Narrabri Blues climb the ladder with a comfortable win in Manilla

Narrabri Blues bounced back from a round four loss in style on Sunday as they returned home from Manilla with the two points following a 42-20 victory against the Tigers at the Manilla Showground.

The Blues outscored Manilla seven tries to four in that match and their halfback Todd Nichols had a perfect day out with the boot as he slotted all seven conversions, while Manilla only kicked two of its four goals.

Narrabri went into the break with a 24-0 lead, and while it never looked like losing, the side’s captain-coach Jake Rumsby was disappointed that he and his men were outscored 20-18 in the second half.

“We played well that first half,” he told Group 4 Media after the match.

“We wanted to do it for 80 minutes but we didn’t do that. We made too many errors and gave away too many penalties in the second half.

“We’ve got the bye this week so that’s also come at a good time. We have a few boys carrying niggling injuries so it will be good to have a week off before we have a big game against Kootingal.”

The 22-point win saw Narrabri climb from sixth spot to fifth following five rounds of footy in 2022.

They could finish round six in the top four if results go their way as they pick up an automatic two points due to having the bye.

The first grade competition’s other three round five matches were all played on Saturday.

Dungowan Cowboys defeated North Tamworth Bears 18-14 in Dungowan, Moree Boars scored a huge home ground victory when they smashed Gunnedah 62-14, and the Kootingal-Moonbi Roosters scored a two-point away win when they edged out Werris Creek Magpies 30-28.

Brenton Cochrane starred for Moree in his side’s 48-point victory on home soil at Boughton Oval. The former Blues captain-coach ran in four tries and picked up three Group 4 best and fairest points in that match, a week after he earned the club’s three coach’s points when he produced a standout performance at Collins Park in Moree’s win against the Blues.

The Boars have now won all four of their games in 2022 and sit on top of the table after five rounds.

Boggabri, which had the bye on the weekend, climbed into second place, while Kootingal-Moonbi and North Tamworth round out the top four.

Manilla is still winless at the bottom of the ladder following its 22-point loss against Narrabri on home soil on Sunday.

Daniel Howe was the Blues’ best in that match and earned three Group 4 best and fairest points for his efforts. The physical front-rower made an abundance of strong runs with the ball and a heap of quality supporting runs off it. He was also impressive in defence and scored the first try of the contest when he broke the nil-all deadlock in the 11th minute.

While Howe led the way up front, the entire Blues pack dominated the Tigers, especially in the opening 40 minutes.

The side’s captain-coach and lock Rumsby and young second-rower Jeff Harvey both powered through the Manilla defence for tries, either side of a Jacob Nichols four-pointer that finished off a brilliant play which was started on halfway by hooker Joss Cleal.

The Blues bench impressed in the second stanza as Raymond Goodwin put Mitch Dening over for two tries, either side of Jacob Nichols’ second try of the match.

Dening’s second made the score 42-10 with 11 minutes left on the clock after Manilla Tigers duo Scott Berry and Beau Harry crossed for the home side earlier in the second half.

The Tigers refused to just roll over despite a win being well out of reach, and they crossed for a 78th-minute try through Rob Morris before their captain-coach Mitch Doring scored the final try of the game on the siren and kicked his second conversion to make the final score 42-20.

Earlier in the day, Narrabri went down 40-4 in the ladies’ league tag match and won the reserve grade game 22-18.

The Bluebirds’ only try was scored by Kristie Toomey, and her teammate Mikaella Thorn earned two Group 4 best and fairest points.

In reserve grade, the Blues’ tries were scored by Thomas Bruce, Metuisela James and Dylan Hohnberg. Cameron Yates slotted two goals and James kicked one.

The Blues have the bye in all four grades in round six this weekend.