Narrabri Rugby League Football Club put up a brave fight against the form side of the Group 4 Rugby League first grade competition in round 13 and on the club’s ladies’ day on Saturday but fell just short as Dungowan Cowboys claimed a 28-24 victory.
The Blues went into the Collins Park clash determined to snap a five-game losing streak, while the Cowboys rode into town looking to score their ninth win on the trot.
The Dungowan men were given a scare when Lachlan Trindall leapt into the right corner for his second try of the game with four minutes left to play to reduce the home team’s deficit to four, before the Blues mounted an attack during the next set as they went in search of their fifth win of the year.
But as extraordinary as it was, the winger’s acrobatic try was too little, too late, as Dungowan held on to win 28-24 and go to the top of the table. That ranking was short-lived, as the North Tamworth Bears won 26-24 the next day at home against Gunnedah to take back first place.
The Bears and Cowboys are locked on 22 points, and the Bears are first on for and against difference.
Third-placed Kootingal-Moonbi had the bye in round 13 and remained two points adrift of the top two, while the Moree Boars moved into the outright fourth position when they outscored Boggabri Kangaroos 44-16 in Moree on Saturday.
The Boars and Kangaroos went into the weekend locked on 14 points, but it was Moree that advanced to 16 as a result of its 28-point victory.
The other game meant bad news for Narrabri as the Werris Creek Magpies defeated Manilla Tigers 50-24 at the Manilla Showground.
The Magpies leapfrogged the Blues and Gunnedah into sixth place, as the Narrabri men fell to seventh and the Bulldogs dropped to eighth.
Those two sides are still on 10 points and are two behind Werris Creek, four behind Boggabri and six behind the fourth-placed Boars.
Despite that, Narrabri can still make the top four this season if it wins its remaining four games to add eight points to the two it will earn in round 16 when it sits out with a bye.
First and second place on the ladder are both mathematically impossible finishes for the 2021 minor premiers, and third spot will be unattainable unless the Kootingal-Moonbi men lose all five of their remaining games and Narrabri wins all of its remaining four.
With that simply highly unlikely to occur, and even Moree looking very unlikely to chase down the Roosters, given Kootingal’s run home includes four of five matches against teams outside of the competition’s top four, it is now seemingly a five-horse race for fourth place.
Moree is firmly in the box seat, with Boggabri, Werris Creek, Narrabri and Gunnedah all determined to pinch that fourth spot come season’s end.
However, that race is on hold until the weekend of July 23 and 24 as the Group 4 Rugby League competition breaks this weekend for a National Primary Games/washout weekend full competition bye.
When the season resumes, there will be two matches played on Saturday and then two more on Sunday.
On July 23, Boggabri hosts Manilla Tigers at Jubilee Oval and Kootingal-Moonbi hosts North Tamworth at the Kootingal Sports Ground.
On July 24, Moree hosts the Blues at Boughton Oval and the Dungowan Cowboys host Gunnedah Bulldogs at Dungowan Recreation Ground.
Narrabri’s match is a must-win one, as the Boars would move eight points clear of the Blues with four rounds to go if they win, which would make them almost impossible to catch for the Narrabri men.
Meanwhile, it was a day full of close contests on Saturday, with Narrabri winning two matches prior to the first grade game.
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