Gulargambone remembers Kennaugh at Old Boys Day

The away sides came away victors in both matches. Prior to kick off for the first XV teams former Western Plains Rugby president, Greg Whitely, who worked together with Barney on the board for a number of years, gave a fitting tribute to Barney for all the work he had done for not only Gulargambone Rugby, but also Western Plains Rugby.

This tribute for Barney and his family was finished off with a moment’s silence for long-time supporter Joy Kennaugh, who recently passed away. The club was grateful to Mr Whitely for his kind words and the Warren Rugby Club for participating in the pre-game ceremony.

Gulargambone Rugby Union Club also passed on their condolences to the Kennaugh family for their loss of Joy.

Saturday would have no doubt been a day of many emotions. In the first match of the day, the Flamin’ Galahs went down in a hard fought loss to Warren 4-1.

The Pumaettes proving too strong and Gulargambone will be looking to bounce back against Walgett this weekend.

The first XV team went down 56-10 to a strong Warren outfit who have locked in second place heading to the finals in two weeks. With too much pace in the backs, they were clinical in the first half, scoring a number of run away tries. But it was without strong performances to half half Archie Haling, inside centre Nick Ryan, and hooker Stevo Owens who all put in a gutsy display for the old boys and supporters.

The front row of Will Bowman, who has continued to do his thing each week, led the forward pack along side Toby Hill, a nephew of Barney’s, who played a full outstanding 80 minutes at loose head prop.

The play of the day was no doubt, Curtis O’Connor’s individual brilliance which started 60 metre from the Warren try line with a chip and chase, grubber, regather and a 30 metre pass to a lurking second rower in Michael Roche who was gifted an easy try off the back of an excellent play.

One for the highlight reel. Gulargambone pulled themselves together at half-time and their dogged defence had Warren rattled for a a period of play. This saw the likes of Luke Vagg, Matt Howard and Jasen Starr provide some solid hits in defence. This aggressively play helped Archie Haling score an excellent try rewarding him for his great game at halfback.

Gular fought to the end with Warren scoring two late tries to seal a well deserved 57-10 win. Points this week went to: Archie Haling three and Player’s Player, Nick Ryan two and Stevo Owens one.