Central North Rugby Round 9: Moree Bulls defeat Narrabri Blue Boars

A large sponsors day crowd filled Weebolla Oval on Saturday, June 15 to watch the rival clubs go head-to-head in their first meeting of the 2019 season, and the final match of the first round of the Central North competition.

And, as always, it was a close match. Narrabri put the first points on the board with a penalty goal by Michael Cain, before Josh Walker went over the line for the Bulls, followed up by a successful conversion by Jono Spain, which saw the score 7-6 at half time.

In the second half, Maciu Latabua crossed the line for Moree, while Cain kicked another two penalties for Narrabri, bringing the score to 12-9. In the dying minutes the Blue Boars came close to scoring and taking the lead, but the Bulls' defence proved too strong and the home side managed to come away with the win.

"It was a good result," Bulls first grade co-coach Damien Kelly said.

"The defensive side was pleasing - they didn't score a try, they scored three penalties, so to keep them tryless is a good result.

"To get the points and beat Narrabri and not let them get a try, is pleasing."

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While their defence was finally where it needed to be, Kelly said his side "didn't attack as well as we'd like".

"It wasn't a pleasing game to watch," he said.

"There was a lot of stop start and penalties that we weren't sure why they were given, on both sides.

"Our break-down wasn't great. Our attack and break-down needed a little more work."

Nick Smith got the points for the Bulls after a "blinder" of a game - "he tackled his heart out" - while Kelly said Matt Wannan, Angus Smith in the second row and Daniel Sweeney at fullback also had good games.

"We all defended well as a team, and as a club - second grade only conceded one try and across all three grades we only conceded two tries all day," Kelly said.

The Bulls second grade side got revenge against the Blue Boars for their premiership loss last year, dominating the visitors 43-5 in the grand final rematch, while a third grade match also saw the Bulls win.

The women's sevens side lost both their matches, 10-31 and 5-24, to Narrabri.

The Bulls have now faced each of the other eight teams in the Central North competition, and Kelly said he's happy to finish round one with only one loss to first grade's name.

First grade are currently sitting second on the ladder, behind Walcha and ahead of Gunnedah.

"It's a good place to be, as we want to be in the major semi-final," Kelly said.

"Our goal is to finish first but if we can't get that, at least if we're in the top two we havea chance to host the grand final."

The Bulls will host ninth-placed Inverell at Weebolla Oval this Saturday.

"We put a few points on them when we played over there, but that was round one," Kelly said.

"We're not taking them lightly. Hopefully we'll have most of the side from the weekend.

"We're still missing Jordie Cosh, Ben Williams and Cameron Rogers in our backs.

"Hopefully we'll get everyone fit and healthy to play a bit better this second round."