Heart and determination on show as Boggabri fight back to secure a draw

They call Boggabri the little town with the big heart, and their local rugby league club certainly proved that to be true on Sunday as the Kangaroos produced an epic comeback to earn a point in a 32-all draw against North Tamworth Bears at Magic Round.

Boggabri and Norths were they last game up in what was an action-packed weekend at Tamworth’s Scully Park that included NSW Cup fixtures and Group 4 ladies’ tackle matches.

The Bears led 16-12 at half-time and kicked on in the second stanza to lead 32-16 with 10 minutes left to play. What unfolded next was mayhem as the Kangaroos stormed home to send the game into golden point.

It was Cameron Kerr who got the Boggabri boys in a position to earn a point. After scoring a try off the back of a powerful tackle-busting run in the first half, the back-rower produced an almost identical effort down his right edge with just over six minutes left to play to register a try that Ash White converted to make the score 32-22.

The Kangaroos got themselves back in North Tamworth’s half after the kick-off, and off the back of a tough Nick Millar carry, the spine shifted the ball to the right edge and Kerr stormed onto an Isaiah Adams pass and broke the line 25 metres out before running away to complete his hat-trick as he made the score 32-26.

What happened next, the Kangaroos will never forget.

Immediately off the kick-off, the Boggabri boys threw the ball from the right edge to the left and explosive centre Tevita Peceli made a break on the 20-metre line and stormed upfield. He was almost taken into touch by Bears fullback Brayden Jerrard, but he managed to throw a pass back inside to the supporting Ilaisa Kalokalodrau, who ran away untouched to score in between the sticks and give White the simplest of goal-kicks to make the score 32-all.

The Kangaroos were unable to finish the fairytale in golden point as neither they or the Bears were able to find a winner, but Boggabri’s coach Shane Rampling was proud of the result and more importantly of his side’s fighting spirit.

“That try at the end there, the great thing about that is it wasn’t a fluke; we do that at training,” Rampling said.

“The boys practise that sort of stuff off kick-offs. We’ve got talent to shift the ball and it was unbelievable to watch it come off.

“I’m absolutely over the moon that we got ourselves in a position where we could have won that game.

“At 16 points down with nine to go, I thought we were gone, and then I thought we were going to run out of time, but the boys never gave up.

“We got to golden point, which was a massive achievement. Both sides had chances to ice the game but couldn’t, but I’ll certainly take the point.

“Before that though, we let ourselves down with all of the silly mistakes and penalties. We pretty much gave Norths all of their territory and they scored off the back of our errors.

“We found it hard to get back in the grind there at stages, and when they scored to go 16 points up, I thought we’d done ourselves too hard of a task.

“We fought back and we showed so much grit and determination, and I couldn’t be prouder of the boys and their effort.”

Norths had taken the lead in the fourth minute of the contest when debutant winger Ngulawaa Knox scored with his first touch in first grade in the fourth minute.

A Livinai Tuicakau 13th-minute try made the score 10-0 in the Tamworth side’s favour before Boggabri winger Josefa Goneduadua scored his fifth try of the year in the 23rd minute. White converted that try to make the score 10-6, and the fullback then kicked Boggabri out to a 12-6 lead in the 29th minute following Kerr’s first try of the evening.

The Kangaroos lost skipper Matt Gillham and Jay Urquhart to injury in that first half, and their absence was felt as Norths crossed just before and after half-time to go ahead 22-12.

Back-rower Kalokalodrau scored his first try of the night in the 51st minute to make the score 22-16, but Norths crossed in the 60th minute and again in the 70th to take a 32-16 lead.

The Kangaroos then stormed home to tie the game up at 32-all before neither side could get the job done in golden point.

Next up for Boggabri is one of the other four undefeated teams, Werris Creek, who fought out a 20-all draw against Gunnedah in round three.

Boggabri are still on top of the table, and Rampling said they would need to be much better for much longer on Saturday when they play their first home game of the season.