Narrabri Rugby Club’s first XV scored its 10th win of the 2021 Central North Rugby Union first grade season on Saturday when it defeated the Inverell Highlanders 43-22 at Dangar Park.

The Blue Boars outscored the Highlanders seven tries to three and four conversions to two in the round 15 clash, while the visitors also added three points to the scoreline with a penalty goal.

Narrabri skipper Sam Knight bagged a double for the hosts in their bonus-point win, as did James Albert, while Jack Radford, Will McDonnell, and Linton Grumley all scored a try each.

Jydon Hill and Henri Knight combined for eight points off the kicking tee with two conversions each.

Blue Boars coach Hunter Harley told The Courier that he was proud of the way his men bounced back from a round 14 loss away from home against Scone.

“We were a completely different side on Saturday,” Harley said.

“I was really, really happy with the performance.

“We did a bit of reshuffling and welcomed back a few players from injury so it was good to have what I consider a stronger lineup, but I just think our attitude was a lot better.

“Our forwards laid a good platform and the backs were able to get their running game back.

“I thought Sam Spanton was excellent at loosehead prop, as were the whole front row, the scrum dominated Inverell.

“Jack Maunder was away the week before with injury so having him back in the number seven was great. He’s been our most consistent this year and he was really good again on Saturday and so was Matt McDonnell.”

Harley labelled Jack Radford as another standout for the Blue Boars in what was his first game of the season.

The Blue Boars recently secured the services of the talented halfback who is originally from Burren Junction and has been playing for Northern Suburbs in Sydney but returned home earlier in the year.

Harley said that Radford, who scored a try on Saturday, was “electric” and formed an impressive combination in the halves alongside five-eighth Henri Knight.

“They were excellent, it was nearly a seamless transition,” Harley said.

“He’s a very talented footballer and he led the team around and organised them really well. He gave good service and Henri was able to get the backline firing again.

“The Shute Shield looks like being abandoned with COVID so hopefully we’ll be able to keep Jack for the rest of the year.”

The 21-point home victory saw the Blue Boars move to 59 competition points, nine points clear of third-placed Walcha and fourth-placed Pirates with just three rounds remaining.

The Narrabri men remained three points behind first-placed Gunnedah Red Devils which scored a 26-24 come-from-behind home ground win against Walcha after trailing 24-7 on the 50-minute mark.

The other two round 15 matches were won by Moree Bulls, which defeated Scone 46-19, and Pirates, which downed Barraba 37-5.

Those results saw the Bulls finish the round in fifth place, just four points back from the sides ranked third and fourth.

That adds to the importance of this weekend’s Dangar Park derby when the Blue Boars host the Bulls.

The Narrabri side will be playing to stay in the minor premiership race and could finish the weekend in first place with a win, while Moree will be playing to keep its finals hopes alive.

While a potential round 17 top-of-the-table clash against Gunnedah is lurking in the shadows, Harley said that all focus was on the Bulls battle.

“Generally our guys always get up for Moree anyway because it’s obviously a big long-standing rivalry so the motivation is natural,” Harley said.

“At the moment a minor premiership clash with Gunnedah doesn’t matter, if we lose this weekend then Gunnedah will be first no matter what.

“We just need to worry about what we do and focus on this weekend.

“We just have to turn up with the right attitude. We have the ability and we’ve got all the technical things we’ve worked on at training.

“We’ve lost a couple of games we should never have lost this season but that’s because our effort and attitude weren’t right on the day.

“If we keep turning up we’ll be hard to beat.”

The Blue Boars will go into Saturday’s round 16 clash against Moree with an unchanged lineup which is as follows:

1. Sam Spanton, 2. Will Turner, 3. Will Ciesiolka, 4. Sam Knight (c), 5. Mitch Wheaton, 6. Linton Grumley, 7. Jack Maunder, 8. Matt McDonnell, 9. Jack Radford, 10. Henri Knight, 11. James Albert, 12. Jacob Nichols, 13. Will McDonnell, 14. James Baker, 15. Jydon Hill.

To order photos from this page click here