The Boars have had a staggered start to the season with a first round bye and the Anzac weekend break, and the Redbacks made it harder for Batemans Bay to build momentum in its season with a strong second half performance. 

The Boars went into the half-time break trailing 10-nil and looked to overrun Braidwood with its endurance in the second stanza.

The Boars’ game plan didn’t come to fruition as Braidwood only leaked one second half try, and scored three unanswered tries, to seal the game 34-5.

Boars’ coach Matt Ryan said the outcome was disappointing.

“We were underdone and not up to our usual standard,” Ryan said.

“Full credit to Braidwood, they played well and they found a few weaknesses and exploited them.”

Ryan said the loss could be attributed to Braidwood’s size.

“We were missing a few blokes that handle size better than others,” he said.

“It hurt us when they started to find some one on ones.

The Boars wanted to exploit Braidwood’s size but the game plan didn’t work.

“We thought we could wear the bigger guys down, but it pretty much went in the opposition direction,” Ryan said.

“We held them well in the first half but couldn’t contain them in the second.

“We sort of expected it to be the other way round.” 

Ryan believed his side’s scrum was the only outstanding part of its performance against Braidwood.

“Our scrum was great; it was the most pleasing part of the game,” he said.

“Tackling is our biggest area for improvement.

“There were too many high tackles and I’d hate to think what the missed tackle count was.” 

Ryan said the club wasn’t hitting any panic buttons just yet and hoped to see improvement this Saturday, in a rematch of last year’s grand final against Milton.

“We have some players coming back over the next week or two which will aid us,” he said.

“Milton are undefeated and sitting atop the ladder.

“From what I hear they have a similar squad to last year.

“It will be interesting to see where we are at and we’re definitely going to have to step our game up.

“We’re confident we can turn it around pretty quickly.”