Sport
4 August, 2024
Gular’s sweet 16 plucky in loss to Bourke-Brewarrina
What a courageous effort by the 16 players that took the field to take on the Bourke Brewarrina men's team on Saturday, July 26, that had the luxury of nine reserves to that of the one reserve for the Gular men.
By The Substitute Pink Parrot
The Gular men through the entirety of their match never took a backward step and never gave up although in the first half tries to the Bourke-Brewarrina team were coming frequently it was mostly due to poor ball security or defence by the Gular lads.
Once this was addressed, the game became far more competitive. It was one of those games where with great kicks and breaks, the Gular team just did not get the bounce of the ball, and with the breakdown in the play, the opposition quickly counter-attacked. The forward pack was outstanding and hard runs and clean-outs by the front row of Mitch Graham, Steve Owens, and Will Bowman kept the Bourke/Brewarrina forwards looking all day. The return of father figure Jason Starr to the forward pack gave the younger players much-needed confidence in their play.
Jack: “I will do the clearing kicks from now on” Bradley and Nick Ryan were at their crafty best all game in attack and defence. Blake Duff and Isaac “The Axe” Grimshaw were solid in defence and around the breakdown. The thief in the night Tim Bowman was in every ruck and maul he could stick his head into, gaining valuable breakdown ball for the lads. Once again, in the second half, the Gular lads found their mark and began making inroads in the Bourke/Brewarrina defence.
The Zac attack of Zac Ferguson and Zac Mills was gaining good metres with good balls and kicks behind the play. A scrum infringement that went against the Gular team led to Will Bowman trying to explain the correct rule interpretation to the referee. And in any good debate, one needs to emphasise their argument, but this was not appreciated by the match official who gave Will a ten-minute break on the sideline to do some more research.
This spurred on the Gular lads who began to make real good yards in the breakdown, and in the last 20 minutes of the match, the Gular lads were all over their opposition scoring two unanswered tries. These were scored by winger Darcy Neeves and Will Bowman - once Bowman’s ten-minute cooling-off period had expired. The final score at the end of the game was a 54-10 win by the home team Bourke-Brewarrina over the gallant Gular men's team.
Points for the day went as follows: One point to one part of the red mist, Steve Owens. Two points went to Isaac ‘The Axe’ Grimshaw. Three points and players player went to the second part of the red mist, Nick Ryan.
Next week, as mentioned in the ladies' report, the Gular teams will head to Coonamble next Saturday to take on their arch-rivals in both the men's and ladies' competitions. This will be Coonamble’s Ladies' Day, so this will be no easy task for either team, and both teams will have to be at their best.
