Boggabri Kangaroos scored their first win over Kootingal Roosters since the two sides were promoted to the Whitehaven Coal Group 4 first grade competition, as well as joining them in the top three on the 2024 premiership table with Saturday’s 28-22 victory at Jubilee Oval, Boggabri.
On a wet and miserable day, the Roos dampened the Rooster hopes of remaining at the top of the table dropping them both down to equal second.
Moree Boars defeated Wee Waa on Sunday to move into the outright leaders’ position at Boughton Oval.
“We got the monkey off the back,” Boggabri coach Shane Rampling said in regard to beating the Roosters for the first time in their new first division era.
“We did make it hard for ourselves though. Both teams were guilty of dropping a lot of ball though but the rain made it harder.”
That the game went down to the final seconds was testament to the effort from both sides.
“I was happy with the win,” Rampling said “the rain did make it hard for both sides.”
“We kept inviting them back into the game too but held on.”
He thought Iliasa Kalokalodrau had a “massive game” for the Roos.
“He was strong defensively and in attack,” he said.
Andrew Wallace controlled the game well for us,” he added of the halfback.
“I thought Joe (Josefa Goneduadua) ran the ball hard on the wing and got us on the front foot in our sets. I thought Rob Doolan was dangerous too when he ejected himself into the game. It was a good team performance too, we scrambled well in defence. We’ve also got a lot of improvement in us.”
Kootingal coach Mark Sheppard said his side “had a crack” in a game where it lost captain Logan Howard early to a knee injury.
“We never got into the game,” he lamented “but we were in it until the last minute and could have broken their hearts.”
Losing Howard to injury and another sin-binning didn’t help the Rooster cause but he thought backrower Liam Hatch, who scored two tries, had a “massive game”.
“Played his heart out,” Sheppard said of the secondrower.
“Johnny Seabrook and Archer Thistle were outstanding too and Adam Murphy came back early from injury to help us out.
“We lost Floyd Gillan before the game and we had young Pat Hoffman debut off the bench. He got our players player and three points (club b&f).”
“The game was a slugfest too in the rain, terrible day really. Boggabri are a big side, got some big boys. You’ve got to give them credit. They’ve got something going out there.”
All game results
Ladies League Tag
Kootingal 54 defeated Boggabri 0
Gunnedah 16 defeated North Tamworth 12
Moree 50 defeated Wee Waa 6
First Grade
Boggabri 28 defeated Kootingal 22
Dungowan 48 defeated Narrabri 14
North Tamworth 22 defeated Gunnedah 20
Moree 60 defeated Wee Waa 0
Second Grade
Kootingal 8 defeated Boggabri 6
Dungowan 70 defeated Narrabri 12
Gunnedah 30 defeated North Tamworth 10
Under 18s
Kootingal 22 defeated North Tamworth 6
Dungowan 24 defeated Narrabri 22
NOTE: There are no games this coming weekend, as there is an NRL game Saturday night and Tri Series on Sunday, both at Scully Park, Tamworth.
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