NORTH Tamworth kept a clean sheet for the first time this year with a punishing 86 -point victory over Narrabri at Tamworth’s Jack Woolaston Oval yesterday.
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Even a Lachie Cameron field goal attempt in the dying minutes couldn’t get the Blues on the board.
The Bears didn’t stop all day, with well worked tries frustrating the Blues’ defence.
Abel Carney took control of the game, with the highlight being his connection with centre Zac Russ.
Carney’s vision and Russ’s great ball running combined well to give Russ four tries against his former club.
Russ even found time to reverse the roles and put Carney over with a great ball to get one of his four as well.
North coach Brad McManus said he knew the connection between the two would eventually haul in points.
“They took a little bit of time to get it going but now are very good,” McManus said.
“The whole team is going very well at the moment.”
The Bears played with structure for the full 80 minutes, never letting up on the Blues.
“We didn’t leave from the plan today,” McManus said.
“The forwards were very good and set a great platform for our attack.”
Shane Wadwell once again had a huge game that included some big downfield runs and great offloads that earnt him three Player of the Year points.
Shaun Ferguson was also a stand-out in the pack, with the coach glad to have him back.
“He just settles the pack so well,” McManus said.
He couldn’t settle Brock Wadwell, who once again came to the ref’s attention and spent ten in the bin.
“You have to have one of those in your team,” McManus said.
Narrabri’s Sam Sadler was sent off for the same incident just before halftime, although he wasn’t allowed back.
Ky Ruru made a good recovery from injury, picking up three tries and also shared the players’ player points with Carney.
While Carney scored 30 points, he also left 20 out there in a bad day with the boot.
Brock Wadwell and Marshall Barker both had one attempt each, with misses keeping Carney’s spot fairly safe.
“I am fairly excited about this team,” McManus said.
“And we are all looking forward to playing Gunnedah next week.”
Cameron was by far Narrabri’s best, topping the tackle count by a long margin to earn one point.
