Barraba/Gwydir snatched victory from Gunnedah’s grasp with a penalty after the bell, after the Red Devils had looked to have done likewise when Sanimo Navatu crashed over and Brad Swain converted to give the home side a two point lead with just over a minute remaining of their clash on Saturday.
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The Rams were unable to secure the kick-off but from the ensuing scrum were awarded a penalty, and Paul Edwards stepped up to kick them to a 39-38 victory.
It made for a dramatic finish to what was an entertaining and see-sawing tussle that neither side was really able to stamp their authority on with the lead changing hands seven times.
The Red Devils’ disappointment was obvious as the flags went up.
“It was just disappointing to lose it at the death like that,” skipper Matt Roseby said.
“We thought we had it in the bag, obviously time was up on the clock and it was our scrum.”
Red Devils coach Jason Waerea expressed similar sentiments, and thought they were a bit unlucky with the penalty noting that “a defending nine attacking the eight at the back of a strong scrum has been a penalty all year”.
And while it was hard to swallow, there were other factors that contributed to the result.
“We let ourselves down in defence, we slipped off tackles at crucial moments,” Roseby said.
Their discipline also wasn’t where it should have been throughout the game, and they again let their opposition establish a good lead.
“We’ve got ourselves in a bad habit of these slow starts. We do talk about it during the week but we fail to come out how we train,” he said.
“We let teams get a couple of tries ahead.”
“(But) Credit to our boys to come back.”
Two point winners when the sides met in the first round, a repeat looked on the cards when the Red Devils staged a typical late surge.
Matt Hannay reached out through the ruck to get them back within five points with just over five minutes to play before Navatu proved impossible to stop from 10m out, the powerful number eight taking several Rams defenders across the line with him.
It was his second try for the game after scoring mid-way through the first half to get the Red Devils on the board.
Matt Pardesi then barreled his way over to put them in front.
The Rams reclaimed the lead with just over seven minutes to play in the first half but it was short-lived, Red Devils’ second rower Matt Neilson crossing after half-back Dave Heyman had plucked a spectacular high intercept.
Heyman was ankle-tapped as he looked to step around Rams fullback Chris Sweeney but was able to find Neilson in support.
The Red Devils though made a mess of the kick-off and the Rams made them pay to take a 23-19 advantage into half-time.
The second half was more of the same, Pardesi putting the Red Devils ahead only for the Rams to reply a few minutes later through Luke Smith.
The Red Devils had a set-back when Nick Lyons was yellow-carded, the Rams converting the ensuing penalty and then scoring a couple of minutes later to stretch out to a 12 point lead with just over 15 minutes on the clock.
Always tough, they dug in well for that 10 minutes.
“Once he (Lyons) got back on the field that’s when we had a hard crack at them," Roseby said.
The skipper was one of the Red Devils’ best, the second rower picking up the two points behind Navatu, with breakaway Jeremy Brown earning the one.
The points were an indication of where they were strong.
“The set piece was strong. We had a good strong contest there,” Waerea said, although they weren’t as dominant as they have been in other games.
He added: “Barraba carry at the advantage line very well so our defence there was good.”
“The attack off the ruck was a highlight. Matt Pardesi channelled his inner Matty Hannay and got over the line off a few rucks.”
“Unfortunately we had a lot of small breaks that we couldn’t convert to points.”