Central North Rugby Round 6: Walcha end Gunnedah's unbeaten run with 50-7 thrashing

On a bitterly cold day in Walcha, the Rams ran red-hot as they hammered a previously unbeaten and lacklustre Gunnedah 50-7.

The diehards that braved the barely double digit temperature were treated to some brilliant rugby from the home side as they continued to find the form that took them to the New England title last season and the Central North minor premiership two years ago.

"We're really building to something," five-eighth Dom Bower said.

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"It's taken a few weeks to sort of get a few combinations, we've been chopping and changing and a few things like that, but we're building the way we want to now."

"We're still not polished and there's still a fair few mistakes in our game but we're getting there."

The Rams were on the front foot pretty much from the whistle, coming through and cleaning up the scraps after the Red Devils failed to take the kick-off cleanly.

Not long after No.8 Wally Davidson crossed and from there they dictated proceedings.

Afforded the quick ball they thrive off, the Rams backs were at their mercurial best with inside centre Pat Keen crossing for three tries and winger Sam Lomax and fullback Ed Churchill two apiece.

The latter was in the thick of the action all day and had some magical touches at either end of the field in the first half.

After weaving his way to the tryline to score the Rams' fourth try, he later denied the Red Devils what looked a certain five-pointer. Enjoying a rare foray into their 22, fullback James Perrett and winger DJ Morrison combined to create a two-on-one.

But Churchill read the inside ball back inside to Perrett perfectly and was able to flick the intercept up and regather.

He wasn't the only one to pull of a try-saver with Red Devils half-back Ben Maunder earlier in the half somehow rolling Lomax dead before he could put the ball down for what would have been the Rams' second try.

But it was only a brief reprieve. Only minutes later he found himself in space again and strolled over to make it 12-nil after 10 minutes.

Keen and Churchill then got in on the action as they stretched their lead to 24-nil at half-time.

After Keen scored early in the second half they started pushing a few passes, but they found their rhythm again towards the end of the half with Churchill and Keen crossing in quick succession.

Perrett finally gave the Red Devils something to cheer about but it was the Rams that had the final say, Lomax crossing for his second with a couple of minutes to go to take them to 50.

Bower said it was probably the best as a backline they have played this season but said a lot of the credit belongs to the forwards.

"We're starting to find some space but it's coming from the forwards more than us," he said.

"They're really putting the platform for us and that's opening holes outwide."

"We've got a very young forward pack who have taken a bit of gelling but they're really kicking into gear now and taking control of the game."

Red Devils assistant coach Peter Altona said they just really didn't turn up in the first half and were then chasing the game in the second half.

"I think we just lacked motivation today," he said.

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