Dennis Gordon stars late as the Narrabri Blues down Gunnedah Bulldogs at Collins Park

When Narrabri Rugby League Football Club players, officials and fans both past and present gather at the club’s June 12 centenary dinner to celebrate 100 years of rugby league in Narrabri, stories of memorable Blues victories will echo off the walls at the Narrabri RSL Club.

At the forefront of those discussions will be the club’s 30-24 first grade victory against the Gunnedah Bulldogs in round five of the 2021 Group 4 Rugby League season at Collins Park yesterday.

From Dennis Gordon’s late-game match-winning heroics to Jacob Nichols’ 80-minute man-of-the-match performance less than 24 hours after playing a crucial role in the Narrabri Blue Boars’ rugby win at Dangar Park, it was a match which almost had it all as the Blues came from behind late to earn the two competition points.

The hosts went into the match missing a handful of first grade regulars including Todd Nichols, Daniel Howe, Sam Sadler, Caleb Binge, Blake Hilderson and Harry Pattison, but everyone who pulled on a Blues jersey did the town and the club proud.

Narrabri took a narrow 14-12 advantage into the break and led by as many as eight points in the second stanza before the Bulldogs found their groove and hit the front with 13 minutes to go.

Down 24-20 and with momentum well and truly against them, the Blues needed someone to stand up and take control of the game.

Gordon did just that.

The left centre scored a try in the 74th minute to level the score at 24-all, then with two minutes to go produced a tackle deep inside Gunnedah’s half which earned Narrabri possession and a full set to attack at the visitors’ line.

It was during that set he ran onto a superb Mitch Dening long pass and charged through the Gunnedah defence to score the match-winning try as an enormous roar erupted around Collins Park to celebrate a famous Narrabri Blues victory.

The club’s first grade captain-coach Jake Rumsby told The Courier that it was a win he would remember for years to come and added that he was proud of the way his men bounced back from their first loss of the season a week earlier.

“That’s a massive win, we’ll remember that one for a long time,” Rumsby said.

“We really turned up for each other today.

“It’s been well-documented how many players we have out this week coming off a loss (in round four against Kootingal) but everyone who pulled on a jersey really showed up.

“It was another massive team effort.

“I’ve said it before, you need 30-odd players right now to win a competition and we are showing right now that we have the depth.

“I’ve said this before too, no one who plays for us is filling in, when you get called into our first grade side you’re a first grade player and you’re expected to play well, every knows that, we’ve set a club standard.

“We had eight or so out today and once they’re back and ready to go they’ll have to earn their right to play first grade again.”

One aspect of the game that Narrabri dominated on Sunday was defending when the Bulldogs had possession deep in their own half, especially after kicks.

With exception of two line breaks in the second stanza, the Blues created pressure and denied Gunnedah field possession for large portions of the game.

“That’s something we talked about this week,” Rumsby said.

“The Kootingal game, we were physical but we were dropping off tackles. We were getting up and making contact but we were slipping off.

“We addressed that at training and had a heart to heart and we were a lot better today, the boys didn’t miss many tackles.”

Narrabri has now won four matches in the five-week-old season and it leapfrogged Gunnedah into third place following Sunday’s victory.

The Blues have accumulated eight competition points and trail fellow round five winners Kootingal (first) and North Tamworth (second) only by for and against difference.

Those two sides both scored their fourth wins of the campaign on Saturday when the Roosters downed Dungowan 30-20 away from home and the Bears hosted Moree at North Tamworth and were victorious 34-16.

In the other round five first grade game, Boggabri Kangaroos scored their second win of the season when they beat Werris Creek 22-18 at Jubilee Oval after trailing 14-0 at half-time.

At Collins Park yesterday afternoon, the Blues struck first with a third-minute try scored in the left corner by winger Lachlan Trindall.

Gunnedah hit the lead five minutes later with a converted try, but a 16th-minute four-pointer scored by Damon Gleeson put Narrabri back in front.

This time, the Blues scored down the right edge after halfback Toby Bentley ran at the line and grubbered through Gunnedah fullback Dylan Lake’s legs into the in-goal area and Gleeson won the footrace to the ball to make the score 8-6.

Nichols had been the standout in the match in the opening half an hour and on the 30-minute mark, he was rewarded with a try which he converted to make the score 14-6.

It came after the hooker scooped up a ball out of dummy half 15 metres out from the line and won a penalty after being hit high by a Gunnedah defender. Nichols took a quick tap which caught the Gunnedah defence off guard and he charged his way over between the uprights.

The hosts looked set to take an eight-point lead into the break, but Gunnedah reduced its deficit to two points when Kih McDonald went over in the left corner just before half-time and Dylan O’Brien slotted the conversion from the sideline to make the score 14-12 at the break.

The Blues extended their lead five minutes into the second stanza when captain-coach Rumsby ran onto a Nichols short ball which was thrown out of dummy half close to the line. Rumsby charged through a hole untouched and dived over to score before Nichols added the extras to make the score 20-12.

For the second time in a row, the Blues were unable to extend their lead beyond eight points despite their best efforts.

They had several attacks deep inside Gunnedah territory but the visitors held them out and eventually found their way over with another converted try to make it a two-point ball game again in the 58th minute.

The Bulldogs had a try disallowed three minutes later as Narrabri desperately clung to its lead, however, the momentum was clearly starting to swing in the visiting side’s favour.

With 13 minutes to go, Gunnedah regained the lead when winger McDonald ran onto a pass just inside the left sideline and beat three defenders during weaving a 30-metre run to the tryline for his second four-pointer of the contest. O’Brien then converted to put Gunnedah ahead 24-20.

Narrabri locked up the score at 24-all with six minutes left to play when Bentley, five metres out from the line down the right edge, threw a short ball inside to Gordon who was too tough to handle for four Gunnedah defenders as he powered his way over.

Nichols missed the kick from 10 metres in from the right sideline and three minutes later, the hooker had the chance to put his side ahead again from the tee from the exact same position when the Bulldogs conceded a penalty for a high tackle.

Nichols missed again and Gunnedah was able to run the ball out as it attempted to find its own match-winning play.

However, the travelling fans’ hearts were broken when Gordon forced a knock-on to give Narrabri a set on Gunnedah’s line before the centre scored his second try in five minutes to win the game for the Blues.

Front rower Daniel Jobson kicked the conversion after the bell had sounded to add the extras as the score finished 30-24 to the Blues.

The three Group 4 Rugby League best and fairest points were awarded to Nichols while Gordon earned one.

Narrabri returns to Collins Park this Saturday for a round six clash against Dungowan.

In the other grades in round five yesterday, Narrabri went down 44-16 in reserve grade, 50-0 in under-18s and 66-0 in ladies’ league tag against Gunnedah.