A tough and gritty performance against the Barbarians saw the Armidale Blues re-claim top spot on the New England Rugby table.
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This year’s first grade competition has rarely seen a blow-out with many claiming it to be the closest yet.
Saturday’s battle between the Blues and Barbarians proved it with 60 minutes played before the first try was scored.
The only points in the opening-half came via a penalty goal to Blues’ centre Navi Tiko for his side to lead 3-nil at the break.
The Baa Baas, wearing special jerseys in honour of NAIDOC week, hit back with two penalty goals of their own to grab the lead 6-3 before their opponents notched up the first five-pointer an hour into the game.
With the tryline wide open, the Baa Baas looked a certainty to score before a knock on cost them both the chance to cross and on the scoreboard.
From the mistake, Blues’ winger Lachie Pollard latched on to the ball and kicked deep into the Baa Baas’ territory.
Chasing his own kick, Pollard re-gathered the ball and found fullback Sam Lomax in support who went in under the posts for the Blues to find themselves back in front 10-6.
Seven minutes later, Barbarians’ forward Aaron McKay bustled his way over to take a 11-10 lead for his team.
With seven minutes left on the clock, the Blues managed to claw back in front through Jack Grant.
Two minutes later, the Blues win a scrum and take off down the short side to find Mark O’Brien who crossed in the corner to stretch the lead to 20-11.
A penalty goal to the Baa Baas on the buzzer brought the deficit to 20-14 in favour of the Blues. The win put them in top spot on the table, one point in front of Robb College who suffered a one-point defeat to Tamworth on Saturday.
Blues co-coach Luke Stephen was pleased with his side’s grinding performance after a handful of personnel changes from the week prior.
“We are obviously very happy to have got the win and put the pressure on the table at the top,” he said.
“Our structure was a little bit rusty with the changes we had but our ability to hold on to possession and build phases in that first 20 made us know that as the game grew on and the opportunity to make plays happen, and they opened up for us with the game on the line.”
Their opening try may have come against the run of play but Stephen attributed their fast finish to the early pressure they put on the Barbarians.
“That [Lomax’s try] was a bounce of the ball thing and then Baa Baas generated some good pressure and put the guys under a lot of pressure,” he said.
“To the guys' credit they were finally able to generate some attack and take advantage of some tired bodies to score two good tries to get us clear and get us the win.”