HOME AND HOSED: Narrabri Rugby Club first XV scores shutout victory in the rain at Dangar Park

The Central North Rugby Union first grade defending champions returned to winning ways on Saturday when the Narrabri Rugby Club first XV scored a 22-0 shutout victory against Scone in round three.

The Blue Boars had a bye in round one and then went down away from home against Walcha in round two, but never looked like losing in their first match on home soil at Dangar Park this season when they welcomed the Brumbies to town.

The Narrabri men entered the half-time break leading 5-0 after a Linton Grumley try just inside the right sideline off the back of a pick and drive in the 16th minute was the only scoring play of the opening 40 minutes.

Blue Boars winger Toby Knight then extended the home side’s lead in the 55th minute when he slotted a penalty goal between the sticks, and he kicked two conversions after Jacob Nichols crossed the stripe on the hour-mark and scrum-half Luis Salvado scored his first try for the Blue Boars seven minutes later.

Knight’s second conversion made the score 22-0, which was the way it remained for the final 12 minutes of the match.

The game was hampered by rain for almost the entire 80 minutes of play and although the field held up well, the ball was quite slippery.

Nichols, who is co-captaining the Blue Boars again this year alongside Will McDonnell, told The Courier that his side performed well and he was proud of his teammates for getting the job done.

“We played pretty well, considering the conditions,” the inside centre said.

“There was a lot of dropped ball, and there weren’t many chances to get out wide. That meant it was slugged out by the forwards in the middle, which was good for us because we’ve got a good forward pack.

“We defended really well. Keeping them to zero was pleasing to see. But we still had a very high tackle focus (an issue that affected the side in the round two loss against Walcha a week earlier), so we need to get a bit better with our chop tackles.

“We definitely defended a lot better than that Walcha game, though.

“Wasn’t nearly as many misses.”

The try-scorer said that he had full confidence in his side’s chances of going back-to-back and winning the premiership again this year despite what he labelled a flat start.

A blockbuster round four clash this Saturday is the spark that the Narrabri Rugby Club first XV needs when it travels up the Newell Highway for a highly-anticipated contest against its rivals, the Moree Bulls.

The third-placed Bulls have won two of their three games so far this season and their only defeat of the year was against the undefeated Gunnedah Red Devils by four points in round three.

They will be determined to bounce back from the loss against their rivals, and Nichols said that he could not wait for the Weebolla Oval clash.

“It’s really exciting. Moree is our grudge match in rugby,” he said.

“It’s always good to go over there and hopefully we get the win.

“They have a very competitive side again this year, so it’ll be a tough match.”

Moree’s defeat on Saturday saw the side lose its grasp of the Kookaburra Challenge Cup, which it earned a week earlier in round two when it beat the Tamworth Pirates.

The Red Devils prevailed 17-13 against the Bulls in Gunnedah, and the other round three contest saw the Pirates outscore Quirindi Lions 40-31 in a high-scoring affair.

Walcha and Inverell both had round three byes.

The Blue Boars are now ranked sixth on the ladder after three rounds.

Meanwhile, Narrabri Rugby Club also prevailed in second grade and women’s 10s matches at Dangar Park on Saturday.

The Blue Boars’ second grade side continued its winning start to the campaign when it outscored Scone 10-3 to finish the round on top of the table following a bye and two wins.

The Brumbies led 3-0 at half-time following a 25th-minute penalty goal, but Narrabri piled on 10 points in the second stanza to come away with the four competition points.

Jim Schwager scored the only try of the contest in the 48th minute, which Craig Gleeson converted to make the score 7-3.

Gleeson added three more points when he nailed a penalty goal in the 57th minute as the score became 10-3, which was the way it remained at full-time.

The Blue Boars’ women’s tens team scored a 24-10 win in its first game of the season, following byes in rounds one and two.