IF Sunday’s much anticipated Group 19 top-of-the-table clash between Inverell and Boomerangs didn’t produce the free-flowing excitement most fans expected, then it made up for it with ferocious forward exchanges and a seesaw struggle before Inverell emerged 36-32 winners.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The stop-start nature of the encounter mitigated against exciting play, something both coaches mentioned after the match, but both teams had their chances to win.
“We made four critical mistakes, mid-tackle count, in the final fifteen minutes,” Inverell mentor Peter Stevens said.
“And they (Boomies) would have finished over a lot of teams but, to our credit, we held them out.”
The Boomies opened the scoring with a penalty goal in the fifth minute but Inverell grabbed the next two tries to Guy Mepham (hooker) and Alex McCosker (second row) and took a 10-2 advantage.
In all, the lead changed hands four times during a game played with the intensity of a grand final.
Inverell went further ahead in the 27th minute when livewire fullback Jayden Connors burst onto an offload from Mepham to race away just after Moree second-rower Mundarra Weldon was sinbinned.
Despite being one man down, the Rangs scored a converted try to replacement Stewart Porter and, when Weldon returned, added another to fullback Lloyd Munro just prior to the break to reclaim the lead, 18-16.
Just after resumption, Inverell lost the ball in a tackle and moments later centre Brian Saunders crossed in the corner.
But just four minutes later, the Hawks levelled the scores when McCosker made a little break, Matthew Bull gave a sharp pass to winger Mathew Milsa and McCosker backed up to take the inside pass and score a good try.
On 50 minutes, Inverell made a nice break on halfway and Connors backed up to scoot away for a valuable four- pointer.
Then, with Boomies prop Toby Key in the bin, Mepham spun out of a tackle and dived over for his second.
Suddenly, Inverell had raced to a 34-22 lead and looked home.
Inverell winger Harold Duncan was sin-binned and Rangs five eighth Ricky Roberts darted through to narrow the gap to a converted try.
With ten minutes remaining, Mepham took the easy two from in front after a dangerous tackle.
Play ebbed and flowed and veteran centre Craig McKenzie scored in the final minute.
With four points the difference, Moree declined the kick but were unable to make the final play.
“I don’t like to bag referees but there wasn’t much consistency out there today,” Boomerangs coach Chris Binge said.
“But we’ll learn a lot from that game.
“We know what we did wrong and we’ll work on that to fix the little things.”
Stevens said his side struggled a bit defensively in the first half in what was a real stop-start match.
“But we held them out in the final fifteen minutes.
“Now we have to turn up for the next two games (against Glen Innes and Warialda) and we’ll get the home semi.”
Inverell’s best was hooker Mepham who organised play well and made several nice dummy half breaks while McCosker and centre Bradon Sunderland were also excellent while Roberts was best for the Boomies.