Blue Boars return to winning ways to go top of the CNRU first grade ladder

Narrabri Rugby Club returned to the top of the Central North Rugby Union first grade ladder and also made an emphatic statement with a crushing 43-point victory at Dangar Park on Saturday.

The Blue Boars welcomed Tamworth Pirates to town and prevailed 48-5 in what was their first game since they went down against Gunnedah at the same venue in round two early last month.

A four-week break between games gave the Narrabri men plenty of time to improve and bounce back from a demoralising 24-17 defeat at the hands of the Red Devils, and the hard work they have put in behind the scenes paid off as they outscored the Tamworth men eight tries to one and four conversions to none.

Blue Boars boss Craig Gleeson was impressed by his side’s performance and labelled it as one of the best he has witnessed during his time as the club’s head coach.

“It’s up there as one of the most complete performances we’ve put on since I’ve been coaching. It was really positive and I was quite impressed,” Gleeson told The Courier.

“I thought the boys were really good. We defended for most of the first 10 minutes of the game. We gave away a lot of penalties and put ourselves under pressure, and they spent a lot of time in our half, but we just kept repelling them with some really good defence. Our line speed was good and everyone’s attitude was really good.

“Once we got a bit of ascendancy after that defence, we really started putting our attack together.

“I thought that a lot of our facets of play were really strong. Our lineout was probably the best it’s been since I’ve been involved and our structure around the field was also really good. There were a lot of positives.

“The way we played restricted their ability to put on much in attack. We put a lot of pressure on their ball carrier, and like I said, our line speed was really good. A lot of aspects of our defensive game put us on the front foot, and quite a few of our tries came off pressure and turning over the ball.”

Gleeson said while it was frustrating to miss three consecutive weekends with byes, it gave the side plenty of time to work on their structure and fine-tune certain aspects of their game, which he said contributed to the big win on Saturday.

Vice-captain Joe Baker got the ball rolling for the Narrabri Blue Boars as the outside centre made a break in the middle of the park and raced away to score between the sticks in the 19th minute. Toby Knight converted that try and the winger then scored himself just five minutes later before nailing his second conversion of the day to put Narrabri ahead 14-0.

Narrabri’s skipper Will McDonnell then crossed with 12 minutes left to play in the half to put them up by 19, and their lead became 24 in the 36th minute as halfback Charlie Radford went over for his first try of the day.

It looked set to remain 24-0 at half-time before the milestone man Joe Maunder crossed for Narrabri’s fifth try of the day in his 100th match for the club to make it 29-0 at the break.

The Blue Boars came out firing in the second stanza and scored almost immediately as Radford crossed for his second try of the day in the 42nd minute to put the Blue Boars in front 34-0.

Brandon Parry finally put Tamworth on the board late in the second half and the score remained 34-5 after Luke Johnstone missed the kick.

The Blue Boars’ reply was almost immediate as Radford completed his hat-trick in the 68th minute and Knight kicked the hosts out to a 41-5 lead, and Baker then crossed for his second try with seconds remaining in the contest before Knight completed the scoring with his fourth conversion of the day to make the final score 48-5.

Gleeson said he and his men were proud of the way they played and were just happy to get back on the park following four weeks off. He also thought the crowd’s enthusiasm matched that of the players.

“The crowd was honestly absolutely outstanding,” Gleeson said.

“The vibe has been really good over there all year as far as support from the community goes. It was obviously our sponsors’ day too and I thought it was fantastic to have them over there with us.

“I feel like that was the best day of rugby we’ve had in Narrabri for a long time as far as the four performances were.

“The girls had a really tough hitout but stuck at it and came back and won the game in a tight hitout, and it was probably the best team performance I’ve seen reserve grade put on the field in quite a few years.

“It was a really good day at the footy all round for Narrabri.”

The bonus point victory saw the Narrabri men finish the round locked on 19 points alongside the second-placed Quirindi Lions and the third-placed Gunnedah Red Devils, who both had byes in round five. The Blue Boars are ahead of them both on for and against difference.

Moree are fourth following their 19-10 victory away from home against Inverell on Saturday but they missed a chance to join the three leaders on 19 as they failed to score four tries.

Tamworth are nine points behind the Bulls with nine points in fifth place and Inverell are last with eight points.

Next up for the Blue Boars is a first-versus-last battle away from home against the Highlanders in Inverell on Saturday, June 14. All clubs have a bye this Saturday for the June long weekend.