Whatever it was that sparked the Gunnedah Red Devils into gear in the second half against Quirindi on Saturday, co-coach Nik Hannaford wants to see more of it.
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The Devils thumped Quirindi 64-0 in the Central North Rugby Union competition after leading by just 19 points at half-time.
The marked improvement came on the back of a more considered approach to their gameplay.
“Our forward play in the first half was good, in nice and tight, good pick and drives,” Hannaford said.
“But we were trying to score tries off the first or second phase as opposed to consolidating and building a bit of pressure.”
After the break, the flood gates lifted as Gunnedah ran in try after try on the scoreboard.
Many of the Devils’ second half tries were strung together down Quirindi’s ever weakening left flank.
“It just seemed to open up, especially off the kick off, they were kicking deep and there always seemed to be a hole out wide,” he said.
Although already up on the scoreboard, half-time also offered the Devils the chance to identify a number of areas for improvement, namely ball retention.
“We looked at our ball passes, and security and execution on a few things which proved to be the difference in the second half,” the coach said.
Best for Gunnedah included tight-head prop Cameron Kesby who delivered a high work rate and Matt Hannay also up front.
The coach also commended the efforts of James Perrett in the second half, Dave Heyman and evergreen, Jeremy Brown.
“He (Brown) had his usually good defensive game and was everywhere,” he said.
