North Tamworth’s much-anticipated clash against Narrabri at Bear Park on Sunday fizzled like a dud firecracker as the home side won 40-6 in a canter.
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The coup d'état on the match’s excitement punch was performed by an unlikely source – Mr. Excitement himself, Blues fullback Brenton Cochrane.
Cochrane’s sillyness late in the first half, in which he got 10 in the bin for getting into a disagreement with a Bears player while the Blues were trying to reduce a 16-6 deficit, was exacerbated 10 fold by him getting sent off – apparently for telling the referee what he thought of the decision.
Almost immediately, Bears second-rower Shane-Leigh Wadwell backed himself and scored his second for the match from 15 metres out.
Centre Richard Clegg added the extras and the Bears led 22-6 at halftime – the confirmation that the Blues were dead men walking coming early in the second half when centre Brad Marshall sliced through Narrabri’s defence from just inside the 20 to cross.
From there the match went through the motions.
And although it fell short of the hype, that was not North Tamworth’s fault.
Blues coach John Rumsby said the Bears were the better side from the outset.
They established an early 12-0 lead through tries to five-eighth Scott Blanch and Wadwell.
“We probably didn’t play as well as we trained this week, and that’s a bit disappointing, but they were really good and strong,” Rumsby said.
"And we’re on their home turf … we got what we deserved, probably. They were on top from the very beginning, really. Again, that drop ball has been creeping into our game and it happened again today.
“And we missed a couple of one-on-one tackles that led to tries, and they sort of just bashed us up. They played well.”
After opening the season with four straight wins, including a 32-28 opening round home defeat of Norths, the Blues have now lost two in a row. The Bulldogs pulled off an upset 42-22 win over Narrabri at Gunnedah the previous week.
But Rumsby did not seem too concerned after Sunday’s match.
“One thing our guys don’t do is lack confidence,” he said. “None of the footballers do, really.
“We’ll just go back to the drawing board, (as) they say, and have a look at it.”
Brad McManus, coach of the competition-leading Bears, could hardly have been happier after the match.
Pre-game, he spoke of the Bears’ desire to avenge the opening round loss to Narrabri.
“We come here with a job to do today and we’ve been working on it ever since we were beaten out there (Narrabri),” he said.
“The boys have got to give themselves a big pat on the back for the way they’ve worked the last six weeks.”
Last round, Collegian secured their first win of the season by downing Wee Waa, and on Sunday Wee Waa erased their doughnut with a 32-16 home defeat of South West.
The sides have a week off due to the Queen’s birthday long weekend.
