Blue Boars win big on home soil in round one

Narrabri Rugby Club enjoyed the best possible start to its 2022 Central North Rugby Union campaign when it scored two huge wins on home soil on Saturday.

The Blue Boars took on the Barraba-Gwydir Ram Rats at Dangar Park in round one and demolished them 92-0 in the women’s 10s match and 52-0 in the second grade fixture.

There was no first grade match on the day after Barraba-Gwydir pulled out of that competition during the off-season, which meant Narrabri’s first XV will have to wait until after the Easter long weekend to hit the ground running in the 2022 campaign.

Narrabri picked up five competition points due to having the bye in round one.

The Blue Boars’ women’s team kicked off the day in style with a win in its first CNRU competition 10s game.

The hosts were dominant from start to finish as they piled on 16 tries in the 92-point rout and converted six of those.

Bella Cruickshank crossed for four tries in her CNRU competition debut in front of a home crowd, and she also kicked a conversion to finish the day with 22 points.

Another addition to the side, Brooke McKinnon, also made an immediate impact as she celebrated a hat-trick of tries in her CNRU debut for the Blue Boars.

Teammate Martha Harvey also scored a hat-trick and she added two extra points off the boot, while April Smith bagged two tries and kicked two goals, Shona McFarland crossed for two tries and kicked a conversion, Peta Cox and Natalia Smith went over for a try each, and Kate Brown slotted one conversion.

The second grade game kicked off after the 10s match, and the Narrabri Blue Boars were well and truly up to the task at hand as they ran in 52 unanswered points to earn their first five competition points of the season.

The hosts had wrapped up a bonus point by the half-time break after fullback Felix Johnson crossed for a double, either side of a Tom Nolan five-pointer, and then winger James Baker scored the fourth try of the game just before the break.

All of those tries were converted as Keys slotted the first, and Nolan kicked the next three to send the Blue Boars into half-time with a 28-0 lead.

It took Narrabri 15 minutes to score the first points of the second stanza as Johnson completed his hat-trick on the 50-minute mark.

Nolan booted his fourth conversion to make the score 35-0 before Toby Knight crossed on the hour-mark and the score became 40-0.

Morgan Jones and Sam Spanton scored their first tries of the year in the final 10 minutes of the match, one of which was converted by Eben Botha, as the Narrabri Blue Boars ran away with a 52-0 victory.

Plenty of points were scored around the grounds as the 2022 CNRU season got off to a flying start on Saturday.

Walcha Rams, Tamworth Pirates and Inverell Highlanders all began their 2022 first grade campaigns with home ground victories as the Walcha men outscored the Scone Brumbies 46-18, Pirates defeated Quirindi Lions 47-15, and Inverell beat Moree Bulls 46-22.

Inverell and the Pirates were also victorious in second grade as the Highlanders edged out Moree 29-28, and the Tamworth outfit outscored Quirindi 45-12.

The other fixture saw Scone pick up all five points after it received a forfeit from Walcha.

The only other round one women’s 10s match was won by Pirates, which demolished Quirindi 84-0.

Gunnedah Red Devils had a bye in all three grades on Saturday, while Inverell and Scone both missed out on round one action in the women’s competition due to byes.

The CNRU campaign will break this weekend to celebrate Easter and will resume with round two on Saturday, April 23.

The Blue Boars will travel to Scone that day for first grade, second grade and women’s 10s matches against the Brumbies.

They will return home the following weekend when they host Quirindi in all three grades in the third round of the season on Saturday, April 30, which will be ladies’ day at Dangar Park.