The Batemans Bay Boars had won all but one game going into the weekend’s contest against the Yass Rams, who only secured one win in their last two seasons.
Fortunes flipped when the two sides met at Victoria Park, as the Yass Rams provided what may have been a big surprise for the rest of the competition, winning 28-26.
The result was certainly not a surprise for Rams Coach Ian MacFarlane, who had priorly predicted the wins were coming and still sounded somewhat subdued despite the win.
“We’ve still got a bit to improve on, and it wasn’t the prettiest win, but we’ll take the five points,” he said.
Ian says the Boars play “scrappy” and at times got in the head of the youthful Rams.
“They play a real scrappy type of game where they slow things down and get in your face a bit.”
“When they stick to the structure, the structure works, and they score tries, then all of a sudden they have a brain snap and go away from the structure and then wonder why nothing works.”
“That’s just youth and trying to improvise and not sticking to the game plan, so we’ll address that during the week,” he said.
Experienced second-row Ben Downey was a huge in for the Rams, and Ian says his leadership will be vital for the developing Rams.
“The return of Ben Downey to the second row was a huge help for us.”
“He’s a seasoned campaigner and was in the 2013 Grand Final winning side as a 20-year-old, so he’s come back for us, and he’ll lead these young blokes around the paddock for me,” he said.
Ian thought it was noteworthy to promote the loyalty and support of the guys who were unable to take the field.
“There were about four or five blokes there that didn’t get on at all, and I’d like to commend them for staying there for me and supporting the team.”
“We are a squad of 24 players, and sometimes when the games are tight, I can’t get everyone on, and they’re to be commended for hanging around.”
A big clash with the Crookwell Dogs awaits this weekend, the Dogs likely their greatest threat to a third-placed finish and finals place this season.
“It’s a good result, they bounced back well, and we’ve got Crookwell away this week at Crookwell, so it’s between Crookwell and us at the moment for that third spot which we need to get to the finals.”
“We’ve just got to stay in touch with the rest of the competition.”
“The boys are happy, they’ve won two games now after winning none last year, and they’re going quite well,” he said.
The Yass Ewes were not so lucky, going down 15-42 to the Uni-Norths.
Luke Darmody was the stand-in-Coach in Stephen Crisp’s absence and thought the Ewes did well to hold their own against quality opposition.
“They played well but had a hard game.”
“They found where they have to be at, to be up the top of the ladder in the Canberra competition,” he said.
Two late tries were a testament to the determination and character of the Ewes, which has been a consistent theme of their season.
“Their commitment to each other, they never gave up and never dropped their heads, they kept playing as hard as they could.”
“They fell off a couple of tackles, but they didn’t get around us as such; they went through the middle.”
“They did very well though and to score three tries against a team like that is a pretty good effort,” said Luke.
Kate Bismire was best afield and the player’s player choice, supported strongly by Chloe Cartwright, Ali Jones and Cindy Gomez Paez.
Next week they come up against the Royals, who will celebrate their Ladies Day, with the Ewes no doubt hopeful of raining on their parade.
Max O’Driscoll
