand.
However without enough runs to protect, Cobram’s remaining batters, Eamon Hyde with 36 not out and Will Trower with five not out got Cobram over the line at 7/122 in the 33rd over as the home side handed the Rhinos a three-wicket loss.
