Pirates get revenge on the Blue Boars in first grade

A tough week for the Blue Boars got even tougher on Saturday afternoon when Narrabri Rugby Club’s first XV was defeated 54-22 by the Tamworth Pirates at Chillingworth Oval.

The Blue Boars reluctantly forfeited the second grade fixture between the two clubs, a decision that was not made lightly given Narrabri’s history as a proud club that does anything it can to turn up in all grades.

However, with an abundance of the Narrabri men sidelined for a variety of reasons, the Blue Boars pulled out of the match on Thursday night.

Round eight started in fine fashion for the Blue Boars on Saturday as their women’s tens side scored a brilliant 14-7 win against the Pirates, however, the visitors then went down hard in the first grade contest.

The Tamworth club went into the match with added motivation as Narrabri was the team that ended its premiership hopes in 2022 with a 22-19 preliminary final victory back in September at Dangar Park.

Their first meeting since that game promised to be as tight an affair as the hosts went into the half-time break ahead 21-15.

However, it was anything but as the Pirates overpowered the Blue Boars in the second stanza, outscoring them 33-7 to race away to a 32-point win.

The Blue Boars went ahead twice in the first half as Toby Knight kicked them out to a 3-0 lead around the 15-minute mark, and Jimmy Schwager made the score 8-5 with the second try of the game after James Kitchener-Waters had crossed for Pirates and Brendan Rixon converted to put the hosts ahead 7-3.

The lead continued to see-saw as the Pirates hit back straight away through Mitchell Mack and then they scored again when Brad Male went over.

Rixon converted both of those tries to make the score 21-8, which became 21-15 just before half-time when Blue Boars fly-half Morgan Jones scored his first try of the 2023 campaign and Knight added the extras off the boot.

The Blue Boars managed to score another in the second stanza as Will McDonnell crossed and Knight kicked his second conversion of the game.

However, it was all Pirates in that 40-minute period as the hosts went over for five tries, scored by Jioji Cakacaka, Daniel Wallace, Shaquille Irvine, Nick McCrohon and Jack Edwards.

Rixon kicked four of those five goals to finish the contest with 14 points off the boot as the Pirates held on to the second spot on the ladder.

They moved to 33 points following their bonus-point win to remain five points back from the ladder leading Gunnedah, which gained five points as it had a round eight bye.

Moree remained one point behind Pirates in third place after it downed the Quirindi Lions 30-24 away from home, and the Walcha Rams are now three points ahead of the Blue Boars in fourth place after they drew 19-all at Inverell against the Highlanders.

Walcha moved to 27 points while Narrabri remained on 24, leaving the Blue Boars 14 behind the Red Devils.

Sixth-placed Quirindi Lions joined Narrabri on 24 points after picking up two bonus points in their loss against the Bulls, while Inverell climbed to 16 points and the last-placed Scone Brumbies, which had a round eight bye, are now on 16 points.

The CNRU comp will break this Saturday for the long weekend and will resume on Saturday, June 17, with round nine games as Narrabri hosts Gunnedah in a grand final rematch.

The two sides will compete for the Kookaburra Challenge Cup that day, which the Red Devils currently hold, and it will also be Narrabri Rugby Club’s ladies’ day, which tickets are still available.

Round 10 matches the following weekend will kick-off the second half of the 2023 campaign.