Narrabri Blue Boars get ready to play against Walcha Rams

Narrabri Rugby Club sat out with a bye when the second half of the 2023 Central North Rugby Union campaign got underway last weekend, and they are now feeling fresh and ready to roll.

The Blue Boars are currently ranked sixth on the ladder and have a great opportunity to climb even higher this Saturday when they host the Walcha Rams in round 11.

The Rams are currently fifth after they became the first team this year to beat the ladder leading Gunnedah Red Devils. They did so on home soil where they claimed a 32-26 victory to win over the Kookaburra Challenge Cup, which Narrabri will now play for on Saturday.

Like the Red Devils, the Blue Boars lost when they went out to Walcha this season.

That was back in round two when the defending champions went down 33-17 in their first CNRU match since claiming the first grade premiership against Gunnedah last September.

Narrabri will have a stronger team this Saturday in the return fixture against the Rams, but the Blue Boars’ coach Jake Packer said his men would need to be on top of their game.

“We’ll probably get what we always expect from Walcha. They’ll be tough at the breakdown, they’ll throw the ball around and they have some good strike weapons out the back there,” he said.

“We also need to make sure our kicking game is on song because their back three are quite adventurous and quite fast.

“Walcha can be a bit erratic at times, so we need to make sure our defence is solid and that we don’t allow too many gaps in our defence for them to exploit.

“If we just keep it tight all game and trust each other, I think that we will definitely come away with the win.”

What Packer also wants to see from his men is much of the same from the second half of their last match when they went down 42-12 at home against the Red Devils.

Gunnedah went into half-time with a 42-0 lead in that match, but Narrabri regrouped in the second stanza and outscored the visitors 12-0.

Packer described that contest as a weird one and suggested that his side could take many positives away from the second half.

“That first half, everything that could go wrong, did go wrong for us,” he said.

“I’m very proud of the boys on how they didn’t give up and they won that second half.

“We probably blew three tries in the second half on top of the ones we scored as well.”

Packer said that while he knew a win this Saturday was very important for his side’s finals hopes, and that the Blue Boars have a must-win mentality going into every game for the rest of the year, they will be taking a week-by-week approach and not looking too far ahead or worrying about the ladder.

“Every game is important during the back-end of the season for us,” he said.

“We’ll be approaching every game with that mindset.

“We know that if we focus on each game and not look past that, the rest will take care of itself.

“I actually don’t mind the position we are in. I think that it will make for a really good second half of the season and it narrows our mindset on what we need to do and creates a bit more clarity for us as a team, that we need to focus on game by game and not look too far ahead.

“I’m coming in with confidence for this second half of the season.”

For this weekend’s game, the Blue Boars will welcome back a few players into the first grade side.

Morgan Jones, Daniel Kahl and Josh Schwager all missed the round nine loss against Gunnedah earlier this month and will be back on deck.

Coming into the front row to wear the number two is Joe Maunder, who returned to the field against the Red Devils in second grade on June 7 and marked his comeback with a try.

He will join props Will Turner and Will Ciesiolka in the front of the scrum and will also throw the ball in at the lineout to give the Blue Boars some extra fire power at the set piece.

There have also been some changes in the backline this week.

Jydon Hill will play at scrum-half in the nine jersey in the absence of the injured Tom Nolan and unavailable Luis Salvado.

Replacing Hill at fullback will be Todd Nichols, who has vacated the number 10 jersey to be filled by the returning fly-half Jones.

Packer will also come into the team to play at inside centre in the number 12 jersey to replace Jacob Nichols, who will wear the number six against Walcha as he lines up at flanker for the first time.

Packer predicted that the Nichols brothers and Hill would excel in their new roles and said that he was glad to have Jones, Kahl, Schwager and Maunder back.

There will be a second grade match this weekend when Narrabri takes on Walcha, however, Walcha does not have a women’s team, so Narrabri’s tens side has a bye.