Blue Boars take hold of the Kookaburra Challenge Cup

Narrabri Blue Boars are Central North Rugby Union’s Kookaburra Challenge Cup holders for the first time after scoring a 20-15 home ground victory against Walcha Rams at Dangar Park in round 11 of the first grade season on Saturday.

In just their third attempt at playing for the cup since it was introduced in 2022, the Narrabri men outscored the visitors three tries to two while both of the teams scored a conversion and a penalty goal each.

The Blue Boars went ahead early in the match when second-rower Greg Melton crossed for the first try of the game to make the score 5-0, which became 8-0 in the 10th minute when Toby Knight slotted a penalty goal.

The Rams reduced their deficit to eight points in the 27th minute when Wallace Davidson scored their first try of the game to make the score 8-5.

That was the way the score remained at half-time, and then it was Walcha that struck first in the second stanza with a converted try to go ahead 12-8.

Narrabri responded two minutes later with a converted try of its own as Josh Schwager crossed and Knight converted to make the score 15-12 in favour of the Blue Boars.

A 69th-minute penalty goal saw Walcha draw level as the score was locked up at 15-all, but the home side restored its lead when Morgan Jones went in with seven minutes to go off the back of a brilliant set piece play from a lineout that led to Knight breaking the line, and then the ball going through several sets of hands before it got to Jones who scored.

The Blue Boars survived the last few minutes of the game with their lead intact to finally win over the CNRU Kookaburra Challenge Cup, and more importantly, it saw them earn a quite valuable four points.

Narrabri Rugby Club’s first XV coach Jake Packer was pleased with the win as his men bounced back from back-to-back losses in the only two games they played in June, but admitted they still have a lot to work on.

“It was a good hard game,” Packer said.

“It was a win we needed to have, but obviously there are a lot of things we need to work on, especially attacking-wise. We were still a bit clunky and we turned over a lot of ball.

“I think we probably defended for 65 to 70 per cent of the game.

“We remained pretty calm because we knew that when we got the ball, we were making inroads, but we just didn’t have the ball enough.

“We were a bit frantic and just didn’t do some right things at the right times.

“I’m very impressed with two things we’ve been struggling with this year though, which are our defence and our work at the breakdown. I thought we were really good in both of those areas, so that’s a plus.”

Packer thought that Schwager, the Blue Boars’ number eight who was recently selected in the NSW Country squad, had a brilliant game and really highlighted his running power.

“He really broke the defence and made some good line breaks and sparked our attack at times when we needed someone to get us some field position,” Packer said.

The Narrabri Blue Boars coach was also thrilled with the returning Matt McDonnell, who played his first game in the top grade this year. McDonnell played 60 minutes off the bench and showed he will be a great addition to the team for the rest of the year.

Packer said that the side’s goal was now to keep winning and hold onto the Kookaburra Challenge Cup for the rest of the year and then claim the premiership as well.

The Narrabri men are still ranked sixth following their win but are now just one point behind fifth-placed Walcha, and are six back from fourth-placed Quirindi after the Lions earned five points on Saturday with a bonus point 34-31 away victory against the Inverell Highlanders.

Other round 11 winners were the two top-ranked sides, Gunnedah Red Devils and Tamworth Pirates.

Gunnedah scored a 53-3 home ground win against bottom-ranked Scone Brumbies to remain on top of the table, while Pirates edged out the third-placed Moree Bulls 24-18 in Tamworth.

Narrabri will now hit the road this weekend when all three grades travel to Scone to challenge the Brumbies.

For the second grade and women’s tens sides, it will be their first games since June 17.

They both had a bye on June 24 in round 10, then the women’s team had another bye on Saturday in round 11 while the second grade team won by forfeit.

Narrabri is second in the women’s competition and third in second grade.