The Narrabri Blues held onto their one-point lead at the top of the Group 4 Rugby League first grade ladder and claimed the John Dallas Donnelly Cup with a win against the Gunnedah Bulldogs at Kitchener Park on Saturday afternoon.
Just as they did in the corresponding fixture between the two sides earlier in the season, the Blues came from behind late to win the contest and again it was a Dennis Gordon try which put Narrabri in front.
The Narrabri men trailed 20-18 before Gordon went over to score with five minutes left to play to put his side in front 22-20.
Daniel Howe then put the icing on the cake when he scored his second try of the match just before full-time as the visitors escaped with a six-point win.
They trailed 10-6 at half-time after what captain-coach Jake Rusmby described as a “terrible half of footy” by his men, but they managed to regroup and outscore the Bulldogs 20-10 in the second stanza.
“We knew they (Gunnedah) were going to be up for this game,” Rumsby told Group 4 Media.
“Everyone wants to knock us off now and Gunnedah had a big day. We got out of jail in the first round against them and did the same today.
“They led most of the game and it wasn’t until we scored with about four minutes to go that we hit the lead.
“The final score didn’t reflect the game. They were very good and we dropped too much ball, we didn’t get many of the 50-50 calls either.
“But in saying that I couldn’t be prouder of our boys. We were down on troops and we defended real well in what was a difficult game.”
Rumsby said that his side knew exactly what was on the line during the next fortnight.
“We’ve got just two more games and if we win both we’ll be minor premiers,” he told Group 4 Media.
“That’s big for the club and the town.”
Rumsby led from the front again for his side on Saturday with a try either side of the break to go along with an abundance of metres in attack and tackles in defence, while fellow forward Sam Sadler, who celebrated his 25th birthday on Saturday, produced a standout performance and earned three Group 4 Rugby League best and fairest points for a second consecutive game.
Gordon was also impressive in his return from a neck injury and picked up one best and fairest point.
The Blues’ 10th win of the season saw them retain top spot on the ladder with just two rounds left to play in the regular season.
They are still just one point clear of the second-placed Kootingal-Moonbi Roosters which also won their 10th game of the season on Saturday afternoon when they downed Dungowan 36-24 on home soil at Kootingal Sports Ground.
That result saw the Cowboys drop to last on the ladder after the former eighth-placed side Werris Creek scored a 40-16 home ground win at David Taylor Oval against the Boggabri Kangaroos.
The highly-anticipated Sunday afternoon clash between third-placed North Tamworth and fourth-placed Moree was won by the Bears which kept their minor premiership hopes alive with a 29-28 away win in Moree.
The Blues will now travel to Dungowan to take on the Cowboys in round 13 on Saturday and expect to have Caleb Binge and Mitch Dening back on deck.
Meanwhile, Narrabri Rugby League Football Club celebrated wins in the under-18s and ladies’ league tag matches across the weekend.
On Saturday in Gunnedah, the Narrabri boys defeated Gunnedah 28-18 after outscoring the hosts five tries to three and four conversions to three.
The starting forward pack combined for all 28 of those points, with Jeff Harvey and Billy Youman claiming two tries each, Daniel McMillan crossing for the other and Johno Evans kicking all four conversions.
On Sunday, Narrabri’s ladies’ league tag and reserve grade teams travelled to Barraba to play against the Rams in their respective round 12 games.
The league tag team scored its second win of the season after outscoring Barraba 8-6.
Anni Wenner crossed for the visiting side’s only try of the game, while teammate Telisha Hilderson kicked the conversion and a penalty goal.
The Bluebirds leapfrogged Barraba into eighth with that win.
The reserve grade side was then downed 62-0 against second-placed Barraba after starting the match with just 15 players and finishing it with 12.
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