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As much as Red Devils coach Tim Walsh would have relished a win in Saturday’s 36-24 loss to Moree, the losing performance was as good as he could ever wanted to end the season.
“We played very well, it was only about five tries to three, so a pretty close game,” Walsh reflected.
The minor semi-final loss ends the
Devils premiership hopes this season in the new Central North Rugby Union tier one competition.
The Devils were running off a big loss to Moree last start but had the backing of a confidence-boosting win against the defending premiers on their home turf earlier this year.
The contest was tight in the first 40 minutes as the clubs traded try-for-try on the points tally.
However two quick tries to Moree at the start of the second half left the Devils reeling.
“We needed to be in front to put some pressure on them,” Walsh said. “But we couldn’t quite get there.”
In the end the points margin proved too great for the Gunnedah visitors but there was still much to be proud of, the coach added.
“There wasn’t much to fault,” he said.
“I was pretty happy with it.
“We played as well as we could but still came up short.”
He also thought the side was positioned well for future seasons in the Central North Rugby Union competition.
“We only had three players over 25 years old,” Walsh said.
“They’re a happy bunch of young blokes and I reckon if they can stick with it, they will be a force to be reckoned with in the future.”
Moree to play the loser of next week’s major semi-final.
It’s not all over for the Gunnedah club with reserve grade in pole position for its major semi-final against Inverell this week.