Boggabri Kangaroos score sensational comeback victory against the Bulldogs

Boggabri Kangaroos continued their old boys day winning streak with one of the local club’s most memorable victories as they came from behind to defeat the Gunnedah Bulldogs at Jubilee Oval on Saturday.

The two rival clubs went head-to-head in a highly-anticipated round six clash that saw Gunnedah playing to stay on top of the Group 4 Rugby League first grade table and Boggabri playing to hopefully climb back into the top four.

The visitors held the Kangaroos scoreless in the opening 40 minutes to lead 16-0 at half-time, and they went in front 20-0 in the 51st minute when former Kangaroo Dylan Lake made a line break down the left edge and passed inside to his winger McKye Tucknott who crossed for the Bulldogs’ fourth try.

Boggabri needed someone to stand up at that point of the game and it was Jake Byrne who took it upon himself to do so. The prop made three strong tackles in a row during a Gunnedah attacking set a few minutes after the Tucknott try, and he then came in to support in a fourth tackle, after which a frustrated Bulldog flew in to push the Boggabri defender and conceded a penalty. Boggabri capitalised on that mistake as five-eighth Andrew Wallace threw a pass to back-rower Aaron Hobden and wrapped around him to receive the offload before breaking the line to score, with Josh Trindall nailing the conversion to make the score 20-6.

Trindall then sparked Boggabri’s next try with 17 minutes remaining when the halfback broke the line and passed to winger Josefa Goneduadua, who charged down the right edge and threw a ball back inside to supporting fullback Isaiah Adams, who angled back inside to score between the posts to give Ash White a simple kick.

The Boggi boys went from 20-12 to 20-18 in quick succession after they made another break that winger Tevita Peceli finished off in the following set after the kick-off.

The Kangaroos then had plenty of defending to do on their own line after White kicked his second goal to make it a two-point ball game as the Bulldogs looked to wrestle back the momentum and extend their lead, but the comeback was complete with just over five minutes remaining when Adams went in for his second try of the day. Trindall had made a charging run out of dummy half but was held up close to the line, and Wallace then took advantage of the field position and momentum as he put in a pinpoint grubber kick into the in-goal that Adams flew onto. He collected the ball and dived over to score as the home crowd went wild.

White then added the extras to make the score 24-20, and that was the way it remained after Gunnedah only had one more set, during which Boggabri held them out to end a three-game winless streak.

Coach Shane Rampling told The Courier that although the first half was well below his expectations, he was proud of the way his men hung in there and fought all the way to the full-time whistle.

“It was a tale of two halves, really,” Rampling said.

“Gunnedah’s halfback Ezra Gibson gave us plenty of problems in the first half. He scored a try and controlled the game real well, and they had gone out to 16-0 at half-time.

“They scored first in the second half to go 20-0. At that point, I’m not going to lie, I thought we had left ourselves too much to do with the way we were playing, but I knew the boys had it in them to get the win.

“The last 25 minutes of that game was the Boggi of last year. It was the best we’ve played all year.

“We just started rolling through the middle and our forwards got us on the front foot, which gave Josh (Trindall) and Andrew (Wallace) time and space to create and set up our edges.

“When Isaiah scored that last try, it was unbelievable. It was so loud and the old boys were going nuts.

“They came at us again afterwards and we had to defend our line a few times.

“Our defence in the backend of that second half was just unreal. Six times they came at us in two separate lots and we repelled them both times, and that really set the victory up.

“One of the really good things about the win was that it was old boys day. There was a really good turnout and it was a good day.

“We still haven’t lost an old boys day since we started doing them when we came up into first division.”

Rampling declared that the win was a crucial one that helped keep his side in contention for a spot in the top two.

The Kangaroos have now won three games, drawn one and lost two across the first six rounds. They are sitting in fifth place on seven points, behind the fourth-placed North Tamworth Bears on for and against difference.

Meanwhile, the Kangaroos won the reserve grade game 20-6 against the Bulldogs to remain in third place on their ladder, and the ladies’ league tag side lost 56-0 to remain in last place.

There will be no Group 4 games played this weekend due to the June long weekend break, with round seven to be held on Saturday, June 14 when Boggabri welcome Kootingal-Moonbi, Wee Waa host Moree, Norths travel to Gunnedah and Werris Creek travel to Dungowan.