Blue Boars kick off first grade premiership defence with a dominant victory

The Narrabri Blues Boars’ first grade premiership defence kicked off in Quirindi on Saturday and the 2024 champions returned home with the five points following a 34-15 victory.

Narrabri scored 17 points either side of the half-time break in the Central North Rugby Union competition first-round clash and managed to hold the Lions scoreless in the second stanza.

The Blue Boars outscored the hosts six tries to three and two conversions to none across the 80 minutes.

Joe Baker bookended the Narrabri tries as he continued to shine as a player and a leader since being named one of the side’s vice-captains in the pre-season, and skipper Will McDonnell, Josh Schwager, Charlie Radford and Toby Knight crossed for the other four five-pointers.

Knight kicked two conversions and went extremely close with the four he missed, which were all out wide.

Narrabri were forced to come from behind after Ryan Hodson opened the scoring in the sixth minute for Quirindi and Tom Clare doubled their lead with an 11th-minute try that made the score 10-0, and it was a triple blow for the Blue boars as their five-eighth Todd Nichols was forced from the field with a shoulder injury.

The Blue Boars finally found their first try of the season in the 22nd minute when Baker stepped through the defensive line after Narrabri fed a scrum on their attacking 22, and Knight converted it to make the score 10-7.

McDonnell went over five minutes later after Radford made a strong short-side run out of the ruck about 10 out from the line and offloaded to his skipper, who scored in the left corner to put Narrabri ahead 12-10.

Quirindi hit back with a try four minutes out from half-time as they retook the lead, but a Josh Schwager try down the left edge just before the break saw the Blue Boars lead 17-15 at the switching of ends.

The visitors scored 17 unanswered points in the second stanza to earn themselves a 19-point victory.

Knight converted a Radford try early on after the halfback made another brilliant dart out of the ruck close to the tryline that caught the Quirindi defence napping. That made the score 24-15 and also secured Narrabri a bonus point as it was their fourth try of the game.

The away side’s two wingers then created the next try as Nick Tomlinson found James Baker with a long pass, who then offloaded to Knight which allowed him to score in the left corner and make the score 29-15 in the 55th minute.

Joe Baker scored the side’s sixth and final try a minute after play restarted, and it was the pick of the bunch as he fended off four defenders during a powerful 70-metre run.

Neither side added to the scoreboard during the final 23 minutes as the Blue Boars held on to win 34-15.

Narrabri’s returning premiership-winning coach Craig Gleeson was full of praise for his men and commended the way they performed, especially in the second half.

“It was really good to get the win,” Gleeson said.

“We’d spoken during the week about the limited number of games we have this year and not being able to afford to start the season slowly.

“One or two losses this year can probably put you on the back foot early in the season, given there’s only 10 games, so the first couple of games were always going to be critical in getting us off on the right foot, and we did that.

“I thought the first half was a bit more of a grind and they scored two tries off kicks. I wouldn’t say they were against the run of play, but we had a lot of dominance in that first half and didn’t capitalise on it like we did in the second half.

“I thought our defence was good in both halves, to be honest. All in all, we were quite good, especially being down 10-0 early. The boys reacted really positively.

“When we controlled the ball for periods, we were really dangerous out wide.

“Our scrum was fantastic again too. I’m not sure how many scrums we had but we dominated every single one of them. Our front row and in general our whole forward pack lay a great platform for us.”

The victory was an extra special one for the Blue Boars as they won back the Nick Tooth Cup after suffering their largest loss of the 2024 season at the Lion’s Den in August last year, with Quirindi winning 41-26 that day.

The cup is played for annually when Narrabri make the trip to Quirindi to honour the memory of the late Nick Tooth, who tragically lost his life when playing the game that he loved for the club he grew up playing for in a freak accident back in 2015.

The Lions were playing against the Blue Boars that day, and Gleeson said it was special to be a part of the event each year.

“The significance obviously isn’t as great for us as it is for them, but for Narrabri to be able to be involved in this after what happened to Nick, who was a great clubman for them, is really special for us,” Gleeson said.

“It’s not lost on us what that means, to have someone have that occur to them in a game of footy.

“It’s good that we get to recognise it and to be involved for Nick and for his family. His legacy will never be lost to that club.”

The Blue Boars ended the weekend on top of the CNRU first grade ladder after their 2024 grand final opponents the Moree Bulls beat Gunnedah Red Devils 45-28, and fellow heavyweights Tamworth Pirates outscored Inverell Highlanders 22-17.

The Narrabri men will play their first home game of the season when they welcome Gunnedah to Dangar Park this Saturday. Five games of rugby are expected to be played during the club’s ladies’ day, which include first, second and third grade, women’s 10s and under-18s.

It will be the women’s outfit’s first game of the new season after Quirindi forfeited their round one fixture on Saturday, and Narrabri are relishing a grand final rematch against a Red Devils side that cruised past Moree 42-10 in round one.