Parkes Boars retain the Red Cross Shield for another year after a draw with the Gorillas.
The Gorillas and Boars fought tooth and nail in first grade to settle the score at 10 all.
Fifteen millimetres of rain last Saturday morning made the rugby games against Parkes Boars difficult to play.
Second grade were looking good on paper and played accordingly in the first half.
Parkes scored first and converted 7-0. Brad Anderson then scored for Narromine and Moran converted; 7-7.
McCutcheon scored in the corner but with a missed conversion the score was 12-7. A penalty goal to Moran soon followed and the Gorillas led 15-7 at half-time.
Early in the second half Scott Ceeney scored and we led 20-7 and were looking good for a win.
Parkes however did not agree and in a short space of time, scored two converted tries. The score was 20-21, with Parkes just in front with six minutes to go. A penalty goal and another converted try followed in favour of the away team and the final score was 31-20 to Parkes.
The rain eased in time for the main game and what a game it was. Narromine dominated for the majority of the first half and Harding scored after 30 minutes. Strachan converted and the Gorillas went into half-time leading 7-0.
After 15 minutes of the second half, Parkes scored an unconverted try and Narromine still led 7-5. Parkes were in possession for most of this time and used the ball well.
Another try followed with 10 minutes to go and Parkes led 10-7.
Narromine regained the impetus and pressured Parkes for the rest of the game. A penalty to Strachan levelled the scores at 10-all and this was the final score, seeing Parkes, last year’s winners in the Red Cross game, retain the shield for another year.
Tomorrow we travel to Dubbo to play the kangaroos. Go the Gorillas.
