After eighty minutes of rugby union in the heat, Armidale Blues and Robb College couldn’t be split as they opened their 2018 accounts at Bellevue Oval.
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Robb College snuck away to an early lead but the Blues staged a comeback late in the game to finish with a 27-all draw.
Neck-and-neck throughout the clash, the students managed to get away from the Blues early on but two minutes before the full-time siren, the Blues capitalised on field position to level the scoreline and land a draw.
After a disappointing 2017 season, where they finished at the bottom of the table, Blues coach Luke Stephen was pleased to land a draw with last year’s runners-up.
Stephen was impressed with his side’s ability to remain cool under pressure.
“Any result is a good result at this stage of the year, particularly to be down by 12 with 10 to go,” he said.
“I don't think it was like previous years when we were a bit rusty, early we looked composed.
“We have spoken a lot about our ability to stay calm and execute and that really showed.
“It was an unbelievable performance by the forwards and our backs did well with what they had.”
While Stephen was happy to claim equal points, his counterpart, Robb coach Sam Ditchfield was disappointed with the penalty count.
“We just got penalised out of the game, it was a 20 to six penalty count and it was too hard to fight against,” he said.
“Decisions are the decisions, you can't argue against that but it was a very lopsided penalty count.”
Although it wasn’t the resulted Robb had hoped for, Ditchfield was happy with his side’s effort.
“It was close at the end there and two minutes to go, if we could have held them out we could have snuck away with the win but comps aren't won in the first round so we will go from here,” he said.
“We supported well and tackled well.”
“We are a much smaller side than the team we played against, we gave away a lot of per man, per kilo so I am really pleased with the way we defended.
“We have had a limited preparation – the boys have only been back at uni for three weeks – so we have it all ahead of us.
“The boys are fitter than they were this time last year but are probably lacking a bit of match fitness.”
Robb have the bye this weekend before heading to Tamworth to face New England newcomers Tamworth Magpies for round three.
“We are not going to play much footy in the next couple of weeks but it will give us a chance to work on our structures a bit,” Ditchfield said.