Narrabri Blue Boars bounce back with crucial win in Tamworth

Narrabri Rugby Club’s first grade coach Craig Gleeson commended his players’ attitudes and the club’s depth after the side scored a crucial bounce-back victory to keep their home grand final hopes alive on Saturday.

The Blue Boars have been ravaged by injuries this season and they entered their two-week bye break having lost three games on the trot against fellow top-four sides, but they put that behind them on Saturday when they beat the Tamworth Pirates 33-20 away from home.

The conditions were terrible at Chillingworth Oval as an abundance of wet weather and three games on the pitch before the first grade game had left the field wet, muddy and ripped up. However, the Blue Boars managed to play some quality rugby as they outscored the hosts five tries to four.

Goal-kicking also gave Narrabri a boost on the day as Matt Bradshaw slotted four from four off the tee after Jake Packer had missed the side’s first conversion. The Pirates missed all four of their kicks, so Bradshaw’s accuracy ensured it was still a two-possession game when Pirates crossed with three minutes remaining despite having scored only one less try than Narrabri.

The victory saw the fourth-placed Blue Boars keep their home grand final hopes alive as they finished the round just three points behind the second-placed Moree Bulls and the third-placed Quirindi Lions. Those two teams are locked on 44 points and Narrabri have accumulated 41 points.

To finish second and qualify for the major semi-final, Narrabri must beat the Inverell Highlanders on home soil at Dangar Park on Saturday and then win away at Moree in the final round the following weekend. They also need minor premiers Gunnedah to knock off the Lions in Quirindi this weekend.

Bonus points accumulated across the final two rounds could have an impact on where teams finish ranked on the ladder as well.

Gleeson told The Courier his team’s goal was to secure a second-place finish and earn the right to defend the premiership at home after they won the 2024 decider at Dangar Park.

The Blue Boars’ coach was thrilled with the way his men put the round seven, eight and nine losses behind them in Tamworth on Saturday and controlled the game in poor conditions.

“All in all, I thought that we were really good,” Gleeson said.

“We had probably a 15-minute lull where they scored their three tries in the first half where we had a few errors and invited them down our end, but other than that, we controlled large parts of the game.

“That was very positive despite the conditions. The way the ground was, I thought we controlled the ball really well.

“The boys’ aggression was really good too. The intensity especially in the second half really was outstanding. We dominated field possession in that second half. The only time they were really threatening or down our end was in that last five minutes when they scored their last try.

“Pack (Jake Packer) at 10 was really good with his general play kicking and his general control of the game. He put us in the right positions in conditions that needed that control.

“The result just speaks volumes about our club, I think. They were tough conditions. When you walk in and look at that field, and then look at our team and how many players we have out, you could easily think ‘geez, we’re in for it today’. But for the boys, it was just business as usual.

“The way the blokes called up came in and did a good job for us was impressive. Kyal (Seymour) was one. I couldn’t be more happy with Kyal. He is a 17-year-old kid, and the way he performed in those conditions with no mistakes, running the ball strongly all day and defending well, that was really positive.

“Even the more senior blokes that haven’t played much or any first grade footy like Matty Bradshaw and Matua Carston. They stood up.

“It just shows what the boys are capable of and what depth there is at the club.”

The Blue Boars’ forward pack showed the Pirates exactly what they would be dealing with all game when they combined for the first try of the contest in the third minute. Will Ciesiolka threw a lineout in to Jack Maunder on the Pirates’ 22 and then joined a rolling maul and scored the try as he and his pack pushed the hosts back over the tryline.

Packer missed the conversion and Narrabri led for less than two minutes after they coughed up possession with an attacking penalty and were unable to keep out the home side’s captain Nick McCrohon, who broke the line and scored in his 150th first club game to make it 5-all.

It remained that way until the 30th minute when Hamish McLaren produced a powerful run close to the line and took several Narrabri players over with him, and it became 15-5 in the 35th minute when McCrohon broke the line and scored his second of the day before missing the kick from right in front of the sticks.

The Blue Boars were on the attack just before half-time and had camped themselves on the Pirates’ line, and several penalties led to Josua Yalatak and Joseph Tufrey both being yellow-carded.

The hosts had defended bravely on their line for more than two minutes, but the two-man advantage took its toll as Linton Grumley dived over off the back of a scrum before Bradshaw added the extras to make the score 15-12 at the half-time break.

The Blue Boars scored another early try in the second stanza, again less than three minutes after the kick-off as Packer charged at the home side’s defence close to the line and twisted his way over to score. Bradshaw then kicked the visitors out to a 19-15 lead from right in front.

Pirates were permanently reduced to 14 men in the 50th minute as Yalatak received a second yellow card for a tackle off the ball.

James Baker extended Narrabri’s lead on the hour-mark when Packer placed a long kick into the in-goal and the winger won the race, and Joe Baker charged over nine minutes later after the Blue Boars again found themselves attacking on the Pirates’ line.

Bradshaw’s fourth goal of the day made the score 33-15, which became 33-20 when Mitchell Mack crossed for the final try of the game with three minutes remaining.

The other round 12 match on Saturday saw Moree Bulls score a 68-28 victory on home soil against Inverell. That defeat and Narrabri’s win ensured Inverell’s slim finals hopes were dashed as they now battle Pirates to avoid the wooden spoon across the final two rounds. Both of those teams have one match and one bye remaining.

Meanwhile, Narrabri’s women’s 10s team scored a 10th consecutive victory to wrap up the minor premiership in their competition, but the Blue Boars went down 27-5 in the reserve grade game and 65-12 in the third grade game.