Narrabri Blue Boars determined to bounce back at Dangar Park in round 13

Narrabri Rugby Club will host its first home games in six weeks this Saturday when the Blue Boars take on Walcha Rams in round 13 of the 2021 Central North Rugby Union season in both first and second grade at Dangar Park.

The Blue Boars did not play at Narrabri’s premier rugby field at all in June after contesting their most recent home game back in round eight in May.

Among three away games in rounds nine, 10 and 12 were a round 11 bye and the June long weekend break.

Narrabri Rugby Club first grade coach Hunter Harley said that his men could not wait to run out onto Dangar Park for one of their biggest tests of the season so far on Saturday and encouraged the club’s fans to come along and cheer their team to victory.

“It’s been six weeks, it’s been a shame that,” Harley said.

“Saturday couldn’t come quick enough talking to some of the players.

“As far as rugby goes, I think the town would have missed it. It’s a long time during the middle of winter not to have footy.

“Please get out and support us, that’s my message. Even with the restrictions we can get a lot of people in that ground in masks.

“We definitely need your support this weekend.”

While the first-placed Blue Boars are currently the team to beat, they face a tough task this weekend in the form of a Rams side which beat the Narrabri men 52-10 in Walcha in round four.

Harley said that the Blue Boars would need to play direct in what is a must-win game for his side which could drop as low as third with a loss.

“They’re unpredictable and they play expansive,” Harley said of the Walcha first XV.

“They are hard to defend against but we’ve just got to make sure we keep our tight five in the middle of the field so that we’ve got more lateral moving players on the fringes in defence.

“The way we beat them is play direct.

“I think we can go through them. As loose as they are in attack I think they have a little bit of that in their defence.

“We could really make things hard for Walcha [with a win] in terms of making the four.

“But also we just need it otherwise Gunnedah jumps us. If we lose we could potentially be third this weekend.

“You can’t host a grand final from third so it’s do or die really, it could make our season that hard if we don’t win.”

The Blue Boars suffered their second loss of the campaign last weekend when they were outscored 29-25 by the Pirates in Tamworth.

Harley said that he struggled to remember a worse 40 minutes during his time as a coach than what his side produced in the first half, but while reflecting on the game said that he was particularly impressed with his two centres.

“Will McDonnell, if he wasn’t on the field we lose by 30,” Harley said.

“Jacob Nichols was not far behind.

“It was their defence. Because of our blokes’ effort, those two were caught on overlaps quite often and they seemed to be able to snuff them out.

“Will’s experience showed. He had a lot of three-on-ones in defence and he didn’t panic, he ended up making the right option.

“Anyone else they would’ve been tries, but he knew what to do.”

Despite that loss, Harley said he would not make wholesale changes to his team for the Rams clash, opting to stay loyal to the players who have fought so hard all season to get their side on top of the ladder.

However, there will be another front row shuffle this Saturday.

Will Turner will make his return from injury and will pull on the number two jersey in the absence of Joe Maunder who will miss the next three games (holiday).

Damian Nott also returns to the starting line up at tighthead prop while one of the club’s newest recruits, Sam Spanton, will make his starting debut at loosehead prop.

The club will also move forward with Henri Knight and Alex Pay as its main halves combination after skipper Matt Schwager was ruled out for the remainder of the year after suffering a bicep tear in round 10.