THERE were no late heroics required this week for Narrabri, with the Blue Boars running amok against Gunnedah at Narrabri’s Dangar Park on Saturday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Hooker Luke Findley and winger Tom Lynch both jagged doubles as the competition leaders thrashed the Red Devils 49-nil.
The comprehensiveness of the scoreline was some relief after getting home on the back of late tries against Moree and then Pirates.
It still wasn’t the 80-minute performance coach Hunter Harley was wanting to see.
“It wasn’t our best performance, particularly our first half,” Harley said.
Similar to the previous week against Pirates, they didn’t start well.
The first 15, particularly, wasn’t great from them.
“Then we straightened the attack and played a lot more direct and finished the half strongly,” Harley said.
“It was pleasing from a coach’s perspective that we remedied some of the things we weren’t doing so well and knew where to improve.”
Which they did, getting out to 18-nil at the break and then about 30-nil early in the second half.
After a bit of a quiet 10- minute passage, they then finished off the second half strongly.
Harley thought their pace was what got them on top.
“We were probably a bit quicker around the park,” Harley said.
“We really worked on trying to move the ball around and play our tempo.
“We did that in patches.”
Findley was their best for the second week running.
Matt Schwager directed things well at half-back, while James Thomas was outstanding in defence at fullback.
Henri Knight also had a great game in attack, with his purposeful running setting up a few of their tries.
“He was our most threatening in attack,” Harley said.
The first 10 minutes were bright for the Red Devils but then it all fell apart.
“We haven’t played well after a bye all year and that showed today,” co-coach Nik Hannaford said.
He said they had a couple of opportunities early but let the Blue Boars off, and they were paying for it from then on.
“Our defence through the middle and wide was pretty ordinary,” he said.
“That gave them a roll-on and it went from there.”
Then when they did have some territory or possession they couldn’t string any phases together.
The one positive aspect was their counter-rucking.
“There was a lot more concerted effort at the breakdown,” he said.
Breakaways Sam Michelsen and Joe Duffy and half-back Dave Heyman were their best.
In the Tier 2 fixtures, Scone enjoyed their best win for the year, belting Quirindi 40-nil down at Scone, while Inverell edged out Barraba 26-19 after scores were locked at 12-all at half-time.