Blue Boars ready to defend the CNRU tens premiership on home soil

Narrabri Rugby Club’s women’s tens team will go in search of their second consecutive minor/major premiership double on Saturday when they take on Gunnedah Red Devils in the 2024 grand final.

The Blue Boars will make history when they take the field on home soil at Dangar Park as they become the first team in the Central North Rugby Union women’s competition to play in three consecutive grand finals, and they can also become the first team to win two premierships in a row if they can get the job done.

They secured their second minor premiership in as many years last month following another successful regular season, during which they blew the rest of the competition out of the water.

The Narrabri girls won 10 of their 12 matches and only lost twice, and they picked up 13 bonus points to end the campaign with 78 points. That saw them finish 13 points clear of second-placed Gunnedah, who accumulated 65 points following eight wins, a draw and three losses, during which they earned seven bonus points.

Most impressively, the Blue Boars accumulated a for and against points difference of 335 across those 12 matches, which was 303 greater than that of Pirates, who were next best with 32.

Narrabri took on Gunnedah in the major semi-final at Weebolla Oval in Moree on Saturday, August 17, and suffered a 24-10 loss. They bounced back last Saturday in the preliminary final though as they beat Tamworth Pirates 43-12 to set up a rematch with the Red Devils.

The Blue Boars downed Gunnedah 26-12 at Tamworth’s Chillingworth Oval almost a year ago in the 2023 final to claim their maiden women’s premiership, and they are determined to win the big one again this Saturday.

First-year coach Mitchell Creighton said that he had enjoyed coaching the team this year and was confident his girls have what it takes to bounce back from their semi-final loss and beat Gunnedah in front of a home crowd at Dangar Park.

“I’m expecting Gunnedah to be big and fast,” Creighton said.

“They are big and mobile in the forwards and they are fast out wide.

“We definitely need to be on our A-game. We lost against them in the first game, beat them comfortably in the second game and then lost against them again in the qualifier.

“We can get it done though. We have depth and we have options.

“We’re going to have to be bigger and faster up the middle, and we’re going to have to attack sharply out wide.

“It will be our defence that will have to win us this game, though.”

The Blue Boars will be missing the injured Emily Smith (knee), and two players are questionable as skipper Bella Cruickshank and Gerri Rumsby battle to overcome foot injuries, but they are otherwise at full strength.