Central North Rugby: Quirindi snatch first points at the death

Up 24-5 at half-time, it looked like the win might have slipped through the Lions fingers when Barraba tied the scores with around 10 minutes to go.

But the home side showed it wasn’t giving up the points without a fight and started to put the Rams under a lot of pressure. That pressure eventually paid off, with Tanner scoring with about a minute on the clock.

Elliot Tourle added the extras to secure a confidence boosting 31-24 victory.

As the scoreboard suggested, second grade coach Mike Whitney said the Lions dominated the first half, with the lineout functioning well and the backline starting to click.

That was where they got on top of the Rams, fullback George Duddy crossing twice in the first half.

They also had the advantage of  – what they judged to be a 20-point - wind behind them and utilised it well. 

But in what has been an all to familiar story this season they fell off in the 20 minutes after half-time.

“Half-time seems to kill us,” Whitney said.

They led Gunnedah at half-time, and held Pirates to just nine points.

On Saturday they started missing first-up tackles, and giving away silly penalties, which enabled a Rams side that had started to find a bit more structure, to get some momentum.

Fortunately for the Lions in the last quarter they seemed to wake up again. Number eight Tom Kaye was the players pick as their best. Tanner and hooker Gordon McNeill were also strong.