In Liam Allan's dreams Tamworth's inaugural Reconciliation Round couldn't have gone any better, the Magpies first win at home since August 2021 capping off a special day, for the club and him personally, perfectly.
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The five-eighth was the driving force behind the day, the idea of bringing together two of his greatest passions - his culture and footy - something that had been swirling in his mind for a couple of years.
To see it come to fruition on Saturday was "just unbelievable", he said.
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It was made all the better by first grade beating Barbarians 46-14 to complete a clean sweep to finish off the home season.
"It couldn't have went any better..a win in all grades just topped it off," the 21-year-old said.
He was one of the main architects of the Magpies victory, playing a crucial hand in several of their tries with some precision passing, scoring one of his own, and kicking astutely out of hand and from the tee with five conversions, two of them from the sidelines, and two penalty goals.
"It's probably the best game he's played this year," co-coach Damian Henry said.
The same could be said of the Magpies.
It was the performance that everyone had been waiting for.
"It's been a long time coming that's for sure," Allan said.
"We all worked hard, defence was good, attack was good; it just all seemed to click today, which was nice."
It was just unfortunate that it took until their last home game of the season.
But importantly they are still in the finals hunt with Saturday pretty much "all or nothing" for them.
They seemed to draw inspiration from the day, starting the best they have all season.
A penalty in the first couple of minutes to Allan was followed up by a great try to fullback Mitch Bowen to go up 10-nil after 10 minutes.
![The Magpies men in the special jerseys designed by Paul and Kristi Kirk for Saturday's Reconciliation Round. Picture Tamworth Rugby Union Sporting Club Facebook. The Magpies men in the special jerseys designed by Paul and Kristi Kirk for Saturday's Reconciliation Round. Picture Tamworth Rugby Union Sporting Club Facebook.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/ingYyB85ps4jmG9t8mfsHP/f53ac1f6-4835-4a12-bc99-f1d92f08b65d.jpg/r0_191_2048_1342_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"We came out and started from the start," Henry said.
"We said we wanted to get points early and make them chase us all day and that's what we did."
Allan then had the chance to whip out a post-try dance, the five-eighth selling the dummy and ghosting through to, with the conversion stretch the lead to 17-nil with 15 minutes to play in the first half.
From there they pushed out to 27-7 at half-time.
Blake Clout then gave them the perfect start to the second half, stepping around multiple defenders to make it 34-7 and snuff out any concerns about not being able to carry on from the first half.
![Brock Bayes' timely boot denies Barbarians' Edward Pitt a chip and chase try. Picture by Samantha Newsam Brock Bayes' timely boot denies Barbarians' Edward Pitt a chip and chase try. Picture by Samantha Newsam](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/ingYyB85ps4jmG9t8mfsHP/72571c3e-4043-42e2-97f4-aa8729aefc00.JPG/r0_0_3556_2290_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Their second win over Baa Baas this season - they've also had a draw - Henry felt the big difference on Saturday to recent weeks was their attitude and a bit of self-belief.
"We've been building for this," he said.
"Our defence has been good, and now our attack.. Last week we got held up four times over the line so it was just a matter of getting there."
They now have two weeks off before what is shaping as a showdown for fourth spot against Robb in the final game of the regular season.
Not a lot went right for Baa Baas, but they never gave up, at least twice chasing down the Magpies when a try looked certain.