Scone will figure in the top tier for the first time since the inception of the two tier system after locking in fourth spot with a 39-17 win over last year’s grand finalists Narrabri on Saturday.
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The 22-point victory was the Brumbies’ sixth of the season and took them to 30 points.
Pirates lead the way with a maximum 45, ahead of Walcha (39) and Moree (34).
Gunnedah round out the top five after leapfrogging the Blue Boars with a 34-5 victory over Barraba.
Brumbies president Bob Davidson said the players were very excited about making the top tier, but added that he was sure coaches Ben McRae and John Maxwell would be trying to keep a lid on that excitement.
“The job is only half done,” Davidson said.
And it is only going to get tougher.
He said they played well on Saturday.
“They did put a complete game together,” he said.
“I don’t think I’m speaking out of turn that both coaches would have been very happy with the second half.”
“The previous two weeks we seemed to have clocked off in the second half.”
“We ended up losing to Walcha and Gunnedah came awfully close.”
One area Davidson thought they were a lot better was at the breakdown.
“The last few weeks we’ve surrendered a bit of ball to counter-rucking,” he said.
“We maintained possession a lot better.”
It has been a fair turnaround for the Brumbies, who finished on the bottom of the table last season.
Davidson attributed that in large part to better depth.
“Numbers is a huge thing,” he said, pointing out that you can’t have a strong first grade if you don’t have a competitive second grade or a second grade side at all.
The numbers at training have also been “so much better”.
“The boys have obviously realised if they want to be competitive they’ve got to put the effort in at training,” Davidson said.
No doubt they will be putting plenty in this week as they prepare for Pirates on Saturday.
The premiers are coming off a 80-14 win over Inverell.
The other two games were much closer-fought tussles with Quirindi notching their second win of the season 36-25 over Tamworth and Walcha staging a second half stampede to overturn a 22-10 half-time deficit and eclipse Moree 36-32.
