Impatience and Simon Newton's boot cruelled Narrabri as they just fell short of hosting their first home grand final since 2015.
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Undefeated through the second round the Blue Boars will now have to overcome premiers Pirates to have a chance at the silverware after the Rams prevailed 20-17.
The game was there for the taking for the Blue Boars, and at 17-all at half-time, after Michael Cain had slotted a penalty from half-way after the bell, the Blue Boars were full of confidence. As they had consistently been able to do, they they backed themselves to grind it out.
"If we could hold the ball we knew we could get the points, we just had to get down there and capitalise on our opportunities," skipper Matt McDonnell said.
"But we just didn't get to do that, Walcha just put us under too much pressure in that second half early on."
In contrast to the first half where they enjoyed an even share of possession and territory, if anything they probably had the better of it, the Blue Boars spent a lot of the second half trying to work their way out of their half.
A big part of that was Simon Newton's boot. McDonnell felt that was a decisive factor.
"It's a big difference.You watch Simon Newton get Walcha out of their own 22 with his kicking game," he said.
"I think that's what we lacked a bit today as well, just not executing our kicking game well, only kicking it out 10-15 metres and Walcha's got the ball again and putting us under pressure."
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The other thing that really hurt them was not being able to take their opportunities, and McDonnell thought they were probably a bit impatient at times.
"I think we got down there and got a little bit too keen. We should have slowed things down a little bit and taken it easy," he said.
"I think we pushed the pass a little bit too much but we'll learn from that and we know how to beat them next time. We've just got to hold the ball a little bit longer in the second half."
The positive was their defence.
They repelled the Rams for 15 minutes at one point in the second half, and similar to their round clash really crammed the Rams' backs for room.
McDonnell said Pirates "won't be an easy task either".
The key message will be patience.
"When we get in the 22 it doesn't matter whether we come away with three points or a try, we need to get some points," he said.
They also need to improve their lineout.
"That put us under a bit of pressure, we can't be having crooked throws especially down our end," he said.
He was as usual in the thick of the action, and thought backrow cohorts Jack Maunder and Sam Knight, and inside centre Jake Packer were their best.
