Blue Boars hold onto the Kookaburra Challenge Cup for another fortnight

Draws in rugby union are somewhat uncommon, so it was no surprise that Narrabri Rugby Club’s first XV coach Jake Packer was stunned after he and his men contested their second draw in as many weeks on Saturday.

The Blue Boars hit the road to take on the Quirindi Lions in round 14 of the 2023 Central North Rugby Union campaign and they returned home with two points after the two teams contested a 17-all draw.

The away side led 3-0 at the break following a low-scoring first half, but then the game came to life early in the second.

Todd Nichols’ 17th-minute penalty goal was the only scoring play until his teammate Josh Schwager went in for the first try of the game in the 44th minute.

Nichols converted that try to make the score 10-0, but the Narrabri Blue Boars’ lead was reduced to 10-7 less than two minutes later after Quirindi hit back with a Daniel Calavassy try and a Charles Gulliver conversion.

The hosts then took the lead in the 51st minute when Edward Nankivell crossed for a try that made the score 12-10, but Narrabri went back ahead in the 68th minute when Jydon Hill went over to score and Nichols kicked his side out to a 17-12 lead.

Quirindi had a chance to get back in front when Nicholas Hooley scored a 73rd-minute try, but with just seven minutes left on the clock, the hosts were unable to convert.

Both sides created chances to win the game at the death, but they were forced to settle for two points each as the score remained locked at 17-all.

Packer thought that it was a game that he and his side should have won.

“It’s a very weird one. I don’t really know how to explain it,” the Narrabri Blue Boars’ coach said of being held to a draw for the second week in a row.

“I was a little bit frustrated, because I thought that we should have won it.

“We just lost it ourselves with too many mistakes.”

Packer said he thought mistakes, as opposed to brilliant defence, resulted in just three points being scored in the first half.

“It was pretty much all just played between the two 22s,” he said.

“Neither team could hold the ball long enough to build any pressure in the opposition’s 22.

“Although it was only 3-0, I told the boys we needed to limit our mistakes.

“Our structures were good and our defence was tight. We just needed to clean the mistakes up, and with our first try after half-time, it was looking good, but then those mistakes crept into our game again.”

The Blue Boars’ coach was certainly impressed with his players’ never-say-die attitudes, but he challenged the team to start putting the close games to bed.

“Our resilience was good again. We are really digging deep to stay in these matches when we are behind, to get our nose in front, but now we need to start icing these games,” he said.

“It’s now two draws in a row that we should have won, so we need to finish them off now. That’s what’s killing us at the moment.”

The Blue Boars’ first XV have a bye this Saturday while the club’s second grade and women’s teams challenge the Barraba Rams at Dangar Park in round 15.

After that bye, the Narrabri men are away at Inverell in round 16, home to the Tamworth Pirates in round 17, and away at Gunnedah in round 18.

While they will all be tough contests, the Blue Boars will need to rise to the occasion if they are to finish in the top four and play finals footy, and attempt to defend their 2022 premiership.

They will also be playing to hold on to the Kookaburra Challenge Cup in those games.

Narrabri won the cup off Walcha in round 11 at Dangar Park, and have defended it successfully during their past three games.

Saturday’s draw saw Narrabri move to 42 points. They remained in sixth place, but are just two points back from fourth-placed Walcha (44) and one behind the fifth-placed Lions (43), who play against each other this weekend, meaning that the Blue Boars are guaranteed to finish the weekend in fifth, but could also come away from it in fourth.

Meanwhile, Narrabri is still second on the ladder in the women’s tens competition after Quirindi forfeited their round 14 match on Saturday.

The Blue Boars are still three points behind Gunnedah after the ladder leaders won 34-5 away from home against Barraba.

Narrabri won the second grade game 19-15 against Quirindi to stay in third place in their division.