The Narrabri Rugby Club’s two North West Regional Youth Rugby girls’ teams finished their inaugural seasons on a high with plate grand final victories on Friday evening in Tamworth.
The under-14s girls defeated Armidale Secondary College 29-12 at Scully Park in a plate semi-final to qualify for the grand final.
The side challenged Coonabarabran at Chillingworth Oval in the decider and won 19-12 in a golden point extra time after the score was locked 12-all at full time.
The under-16s girls scored a 26-10 semi-final win at Scully Park against Presbyterian Ladies’ College, Armidale, to qualify for the plate final against Pirates.
That match was also played at Scully Park, and was won by Narrabri 19-12.
Narrabri Junior Rugby Club girls’ teams co-coach Denis Harvey said he could not have been happier with the girls’ effort on grand final evening and improvement during the season.
“The girls were awesome,” Harvey said.
“I think we played about 25 games for the season and we won most of the games in the last half of the season.
“The girls started playing as mates and listening to me and Jonesy [co-coach Matt Jones] and they really focused on getting the basics right.
“We had 90 per cent training attendance twice a week.
“I’m glad the girls got the experience of a grand final and what’s required and how to dig deep.
“To get to the plate grand final in our first year was just unreal.
“Jonesy and I have played first grade together and won grand finals together and this was every bit as exciting as anything we’ve done as adults.”
In the under-14s team’s semi-final, Narrabri led 14-7 at half-time following two tries scored by captain Holly Ford. Holly then made it a hat-trick to extend the score to 19-7 just one minute into the second stanza.
ASC managed to score one more try, but Narrabri’s Zoe Dumble and Laine McCauley both crossed in the last five minutes of the match to make the final score 29-12 and put Narrabri into the decider.
In the grand final Narrabri led 5-0 at half-time after a Holly Ford try accounted for the only points scored in the first seven minutes.
Coona hit back in the second half to make the score 5-all, which was the score with 90 seconds to go.
In an action-packed final minute-and-a-half, Narrabri’s Krista Zarka scored a converted try to make the score 12-5 before Coonabarabran levelled it on the full time siren with a converted try of its own.
Deep into a seven-minute extra time where the first points would decide the winner, the Blue Boars crossed for the plate-winning try.
It was some more Holly Ford brilliance which proved to be the difference She made a break down the right sideline and ran 50 metres to score the winning try.
In the under-16s girls’ semi-final win against PLC, Narrabri led 21-0 at the break following three converted tries to Amelie Cobb-Johnson, Miranda Hamilton and Tashanny Clark.
That became 26-0 just 90 seconds into the second stanza when Amelie made a line break just inside Narrabri’s attacking half before racing away to go over under the black dot.
PLC fired up late and ran in two tries to make the final score 26-10.
In the plate final the Narrabri girls trailed 7-0 before Amelie Cobb-Johnson scored a try to make the score 7-5.
Pirates led 14-5 at the break and that was the way the score remained with three minutes left on the clock.
But some Martha Harvey magic turned the game in Narrabri’s favour. Martha crossed for two late tries, the last of which she scored with 50 seconds remaining as Narrabri trailed 14-12, to make the final score 19-12 to the junior Blue Boars.
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