When Walcha fullback Dom Bower finished off a scintillating 50m effort in the opening minutes of the second half on Saturday to put the Rams ahead 15-3, there was a collective sense around Captain Cook Oval - especially among the Rams faithful - of 'here we go'.
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After a tight first half, it was the first real flicker of the competition leaders imposing themselves on the game.
But they weren't able to kick on from there with a resolute Narrabri producing their best performance of the season to claw their way back and secure the points 22-20.
It came down to the final seconds, Blue Boars sharp-shooter Michael Cain kicking his fifth penalty of the game to seal the victory after Rams prop Henry Leslie had crossed off a sneaky lineout play to put the home side ahead with around five minutes remaining.
The final minutes summed up what was a real arm wrestle, particularly in the first half with neither side able to really assert any dominance or build any consistent pressure.
Rams five-eighth Simon Newton scored the only try of the half as the home side took an 8-3 lead into the break.
The most dangerous side in the competition outside of their 22, they showed why early in the second half. After a scrum around half-way, Newton held up the ball and found outside centre Ed Cordingley on the burst. Attracting two defenders Cordingley got an offload away to Bower, and a few sets of hands and 35m later he was in in the corner.
But instead of igniting the Rams it seemed to spark the Blue Boars, the visitors controlling much the game after that. And as the mistakes and penalties from the Rams mounted, they lost Newton mid-way through the half to a yellow-card, and they whittled away their lead, the Blue Boars confidence grew.
It reached it's peak when skipper Matt McDonnell crashed over to put them ahead 19-14 with around 16 minutes to play.
Beaten by 10 back in the first round, McDonnell said the win was "very big" in the context of their season, although it wasn't quite enough to propel them into the four.
"We've missed a few games lately by a few points. It was tough against Moree last weekend (they lost 12-9) but it's hard coming up to Walcha, especially on a day like this," he said.
"It's freezing cold, Walcha are a very good side and their supporters are very loud so it's good to get the win up here."
Having done all the hard work, it looked like the points might be going to slip through their fingers when Leslie scored.
With still time on the clock, McDonnell said his message as they gathered under the posts was to "just stick to what we were doing".
"It was just a smart play from them, we couldn't do much about it, but we were on top so we just had to keep going," he said.
It was a well-crafted operation from the Blue Boars. Defensively they really muscled up, giving the Rams little space to operate in and consistently holding them up in the maul and forcing turnovers. Backing that up they were very effective at slowing the Rams' ball down.
Right in the game, McDonnell said at half-time they spoke about playing "smart footy", and they did that.
"The wind picking up in the second half helped a fair bit," he said.
"I don't think Walcha made the most of that in the first half but we capitalised on it, and kept them in their corner and put pressure on them, got a few penalties and got some points on the board," he said.
He was as usual huge for the Blue Boars, and had a hand in many of those turnovers. Jack and Joe Maunder also had big games, McDonnell also singling out Liam Schwager.
"We know Walcha have got a very slick backline so the boys stepped up today especially Liam Schwager. He's not normally out there in 13 but he tackled well as did Jacob Nichols at 12," he said.
