The Bluetongues bring us a home Grand Final!

The wind was blowing and it wasn’t even 8 degrees C when the sun made a rare appearance.

The warm-up game saw the Braidwood Redbacks going down by a convincing four tries to zip against the bigger Narooma Whales side 24-3.

Coach Bill Garnock decided for a long warm up so we didn’t have a slow start and for players from afar to understand how each other played.

With the breeze, sun and slope going the Bluetongue’s way we started with a short kickoff going high to Sio Papalli, who held his own against three big Boars, and this really set the scene for a great struggle.

We had the same referee as last week who amazingly kept the scrappiness and misses to a minimum.

The nerves were an issue for both sides with many scrums being set from knock-ons and neither side finding any rhythm. Early engaging, pushing before the ball came in and second row feeds made the forwards more edgy and eager to “get one over” the other pack.

The Boars won a scrum deep in our danger zone and their big No8 Red smash over out wide and wasn’t converted.

The lineouts were dominated by us, with Ross Page being lifted high by Vin and Nath as he didn’t let the Bay get any good clean ball.

With Jeffreys brothers, John and Will, teaming together in the halves there was plenty of talk and organising of runners and defence.

Off a set play, the ball went wide through the hands with flying Matt Joseph (Delegate Station) picking up his first try of the day due to two of their back three dropping back for a kick that never came and unable to put a hand on our winger. Murray Jackson (Will’s Plumbing Service) converted and we were in front 7-5.

In a mirror play it happened again and although “Joey” was heavily marked he still got the ball over the line, this time right near the corner. Not converted, 12-5.

Another short kick off, this time to Vinnie right on the sideline saw his great strength staying in the field and placing the ball back securely.

More great defence from our forwards saw mistakes from the Boars but from our scrum and through the hands saw the No10 Charlie intercept an even the score right on halftime, 12 all.

We knew we had to dig deep in the second half due to not scoring enough with the advantages going our way.

Pressure from the loose forwards saw a skewed kick from the Boars going straight to Joey who jinked past two players but the kicker covered and ripped the ball from him over the line!

Next big Nath just steamed over taking the defence with him but again the try was disallowed.

The ball went wide to Shaun Walcott from Chris Anderson and crossed the line, but the pass was called forward. We could’ve imploded and blamed each other plus the judgement of the Referee, but we just knew we would have to be patient to beat them.

A quick penalty saw a fresh Butch Curtis (Bombala Cycles & Chainsaws) monster his way over the line next to the posts which Muz knocked over, 19-12.

The Boars started some strong running and we had to muscle up in defence but they were disallowed a try due a forward last pass.

Good relieving kicks finding touch and frustrating the opposition’s momentum saw Matt Joseph cross for his hat-trick, 24-12.

Their reserve forward “Animal” took a 10 minute break in the sinbin for hitting Andrew Boreham illegally in a lineout.

Team Manager, Brad Yelds saw an opportunity to empty the bench to get some fresh legs in defence and cleanouts in the rucks with the opposition having only 14 players.

The game went from side to side and up and down the pitch but the Boars ran out of time. Final score saw the Bluetongues 24-12 winners!

After a horror run into the finals with two away losses and two byes, to see this level of commitment, cohesion and passion from players was excellent and it was a great game to watch.

There were no points awarded in the finals but everyone played above and beyond.

This weekend sees Narooma Whales play the Boars at Bateman’s Bay to see the winner come up the mountains to play a very excited Bombala rugby team at 3pm Saturday, September 4 at the Bombala Exhibition Ground. See you there!

Following the excitement of the Grand Final, the Bombala Bluetongues presentation night will be held on September 11.

It has been an extremely successful season for the hard working team, and the Bombala Bluetongues would like to thank their sponsors –

Bombala RSL Club (major sponsor), Delegate Hotel, Linga Longa, Ingelwood Pastoral Co, Gunningrah Pastoral Co, Bombala Pharmacy Daniel Armstrong, RetraVision Bombala, Bombala Cycles & Chainsaws, Wilton Logging, Hammond Logging, W&W Hampshire Plumbing, Brownlie Bros Shearing, D&M Automotive Bombala, Willmott Forests, Foodworks Bombala, South Bukalong, Delegate Station Pastoral Co, Will’s Plumbing Services, Ron & Lexi Milliner Earthmoving Contactors, Mike Walcott and Associates, Village Ford, Landmark Bom/Del, WIND Prospect C.W.P, GPM Gardening, The Organic Meat Company, Blacksland Mawson & Rose, and Lowanna Pastoral Co.