Blue Boars take down Gunnedah in final-minute thriller

Narrabri Rugby Club’s first XV scored their maiden win of the 2024 Central North Rugby Union first grade season in thrilling fashion on Saturday when they beat the Gunnedah Red Devils 28-24.

It was a sensational finish at the Gunnedah Rugby Park where the Blue Boars trailed 24-21 with just seconds left to play. Their vice-captain Jack Maunder scored the match-winner with the final play of the game after Narrabri made their way to the tryline with 15 attacking phases, including huge runs from centres Will McDonnell and Joe Baker. A brilliant piece of distribution out of the ruck from Jydon Hill got the ball on to Maunder, who made good contact and spun his way through the defence and over the line to score the winner.

Todd Nichols then kicked his fourth conversion of the day to put the icing on the cake and make the final score 28-24.

Maunder’s match-winner earned the Blue Boars their first bonus point of the campaign as it was their fourth five-pointer of the day.

Narrabri had entered round three coming off a round one bye and a 12-point loss against Moree in round two, and they got their season on track while also spoiling Gunnedah’s ladies’ day.

The Red Devils took an early lead when Leo Mortimer slotted a penalty goal to make the score 3-0 in the fifth minute, but Narrabri hit back with the first try of the contest in the 15th minute when Baker went over. Nichols kicked the conversion to put the Blue Boars ahead 7-3.

The visitors then stormed out to a 21-3 lead after Nichols converted Baker’s second try in the 21st minute and a Morgan Jones try in the 26th minute, but Gunnedah hit back in the 33rd minute when Ratu Vuibau crossed for his team’s first try of the day and Mortimer converted it to make the score 21-10.

Narrabri still led by that 11-point margin at half-time and on the hour-mark, but they found themselves behind in the 67th minute following a swift double blow from the hosts as Junior Nasilivata and Ben Hamparsum went in for a try each and Mortimer kicked his team out to a 24-21 lead.

The visitors would then have the final say as Maunder’s heroics saw the visitors earn a memorable victory.

Blue Boars coach Craig Gleeson was pleased to have wrapped up win number one in just his second game in charge, but he thought that his side were not ruthless enough to put the match away while ahead 21-3 late in the first half.

“It was nervous at times but it was a good game of footy,” Gleeson told The Courier.

“There were a few emotions. Relief and excitement were both there.

“Reflecting on it, I would have been disappointed if we lost the game.

“I thought we were the better team, but we let them back into it through poor mistakes.

“The first 25 minutes of the second half wasn’t great from us, but I was more disappointed with the last seven or eight minutes of the first half. We’d been dominant for so long, and we let them back down there, and they got a try on us just before half-time.

“We should have been better than that and we should have been going into the break 21-3 up, which I think would have deflated Gunnedah, but instead they had their tail up going into half-time.

“To our guys’ credit though, we did defend really well in the second half, for the first 30 minutes of it while we were under pressure. The tries they did score were tight to the ruck and come from the mounting possession.

“It’s a 100 per cent a learning curve for us. I think we just got a little bit ahead of ourselves there because we were so dominant early on. That’s just game management and we’ll get better at that.”

The Blue Boars were also victorious in second grade as they prevailed 34-24, but they went down 34-28 in the women’s tens competition grand final rematch against the Red Devils.

Narrabri will play at home for the first time this season on Saturday when they host Scone in round four.