What looked like being another picnic at Hanging Rock turned into a thrilling match as the Batemans Bay Boars prevailed 26-21 over the never-say-die Braidwood Redbacks at Hanging Rock on Saturday.

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When Batemans Bay raced to an early 19-nil lead, Braidwood could have thrown in the towel, but instead battled back and actually took a 21-19 lead, which they held until five minutes before full time when the Boars scored a converted try.

Boars breakaway Chris Ryan was far from thrilled with his team’s performance.

“We could have played a lot better,” he said.

“We were just doing one man, one off stuff, not what we have trained for.”

Ryan said the team’s preparation was not to blame.

“We went into the game well focused, and it wasn’t as though we panicked, we just got frustrated.”

However, Ryan commended the character shown by the premiers when they were under pressure from the Redbacks.

“Our defence improved during the second half,” he said.

This was just as well, because they had to hold Braidwood off their tryline for most of it.

Despite the closeness of the score, Batemans Bay did show some of the form that sees them undefeated in the 2009 South Coast Rugby competition.

“We turned over a few balls, but our scrums and lineouts were good,” Ryan said.

Joe Brierley, Andy White and Andrew Fleming were among the best performers for the home team, and Cory Maddison bagged a try-scoring double.

Braidwood were naturally pleased with pushing the premiers to the limit.

“It was a good solid game, and both teams were pretty strong,” Redbacks captain Craig Coe said.

“We have a lot of young fellas in the team, and it was a really good performance from them. It showed what we can do for the rest of the season.”

Coe thought Batemans Bay also had plenty to be happy about.

“Their forward pack were pretty solid and Fleming stood out in the centres,” he said.

The Boars are in second place on the ladder, a point behind new boys the Bombala Blue Tongues, who they meet in a much-anticipated match at Hanging Rock this Saturday.

Pending the availability of players, the Broulee Dolphins will take on the Milton Platypi at Captain Oldrey Park.