Above: Narrabri, left, and Walcha, right, forward packs prepare to contest a scrum in Saturday’s second grade game as Narrabri halfback Ben Maunder prepares to throw the ball in.
The Central North Rugby Union season kicked off on Saturday afternoon at Dangar Park for the Narrabri Blue Boars and the Walcha Rams.
The two clubs went head-to-head in both senior grades with Narrabri winning second grade and Walcha winning first grade.
Both of the victorious sides on the day won their respective match by 10 points.
In the first match of the day the Blue Boars downed Walcha 22-12 in the clubs’ second grade contest.
Then in first grade it was Walcha which got the job done, running out 32-22 winners.
In the first grade game Narrabri trailed 22-3 at half time after the score was locked at 3-all in the 20th minute.
Three Walcha tries in the final 20 minutes of the first half saw the Rams go into the break with a 19-point lead.
In the second half the home side outscored the 2018 grand finalists 19-10.
Left winger Luke Tuckey scored a try and forward Lachlan Burtenshaw bagged a double off the bench.
Captain Michael Cain kicked two conversions and a penalty goal in the match to add seven extra points.
There were three other NNRU first grade round one matches contested on Saturday.
Moree scored the biggest win of the round when it travelled to Inverell and thrashed the Highlanders 78-10.
Defending champions Pirates started their season on a high with a 56-14 victory on home soil against Quirindi.
In the other match Barraba and Scone drew 24-all.
To order photos from this page click here
