Mixed results for the Blue Boars in Barraba

A road trip to Barraba was on the cards for Narrabri Rugby Club in round 15 of the Central North Rugby Union campaign on Saturday, and the Blue Boars returned home with four points in second grade and two points in the women’s tens division.

The visitors were beaten 29-26 in the women’s match after the hosts scored a late winning try before they bounced back to score a 21-17 victory in second grade.

The Narrabri first grade side had a bye for the second weekend in a row.

In second grade, both sides scored three tries each but the Blue Boars kicked all three of their conversions while Barraba were only successful with one of theirs.

Jacob Booby, Connor Parkes and Josh Schwager were the Blue Boars’ try-scorers in the four-point win that saw their side move to 54 competition points.

Narrabri are still ranked fourth on the ladder behind Moree Bulls (66), Tamworth Pirates (63) and Quirindi Lions (60).

Moree and Tamworth both scored huge away wins on Saturday as the Bulls prevailed 83-7 in Scone and Pirates shut out the Lions 53-0 in Quirindi.

Scone (30) and Barraba (26) are still fifth and sixth following their losses, and Inverell (25) and Gunnedah (22) are seventh and eighth after they sat out with byes in round 15.

Narrabri’s women’s tens team went behind 10-0 early in the first game of the day in Barraba after Jessica and Emily Kelso scored a try each for the hosts.
However, the Blue Boars hit back through their top try-scorer Shaine Maunder as she crossed for her 17th five-pointer of the season. Amelie Cobb-Johnson converted that try to make the score 10-7 and then scored herself a few minutes later before kicking the Blue Boars out to a 14-10 lead.

Barraba got back in front when Charlie Norton scored and converted a try to make the score 17-14, but Cobb-Johnson continued to shine in her sensational rookie year as she went in for two more tries to complete her fourth hat-trick of the season. Bella Cruickshank converted one of those as Narrabri found themselves ahead 26-17.

Just when Narrabri looked set to score their 10th win of the year in their 11th outing, Norton scored again for Barraba to make it a one-possession game, and she went in for her third on the stroke of full-time as her brilliant hat-trick saw Barraba prevail 29-26 and become just the second team to beat Narrabri this year.

The defending champions managed to pick up two competition points as they earned a bonus point for scoring four tries and another for losing by seven points or less. That saw them move to 65 points and finish the weekend 13 points ahead of second-placed Tamworth Pirates and third-placed Gunnedah Red Devils, who are both now on 52 points following byes on Saturday.

Narrabri have already wrapped up the minor premiership as neither of those sides can catch them, given the Blue Boars are guaranteed four points this Saturday for a bye and will then be at least 12 points clear going into the final two rounds.

The other round 15 match was won by Scone as they prevailed 38-5 at home against Moree. That result saw Moree (35) finish the weekend eight points behind fourth-placed Barraba (43) and five ahead of last-placed Scone.

In first grade, the Blue Boars sat out with the round 15 bye and fell a point further behind the first-placed Moree Bulls. The defending champions prevailed 46-14 away from home to move to 68 points, while Narrabri finished the weekend second on 62 points.

The other round 15 contest was won 32-27 by Tamworth Pirates who were away from home against Quirindi. That result saw Pirates (55) remain in the major semi-final contention as Quirindi held on to fourth place but finished the weekend locked on 43 points with Inverell, who had a bye.

Sixth-placed Gunnedah (34) also had a bye as sixth-placed Scone (26) remained last on the ladder.

The Blue Boars are still a chance of winning the first grade minor premiership, but they need to score three bonus point wins and pick up a maximum 15 points in their final three games of the season. They also need Moree to lose at home against Pirates this Saturday before their round 17 and 18 byes.

The Blue Boars are at home against Inverell this Saturday ahead of a Quirindi road trip in round 17 and a home game against Pirates to finish the regular season in round 18.

Narrabri Rugby Club will also take on Inverell in second grade at Dangar Park this Saturday, but the Blue Boars’ women’s team will sit out with a bye as Inverell do not have a team in that division.

The Narrabri women will still be busy on the day as they celebrate the club’s 2024 ladies’ day.