Narrabri Rugby Club retains the Hannaford-Southwell Shield with a dominant victory

A sensational defensive display and some eye-catching brilliance in attack led to Narrabri Rugby Club retaining the Hannaford-Southwell Shield in front of a large home crowd at Dangar Park on Saturday night.

The Blue Boars challenged St Alberts College in the annual match, which is played between the two clubs in memoriam of former Blue Boar Brad Hannaford and his girlfriend Felicity Southwell, who tragically died in a car accident in 2006.

The hosts retained the shield with a 36-5 victory after outscoring the St Alberts men six tries to one and three conversions to none.

Narrabri Rugby Club president Mick Coffey was ecstatic that rugby union had returned to Dangar Park and that his club’s first XV was able to get the job done on the night.

“It was awesome to have it back,” Coffey said of local rugby making its long-awaited return.

“We had a really good crowd.

“There was rain and a few other things on like weddings and whatnot that took a fair chunk out of the club.

“I wasn’t really sure what to expect with the crowd, but it was really good.

“Albies helped that too. They travel really well and always bring a lot of supporters along.

“On the field, there’s a few of our guys short of a gallop, but it was footy smarts that got them home.

“Some of the young fellas coming through were pretty exciting to watch as well.”

One of those young players was Tom Nolan. The 18-year-old played his first game in two years on Saturday after suffering a neck injury in a trial match in 2020.

He marked his first grade debut with an impressive performance at scrum-half, which included a try.

“Tom has had one of the toughest roads to get to first grade you could have,” Coffey said.

“He had five or six years of rubbish competitions to play in at junior level.

“He was never even able to play in a consistent team in his own age group since he was about 13-years-old.

“He persisted. He could have walked away from the game, but he just kept training and kept fit, and he got to run on at number nine for first grade, which was great.”

Coffey also heaped praise on a few other first XV players who impressed on the night.

“We had Hamish Moore make his club debut, and he played well,” the Blue Boars’ president said.

“He’s one of those players that only comes along every once in a little while. I hope he stays fit and firing because he’s a player in that special category of blokes that you can build a team around.

“Some of the blokes that we were hoping to see continue to grow after great years last year, like Sam Spanton and James Baker, they hit the ground where they left off last year too.”

Saturday night’s match was played across three 27-minute thirds.

The two teams threw everything at each other early in the contest, but both sides’ defences held strong to keep their opposition at bay during the first 25 minutes.

However, Narrabri second-rower Daniel Kahl proved to be too strong with 90 seconds remaining in the opening third when he crashed over to score.

Narrabri had built a solid platform in the opening period but turned the ball over several times in the attacking third, which limited it’s ability to build any real momentum.

But the hosts finally got a roll on two minutes before the first break and they made Albies pay. The Blue Boars camped themselves on the Albies line and produced a barrage of attack, and they were rewarded for their patience when Kahl crossed the stripe to open the scoring.

Toby Keys struck the upright with his conversion as the bell sounded, which meant that the Blue Boars went into the second third with a 5-0 lead.

The hosts came out firing in the next period of the match, and some Jydon Hill brilliance led to the Blue Boars going over for their second try shortly after play restarted. Narrabri had just tried its luck down the left edge, and after having had no success it went searching back inside. Hill received the ball in the centre of the field on the 22-metre line, and the fullback fired off a magnificent cut out pass to James Albert on the right wing. He squared up his opposite winger and passed back inside to supporting attacker Linton Grumley who charged over for Narrabri’s second try to make the score 10-0.

The Blue Boars extended that lead in the 42nd minute when Nolan fooled the Albies defence with a dummy just inside his attacking 22 and broke the line to go over untouched.

Keys then added the extras to make the score 17-0.

Albies finally cracked the Blue Boars defence with a minute left in that third to reduce their deficit to 12 points.

However, any hope of a memorable come-from-behind Albies victory was thwarted in the final third of the game, which Narrabri dominated.

The home side ran in three tries as Nichols, Baker and Hill all got on the scoresheet. Keys converted two of those as the scoreboard read 36-5 at full-time.

Earlier in the day, Narrabri Rugby Club’s women’s 10s team demolished Albies 60-14, and Narrabri’s second XV downed Albies’ third grade side 12-0.

The Blue Boars will head to Mudgee this Saturday for senior men’s and women’s trial matches. Those will be the sides’ final hitouts before the 2022 Central North Rugby Union season kicks off on Saturday, April 9.