OUTNUMBERED: Boars forward Peter Ngarima pushes his way through the Narooma defence at Hanging Rock on Saturday. PHOTO: Dean Benson.
THE Batemans Bay Boars ended a rare two-match winning streak on Saturday but coach Dave Silversides says there is still plenty of room for improvement.
Silversides’ men did just enough to down the Narooma Whales 36-24 but were outscored in the second half.
“There were some positive aspects to the game and generally speaking there were some improvements from that last couple of weeks, but we’ve still got a good amount of improvement left in us,” Silversides said.
Versatile backline player Cory Maddison opened the scores early on for the Boars for a 5-nil lead before number-eight James Bell doubled the advantage when he dived over from the base of the scrum.
Flyhalf Dave Warner added the extras from a comfortable angle to give the Bay a 12-nil lead in the 23rd minute.
However, Narooma never looked out of the contest and hit back six minutes later after some sloppy play from the Boars.
Tyrone Thomas’ high kick was allowed to bounce and Narooma number-eight Brandon Collins was the quickest to react as he gathered the ball and scored to get his side back to within a converted try.
In fairness, the Boars looked sharper from that point on and nine minutes later, they once again extended their lead.
Inside centre Shane Chatfield – who posed a constant threat in combination with Maddison – scored out wide in the 38th minute after the Boars played the ball well through the hands.
Warner was again successful with his conversion attempt to make the half-time score 19-5.
The Boars’ number 10 had the chance to convert his own try six minutes after the restart thanks to some unselfish work from representative star Andrew Fleming.
The outside centre threw himself at Paul Ardler’s attempted clearance, then got on his feet to collect the ball and passed inside for Warner to score the simplest of tries.
Warner took his personal points tally to 13 with the ensuing conversion as the Boars stretched out to lead 26-5.
However, that became 26-19 in the space of seven minutes.
First Kevin Swain ran through a gaping hole to touch down before Thomas’ boot again caused the Bay headaches at the back.
The Narooma flyhalf’s towering kick somehow found the arms of teammate Nathan Carpenter, who strolled to the line unchallenged – Nathaniel Weir added the extras on both occasions.
Bell’s second try of the afternoon in the 64th minute and another five-pointer from Nathan Smith made the points safe for the Bay before Narooma pulled one back late on.
“Our outside backs performed quite well but we probably just need a bit of improvement in our go-forward,” Silversides said.
