Saturday, was sponsors day, and it gave the club much pleasure to repay the generosity of our sponsors, who have stuck with us through drought and covid.
Reserve Grade.
Quirindi made the minimum 15 players to make a game against Pirates on Saturday. A big crowd was on hand and were rewarded with some very entertaining rugby.
The more experienced Pirates got up early to lead 0-7, but the Quirindi side managed to keep play in the opposition half for quite some time and eventually score outwide. The conversion was unsuccessful 5-7.
Pirates began to get he run of play to lead 5-28 at half time, but the Quirindi men never made it easy for them. The second half saw a few missed opportunities and Pirates ran out winners 10-43, but credit must go to the Quirindi fifteen who played well and never gave in for the whole 80 minutes.
Will Elsley, Warwick Moore and Toby Locke led well up front and Morgan Murtagh and Dave Southward shone in the backs.
Coach, Andy Avard, was full of praise for a team that managed so well without any reserves on the bench.
First Grade was a much anticipated showdown, with the crowd believing a victory was possible after a few years in the wilderness.
Quirindi were slow to find their rhythm and allowed Pirates to score twice quickly to lead 0-12. A costly lapse that was reflected at full time.
Quirindi conceded a scrum penalty to a much heavier pack allowing Pirates to steadily drive forward and score through the ruck and convert 0-19.
Then Quirindi started to get it together, and pushed play downfield to be given a penalty in front of the posts. Determined to make a game of it, Quirindi took the scrum, but play broke down and there was no try. Quirindi did manage to keep Pirates in their half, regained possession, and five eight Dan Calavassy dived over to score. No conversion 5-19.
The two Murrays were having big games with No. 6 George running strongly and punishing in defence. Jake Murray and James Clift constantly made inroads into the Pirates backline.
Quirindi began to dominate, and after attacking wide to both the left and the right, Brodie Nankivell stepped beautifully to score untouched, ten metres wide of the posts. He then converted his own try to make it 12-19. Sadly we lost our forward leader and workhorse, Tom Grant who suffered a head knock and wisely retired. George Murray moved to No. 8 and Hector Macintyre seized his chance to run in first grade.
Early in the second half Pirates show their scrummaging skills by executing a perfect pushover try. There was no conversion and Pirates led 12-24.
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Play see-sawed for a while and we were unlucky not to score after a dashing run by James Clift, who was backed up by Calavassy. Pushed into touch just short of the line, Quirindi lost possession.
Angus McKenzie went down injured and Pirates scored in the far corner. No conversion and Quirindi were down 12-29, but not out. Will Elsley came on, for his return to first grade after a few weeks out, and immediately pulled off some devastating tackles. However, Pirates held possession well and eventually created an overlap to score beside the posts 12-36.
At the restart Quirindi showed their never-say-die attitude and ran it from their own tryline. After running the length of the field James Clift managed to put Hector Macintyre in for a try 19-36.
A big knock on by Pirates saw the crowd on their feed as the tempo rose. The local scrum held well against a bigger pack, but unfortunately handling errors cost us possession again.
A farcical situation then arose when several players were caught in a scuffle mid field, but the game was allowed to continue, as the ref was unsighted. Pirates scored in the corner, but play was not brought back. All touch judges now have to be accredited, but sadly such bureaucracy did not override impartiality!
Quirindi, however, fought back and kept the Pirates pinned in their 25. A series of penalties were then conceded by Pirates, which could have been viewed as professional fouls. Finally, a yellow card sent a Pirates player from the field. Quirindi took the quick tap and ran wide to the left with Jake Murray scoring to make it 22-41.
Regardless of the result it was a day of the most entertaining and attacking rugby. The way it should be played.
3 Points went to George Murray, 2 to the tireless Angus Clift and 1 to Jake Murray. The Player’s player was voted George Murray.
Reserve Grade Points went to 3 to Hector Macintyre, 2 to Sam Brabrook and 1 to Toby Locke.