Inverell battle brings out Blue Boars’ best as they retain the Kookaburra Challenge Cup

Narrabri Rugby Club’s first grade side returned to winning ways on Saturday when it scored a 31-10 away victory in Inverell during round 16 of the 2023 Central North Rugby Union season.

The Blue Boars had drawn their two most recent games before the round 15 bye, and it looked set to go down to the wire again after their 10-0 half-time lead became 10-all in the 51st minute. However, the Narrabri men scored three more converted tries to get the job done and earn a valuable five points.

Jake Packer’s side is unbeaten in the second half of the season but is still ranked fifth with just two rounds to go after fourth-placed Quirindi also won in round 16.

The Lions downed Scone Brumbies 53-15 on home soil to remain just one point ahead of Narrabri.

The Blue Boars outscored Inverell five tries to one and three conversions to one on the day, and the hosts also kicked a penalty goal.

Packer, who lined up at fullback for the visitors, told The Courier it was their most complete performance of the year.

“Best game all year. It was very pleasing,” he said.

“We did the little things right.

“We had been playing well before and defending really well, but we’d always just lacked something. Over in Quirindi, for example, we played well but just kept dropping the ball. But against Inverell, we put everything together.

“The scoreline doesn’t show how hard the match was though. They had a lot of ball on our line. I reckon they would have spent a good 15 minutes of that game inside our 15 metres. We had to really dig deep and defend well.

“I think the most pleasing part of the day was that all the tries we got were off the back of really good defence, and then when we got opportunities, we took them, we didn’t overplay our hand or panic or rush, we waited for that moment, and when the moment came, we took advantage.

“Inverell had nothing to lose and the game they played would have beaten most teams, so I’m really proud of the boys’ efforts.”

The first try of the game was scored by Narrabri’s number eight Josh Schwager on the 20-minute mark as he made the score 5-0. That became 10-0 about 10 minutes later when left winger James Baker went over on the half-hour mark after he charged onto a brilliant Morgan Jones cut-out ball.

The Blue Boars took that lead into half-time, but Inverell hit back with a 43rd-minute penalty goal through Lawson Muir and the home side then equalised when its outside centre Savenaca Bainimarama crossed and Muir converted in the 51st minute.

With the frustration of two previous draws in mind, the Blue Boars were determined to finish the game off and earn the five points. They went a long way towards achieving that with two tries in two minutes when Packer crossed in the 57th minute and then Nathan Nott went over in the 58th. Todd Nichols converted both of those to make the score 24-10, which became 31-10 with two minutes to go when Jydon Hill scored the Blue Boars’ fifth and final try and Nichols slotted his third conversion.

The victory not only saw the Blue Boars keep their finals hopes alive, but it also saw them hold onto the Kookaburra Challenge Cup. They won the cup off Walcha in round 11 and have defended it four times since, with three of those games being on the road.

However, they face the toughest possible road to being crowned the Kookaburra Cup champions as they meet the two top-ranked sides, Pirates and Gunnedah, in the last two rounds.

Pirates are now leading the way after they beat the Gunnedah Red Devils 28-14 in a top-of-the-table clash at Chillingworth Oval to go five points clear of their opponents. Gunnedah was on top going into the weekend, but only just as both sides sat on 65 points.

The Red Devils remained on 65 points as Pirates climbed to 70, while third-placed Moree Bulls (64) moved within a point of Gunnedah after they sat out with the bye.

Walcha also had a bye on Saturday to move to 50 points and still closely trails Quirindi (53) and Narrabri (50) as the race for fourth place heats up.

The Blue Boars are at home against the Pirates in round 17 on Saturday in what is a must-win game for Packer’s men at Dangar Park, while Quirindi travels to Moree and Walcha hosts Inverell. Gunnedah and Scone both have byes.

Packer full of praise for Narrabri’s second grade and women’s sides following a successful day in Inverell

Narrabri Rugby Club was victorious in all three grades away from home in Inverell on Saturday in round 16 of the 2023 Central North Rugby Union campaign.

Before the Blue Boars got the job done in first grade with a 31-10 win over the Highlanders (see full story above), they demolished the hosts 94-0 in the women’s tens match and then prevailed 36-17 in second grade.

The club’s first grade player-coach Jake Packer commended those two sides, which he thought were both outstanding on the day.

“It was brilliant. We had the bus trip over, so it makes the bus trip back even better when you get three wins,” Packer told The Courier.

“The girls were magnificent. Even though they won by such a big scoreline, they just stuck to their structures and didn’t get into that game plan of everyone trying to score a try. They really stuck to it.

“Reserve grade, it was a really good win for them considering we were struggling for numbers. We have quite a lot of injuries and a few boys were away, so they were really struggling to get numbers. They didn’t have a team sorted come Thursday.

“The coaches, Todd (Farrer), Chase (Magner), and Took (Dylan Duncan), are doing a really good job at getting boys on the paddock and getting wins.”

The Blue Boars’ women’s team dominated from start to finish as they scored a massive 94-0 win to return to the top of the tens competition ladder.

Cassidy Morley went over for five tries in that victory, Abbey Anderson scored a hat-trick, Toni Gale bagged a double, and Miranda Hamilton, Tori Allison, Natalia McInnes and Annie Wenner all crossed once in the 14-try rout. The Blue Boars also kicked 12 of their 14 conversions as Gale slotted 10 of them and Shona McFarlane knocked over two.

The win was an important one for the Blue Boars as it saw them move to the top of the table with just two rounds remaining. They went into the match trailing Gunnedah by three points, but the Red Devils lost 37-24 in Tamworth against Pirates.Gunnedah earned a bonus point to move to 74 competition points but Narrabri finished the weekend on 75. Pirates (68) are six points behind Gunnedah in third place and Moree (50) rounds out the top four following its round 16 bye.

Sixth-placed Quirindi (37) won 29-25 against fifth-placed Scone (45) on Saturday as the Brumbies finished the weekend five points behind the Bulls.

Seventh-placed Barraba (31) had a bye and the Highlanders (21) are still ranked last following their loss against Narrabri.

In second grade, the Blue Boars’ top-two hopes were dependant on a win and they got the job done to stay just three points behind second-placed Moree, which had the round 16 bye.

Savenaca Bainimarama scored a hat-trick for the hosts and Peniasi Waqa Tausu converted one of those, but Narrabri was able to go over for six tries and convert three of them.

Kaylan Murray, Harry Pattison, Tim Brooker, Hamish Nolan, Adam Gordon and Jake Donaldson all crossed for a try each, while Gordon slotted two conversions and Jim Schwager kicked one.

Other round 16 results in second grade saw Pirates outscore Gunnedah 47-12, Quirindi beat Scone 41-10, and Barraba prevail by a forfeit against Walcha.

Those results saw the Pirates (76) remain 10 points clear at the top of the table over Moree (66). Narrabri (63) is still third, Barraba (49) completes the top four, and then ranked fifth to ninth are Quirindi (39), Gunnedah (38), Scone (29), Walcha (25) and the Inverell Highlanders (24).