A second-half fightback enabled the Gunnedah Red Devils to post a come-from-behind 33-24 victory against the Inverell Highlanders in last Saturday’s Central North rugby union clash at Gunnedah Rugby Park.
It was Gunnedah’s second victory from three matches so far this season, as well as the team’s first appearance on home soil.
Inverell led 12-0, 17-7 and 24-14 at various stages before Gunnedah scored the final 19 points of the game without dominating.
The Red Devils missed a lot of tackles in the first half, and also lacked structure while repeatedly throwing the ball wide at the wrong time.
Following a few penalties and a couple of scrums to the Highlanders, their captain Tom Bucknell crossed the tryline from close range to open the scoring in the seventh minute.
The hosts conceded further penalties, before the visitors were penalised when they threatened the tryline. Gunnedah lost possession due to a crooked line-out throw, before recycling the ball well.
The Highlanders won a scrum in their own half on the 25-minute mark, with an ensuing pass finding Sakaraia Koroi who exploited some ineffective defence and broke away for a converted try.
Gunnedah neared Inverell’s tryline but conceded a penalty, and then Inverell squandered possession. With the Red Devils threatening the tryline again, Ben Hamparsum wrestled with an opponent and crashed over between the posts for Gunnedah’s first try.
Gunnedah survived the pressure as Inverell forced its way towards the tryline again, before the Highlanders swung the ball right where Savenaca Bainimarama scurried to score an acrobatic try in the corner.
Inverell appeared certain to take a 10-point lead into half-time, but Gunnedah had one last chance to score after receiving a penalty just before the siren sounded. Inverell’s defence seemingly switched off, enabling Giordan Patea to run in what appeared a lamentably easy try which Adrian Burl converted to trim the margin to three points.
The Highlanders scored first in the second half to reinstate their 10-point advantage, before Gunnedah fullback James Perrett made big metres on a kick return. A couple of his teammates continued the momentum, before Junior Nasilivata held the ball in one hand and was too much for the opposing defence as he broke clear and scored an unconverted try.
Following two penalties in quick succession, Gunnedah maintained possession until Billy Tregoning surged over the tryline to level the scores. Burl’s conversion put the home side in front for the first time with 23 minutes remaining.
The Highlanders thought they regained the lead as they crossed the tryline following a line-out, but the try was disallowed.
Inverell received back-to-back penalties before a forward pass from Gunnedah was followed by a string of penalties to the Red Devils. Highlanders forward Tomasi Senacakau was yellow-carded, as Inverell tried to contain the home side.
Inverell’s resistance broke as Gunnedah’s Lachlan McArthur crossed the tryline from barely a metre out, and Burl’s conversion gave the hosts a handy nine-point lead which remained intact for the final five minutes.
Red Devils coach Daniel Martin seemingly had mixed thoughts, while noting the stop-start nature of the season so far.
“I’m happy that I’ve seen a lot of fight within the boys, but what’s really hurting us is the lack of cohesion,” he said.
“And that’s the lack of games that we’ve been playing because we go two games, two weeks off, a game, now we’ve got another two weeks off.
“So our cohesion’s not getting there because of how the season’s started for us.
“I think once we start to build a bit of game time with everyone, things will be a lot different.”
Having been unimpressed with Gunnedah’s first-half display, Martin said the Red Devils “started actually being a little more cohesive in the second half which was pleasing”.
“The guys still aren’t understanding the structures that we need to play, and that’s purely a game time thing,” he said.
Martin said the Red Devils were building resilience, while he was happy with the win but also “a bit flat because there were four tries scored against us”.
Martin described two of Inverell’s tries as “very soft”, also saying “we made life hard for ourselves”.
“A better side would have really hurt us today if they were on,” he said.
In the other grades, Inverell won 35-7 in reserve grade while Gunnedah won the women’s game on forfeit.
An understrength Gunnedah women’s squad had an entertaining hit-out which was largely social and light-hearted, while a few ring-ins from Scone and Glen Innes also took part.
Following a bye for Gunnedah and then a competition bye, the Red Devils host Quirindi at Gunnedah Rugby Park on June 14.
To order photos from this page click here
