Same score, new script for Boar draw at Moree

Not for the first time in recent years, the two foes couldn’t be split as the Blue Boars had to settle for their second 25-all draw in as many weeks.

The tale of the two couldn’t have been more different.

Whereas last week Narrabri made the late charge, on Saturday they were the ones run down, with the Bulls overturning a 19-11 half-time deficit. 

Angus Boileau scored the leveller with about seven minutes to go, skipper Ben Carrigan then adding the extras to lock the scores up.

“It was certainly a big improvement on where we’ve been the last two weeks,” Carrigan said.

The big one was they started a lot better.

“That’s what’s cost us. Defensively we weren’t there,” he said. “We had a couple of little defensive lapses which led to their tries.”

But on the whole it was a lot better.

“They didn’t score a try in the second half, which was pleasing,” Carrigan said.

He said they probably had the better of the possession in the first half but they couldn’t convert it. 

In contrast, the Blue Boars struck pretty much every time they got down the Bulls’ end.

The talk at half-time consequently centred on tightening their defence up and playing to their structure.

“We knew if we could build a bit of pressure we could score points,” he said.

Just a few handling  errors let them down.

“We probably had enough ball to win that game but we couldn’t capitalise,” Carrigan said.

Still, it was a good result, from their first game against them and their last couple of weeks.

Andrew McNamara was their best up front. Matt Wannan and Kyle O’Connor shared the two points with Jack Strahley picking up the one.

From feeling last week like the draw was a win, Blue Boars coach Nick Lennon said Saturday felt like a loss.

They didn’t have a lot of ball to operate with in the first half but played well, and defended well.

“The set piece was good,” Lennon said. “We had a dominance in the scrum and the lineout was going well.”

He thought they might run away with it.

But the wheels just fell off in the second half.

“We gave away penalties and made mistakes, and took the wrong options,” he said.

“The big thing was Moree were very good at pilfering the ball at the breakdown.

“When we got tackled they had players there.

“Our support wasn’t good.”

He commented that they looked tired.

Even still, when the Bulls scored that late try, he thought if they could just get down their end they could score.

But it wasn’t to be.

Mitch Kelly had another strong game in the midfield and topped the points ahead of Daniel Kahl and Matt Schwager.