Narrabri Rugby Club made more Central North Rugby Union women’s competition history on Saturday as the Blue Boars locked in a first-place finish to become the first club in the zone to win three consecutive women’s minor premierships.
The side travelled to Chillingworth Oval for a top-of-the-table clash against the second-placed Tamworth Pirates, and with a six-point lead at the summit, a victory would ensure they could not be caught during the final two rounds of the regular season.
The unbeaten Blue Boars rose to the occasion in what were the worst conditions most of their players have ever competed in on a wet and muddy day in Tamworth. They prevailed 31-5 to record their 10th win in a row and establish an unassailable 11-point gap between themselves and the Pirates.
Narrabri outscored the hosts five tries to one and three conversions to none to get the job done in what was a dominant display of rugby.
Captain Peta Cox has been a Blue Boar since the final season of sevens in 2021 and has been a coach or assistant coach for three of the four 10s campaigns.
She told The Courier that this one was quite special, especially given what the side has achieved after losing so many players from their back-to-back premiership-winning rosters and often playing with one or two substitutes on the bench, sometimes even none.
“It’s pretty special to be part of a team that’s done it three years in a row,” Cox said of winning the minor premiership.
“I’ve been surprised by the season so far. It’s been such a fun season.
“The few of us girls that went into this year that have played in previous seasons were thinking it might be a rebuilding year, but the way that the new girls have come in and gelled with us has been amazing. It’s honestly been one of the most fun seasons I’ve played.
“We’ve never had more than 13 players at any of our games, and the way we’ve come together each week has been outstanding. It’s been really impressive.”
Cox was also impressed with the way the Blue Boars handled the wet and muddy conditions at Chillingworth Oval on Saturday, especially with their start as they kept possession for the first three minutes and struck with an early try before Tamworth had use of the football.
“A lot of our new girls have never played in mud and a wet field like that before. It was a bit windy too and it was freezing,” Cox said.
“A few of them were a bit worried about it at the beginning, but we had a game like that at Pirates last year, and a few girls that played in that game last year commented that it was one of the most fun games we’ve ever played, so I think that helped a little bit.
“After we scored our first try, we spoke about how patient we were, where we protected the ball, how we let the phases happen and where the space opened up. That set us up for the game, knowing we could do that in those conditions.
“It was a really tough game. Some of our girls commented at the end of the game that they didn’t feel like the scoreline was that big. It was really hard out there. Tamworth have a few physical girls that we had to work hard to stop and to get around.”
Despite the poor conditions, Narrabri showed their class early on to keep possession and score the first try. Belle Byrne made a break down the right edge, and after she was tackled just inside the Pirates’ half, Toni Rae scooped the ball up out of the ruck and caught Tamworth off guard with an explosive run down the short side that saw her race away down the sideline to go over untouched.
She then converted her own try to make the score 7-0, which became 7-5 two minutes before quarter-time when Tomi Gavin put Lauren Daye over in the left corner after the Pirates had fed a scrum close to the Blue Boars’ line on the right edge.
The Pirates threatened to go ahead on the stroke of the first break when Kaecia Beattie stormed into Narrabri territory down the left sideline, but Lidia McCauley made a brilliant covering tackle to take the Pirate into touch.
The home side went on the attack early in the second quarter before April Smith stole the ball in the ruck and got Narrabri back in possession. Another powerful Byrne run then got the away side on the front foot before Rae released Cass Morley down the right edge with a super cutout pass that saw her race away to score Narrabri’s second and put her side ahead 12-5.
The Blue Boars still led by seven points at the half-time break following a tough opening 20 minutes, and they struck early on again in the second half to extend their lead. Two strong drives out of the ruck from Cox and Kim Bange close to the line had the Pirates defence struggling, and Rae identified that as she grabbed the ball out of the ruck and went straight through a hole to score. She then added the extras with a successful conversion to make the score 19-5.
A high tackle late in the third quarter saw the Blue Boars temporarily reduced to nine players as Lidia McCauley received a yellow card, but they were up to the task defensively and even scored a try while they were a player down when Morley sprung out of a tackle close to the line and dived over to score early in the fourth term.
Rae missed a tricky conversion from the sideline as the score remained 24-5, but she made no mistake from the tee in the final minute of the match after she had completed her hat-trick. For the third time in the match, the classy playmaker scooped the ball up out of the ruck and was too dynamic for the Pirates to stop, and this time it was an unstoppable 40-metre run to ground the ball between the goalposts.
Her conversion made the final score 31-5 as Narrabri wrapped up the minor premiership in style.
Next up for the Blue Boars is their last home game of the regular season this Saturday when they host Inverell Highlanders at Dangar Park in round 13.
Inverell are looking to bounce back from the largest loss of the season in round 12 when they went down 110-0 against Moree.
That result saw the Bulls stay in third place as Barraba remained in fourth following a forfeit win over Quirindi, while Gunnedah stayed fifth after they sat out with the bye.
The CNRU women’s 10 comp points tally with two rounds left to play is Narrabri (58), Pirates (47), Moree (37), Barraba (35), Gunnedah (35), Inverell (18) and Quirindi (4).
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