Blue Boars downed in Walcha in first match

The Narrabri Blue Boars travelled to Walcha for their first game of the 2023 Central North Rugby Union campaign on Saturday and went down 33-17 in the first grade fixture.

The Blue Boars went behind 3-0 in the second minute of the round two match when Dominic Bower kicked a penalty goal, and the visitors trailed for the rest of the game.

The Blue Boars were behind 14-12 at half-time despite having scored more tries.

Jack Maunder went over twice for the Narrabri team in the opening half and Toby Knight kicked one conversion, but Walcha’s lone try that was scored by Charlie Keen in the fourth minute was accompanied by two more Bower penalty goals.

Oliver Crawford scored a try five minutes into the second stanza and Bower converted it to make the score 21-12, but Narrabri hit back soon after through Maunder who went over for his third try of the day as the visitors reduced their deficit to four points.

Patrick Keen then scored a double inside three minutes just before the hour mark, the second of which was converted by Bower.

That made the score 33-17, which was the way it remained for the final 20 minutes of the contest.

Narrabri Rugby Club’s first grade coach Jake Packer told The Courier he thought there were plenty of positive signs and things to like from his men on a day that the club was missing a handful of players and also suffered several injuries.

However, he lamented the one-on-one defending, which he thought let the Blue Boars down.

“We weren’t too bad, and I thought our attacking structure was good,” he said.

“Our defensive structure was good too but we just missed a lot of tackles.

“Our first up one-on-one defence was really bad, and I thought that was pretty much the difference in the end.

“I reckon we would have had about 50 missed tackles in that game.

“You can’t win games with that many missed tackles, no matter how good your attack is.

“Our discipline was a bit off too.

“We gave away a lot of silly penalties, especially in tough positions.

“Other than that I was happy with everything else.”

Packer said there were a few Blue Boars players who produced quite impressive performances, but none more so than Maunder.

“Jack had an unreal game,” Packer said.

“Especially considering he played through a hamstring injury.

“He had to come off because of it, but then he went back on because we copped a few other injuries, and I thought he had a monumental game.”

The Blue Boars coach also said that a new-look halves pairing that includes Luís Salvado at scrum-half and Todd Nichols at fly-half also worked well.

Premiership-winning scrum-half Tom Nolan suffered an injury playing touch footy in March that will see him miss most of the pre-season, and Morgan Jones played second grade in Walcha.

Their replacements, who are both new additions to the club in 2023, had a positive impact on debut.

“They played really well,” Packer said.

“Luis was unreal.

“Todd played really good too. His defence was unreal.

“He looked comfortable out there for his first game at 10. He actually hasn’t played since high school.”

Maunder is one of several players who will be fighting fit for the club’s first home game of the season this Saturday in round three at Dangar Park against Scone Brumbies, as will Jacob

Booby (dislocated shoulder), Toby Knight (broken nose), Nathan Nott (jaw injury) and Greg Melton who were all injured in round two.

Several other players including Josh Schwager, Jydon Hill, Will Turner and Mitch Creighton will all be available for selection after missing the round two match.

Meanwhile, the Blue Boars’ second grade team won 36-10 to kick off the day in style for the visitors in Walcha.

First grade premiership-winning fly-half Jones scored 16 points as he crossed for two tries and kicked three conversions.

Luke Tuckey also bagged a double and Todd Farrer and Matt Radford scored a try each.

The Blue Boars’ women’s 10s team had a second consecutive bye in round two as Walcha does not have a ladies’ team.