The absence of several key players proved no hindrance for Central North Rugby Union (CNRU) ladder leaders the Gunnedah Red Devils, as they defeated the fourth-placed Narrabri Blue Boars 35-26 at Gunnedah Rugby Park last Saturday.

It was the second time Gunnedah beat Narrabri this year, with the Red Devils having won 24-17 on Narrabri turf in round two on May 3.

Gunnedah missed James Perrett, Sam Skipper, Gabriel Mahuinga and captain Tim McDermott for various reasons last Saturday, yet the revamped team adjusted accordingly while the Blue Boars also missed several first-choice players.

The first 20 minutes were a grind and an arm wrestle, with no points scored.

The momentum finally went to the Red Devils as they won a scrum against the feed, followed by a good run from Cameron Mitchell.

With the Red Devils maintaining the pressure, stand-in captain Lachy Mack touched down for the opening try which Adrian Burl converted.

Following another scrum, the home side moved the ball left where Emori Waqavulagi made an electrifying run before unloading inside to Asivorosi Turagalevu whose try set up a 14-0 lead.

Narrabri hit back when Sam Spanton put in a hopeful kick which took a drunken bounce and eluded Gunnedah’s fullback, with Charlie Radford pouncing to score near the posts.

The Red Devils quickly replied as a converted try to Burl made the score 21-7 in the 35th minute, and to make matters worse for the Blue Boars they lost Radford to injury.

Gunnedah soon had a setback as Giordan Patea was yellow-carded, but the Red Devils didn’t let it faze them as they maintained their 14-point lead until half-time.

After the Blue Boars crucially failed to find touch from a penalty kick in the second half, the Red Devils applied pressure and were rewarded with a penalty try which made the score 28-7. Narrabri was rocked further as James Albert was yellow-carded after he was ruled to have tackled an opponent without the ball.

Although the hosts had a one-player advantage following Patea’s return, they lapsed as Morgan Jones ran onto a well-timed pass and scored a simple looking try which was converted.

Gunnedah declined a simple shot at goal from a penalty which would have stretched the margin from 14 to 17 points, and then the Red Devils faltered before Burl took an intercept and sent Zac Newcombe racing away to score.

Burl’s great conversion from the right sideline reinstated Gunnedah’s 21-point lead with 21 minutes left, but Narrabri wasn’t done yet.

After the Blue Boars surged forward, a clever flick pass enabled William McDonnell to run in a try which was crucially not converted.

Narrabri received a string of penalties in the space of five minutes but failed to profit, before a raid from Gunnedah came undone.

Jake Packer scurried away to score at the posts for Narrabri which closed the gap to nine points with three minutes left, and there was no further change to the scoreboard.

Gunnedah’s stand-in captain said the previous encounter with Narrabri was also “a real grind” in the first 20 minutes.

“We knew that we just had to weather that first 20 minutes and then it’d start to open up,” Mack said.

“We were sort of planning towards that, and that’s what came through.”

Asked if the absence of several first-choice players made any difference to the way the Red Devils planned things, Mack said, “It probably just made us double down through the week and made sure we really nailed and stuck to our structures and didn’t shy away from what our plan was too much.

“So if anything it probably made us stick to that more than what we normally do.”

Mack said there were “some really good players” in the Narrabri team, and that they could play “really ad lib footy”.

Mack said there were stages that the Red Devils “fell off the ball a little bit” while the Blue Boars capitalised, but that the hosts would hit back.

As for player depth, Mack said the Red Devils had put “a wider squad together” in which case there were a lot of players “on the fringes every week, and shuffling in and out”.

“The fellows that come in, they’ve had good first grade minutes through the year already,” he said.

In reserve grade, meanwhile, Narrabri notched five tries to two in a 32-10 victory.

Gunnedah’s first graders have a bye this weekend while the reserve graders contest the Barraba Rams on Barraba soil.