Narrabri Rugby Club’s women’s tens side wins first game of the season on home soil

Narrabri Rugby Club’s women’s tens side is hoping to go one better in 2023 after going down in last year’s Central North Rugby Union grand final, and the side began that journey in style on Saturday when it scored a 24-10 win in its first game of the season.

The round three match saw the Blue Boars take on the Scone Brumbies at Dangar Park after the Narrabri ladies sat out with byes in rounds one and two.

They picked up five competition points for the third weekend in a row as they ran in four tries to two on home soil in front of a proud home crowd.

The game was a memorable one for debutant Miranda Hamilton, who was one of the home side’s best and crossed for a try in her first senior game after she broke the line in her own half and charged away to go over untouched.

She was forced from the field late in the game with an injury, however, and is expected to miss several weeks before she lines up for game number two.

The 17-year-old, who was a member of Narrabri Junior Rugby Club’s 2022 North West Regional Youth Rugby under-18s girls’ competition’s premiership-winning team, earned praise from the Blue Boars’ co-coaches Mick Coffey and Peta Cox, who were impressed with her performance.

Other try-scorers in that match were Natalia Smith, Shona McFarland and Toni Gale, and Gale also slotted two conversions to add four extra points off the boot.

The hosts trailed 5-0 after Jordyn Snape crossed for the first try of the contest to give Scone an early lead, but Narrabri hit back just two minutes later when Smith ran onto a Gale pass down the right edge and charged over into the corner.

Gale converted that try to make the score 7-5, and Narrabri then took a 19-5 lead into the half-time break as McFarland and Hamilton scored a try each and Gale kicked another goal.

Snape scored for Scone two minutes into the second stanza, but Narrabri had the final say as a Gale try made the score 24-10.

Narrabri Rugby Club’s women’s tens team co-coach and co-captain Cox said she was relieved to finally play alongside her teammates following a long pre-season that preceded byes in rounds one and two.

She was most impressed with the Blue Boars’ defence.

“It was so good to get back out there,” she said.

“We were all keen to get out there and have a run together because the pre-season has gone for four months for us, which has been extremely long and tiring.

“To get out there and finally play a competition game was a relief.

“We all dug deep for the whole game and really put in a lot of effort.

“Individually, we played well, but we were lacking a bit of cohesion with it being our first game of the season.

“We had a lot of last-minute changes and some positional changes because we were missing quite a few players.

“I thought our urgency to the breakdown in defence and getting up to our line was our key point of the game.

“I think our defence won us the game.”

Cox’s co-coach Coffey said he was most impressed with the side’s effort and mental toughness.

“We were really rusty and fitness was lacking and we were also down numbers,” he said.

“But I spoke to them after the game in the sheds and told them the thing that really stood out for me was the individual effort, that nobody gave up.

“Despite the fact we were short of a gallop and we were working out new combinations, every single one of them gave everything and made the extra effort to get off the ground and go again.

“That’s the sort of attitude that gets you to grand finals and wins competitions.

“I thought that was impressive, as was the mental strength they showed.

“We only had two on the bench as a lot of girls were unavailable or were injured.

“The girls that were there worked hard even though they were tired.

“When we get people back on the paddock and get our combinations working, we’ll look back at this game we’ve just played as our rusty game that we improve on.

“To come away with a win and have the girls understand that when the chips are down they can still dig deep, it’s a good base to start from.”

As well as Hamilton, both coaches commended the performance of new recruit Esta Kalatzis. The front row/second row forward had a standout match and was awarded three best and fairest points and was also voted players’ player by her teammates.

Narrabri now turns its attention to a round four match away from home this Saturday against Moree.