The Narromine Gorillas put the Geurie Goats to the sword 51-26 at Cale Oval on Saturday.
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In a highly anticipated and entertaining affair, the home team scored nine tries to four.
Halfback Jono Sharkey was first to cross for the home side, picking up from the back of a dominant five metre scrum and burrowing over. This was to be the theme of the day with the Gorilla pack completely dominating the Goats pack at the set piece.
Geurie’s giant number eight then picked up from the back showed great speed and footwork for a man his size to cross in the corner.
Narromine hit back almost immediately when fly-half George Hancock threw a lovely inside ball to centre Luke Brown who smashed his way over to score.
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This was to be short lived as Geurie demonstrated why they were pre-season favourites again drew level when their centre sliced through mid-field and showed a clean pair of heels to score next to the posts; scores locked at 12-12.
The rest of the first half belonged to Narromine with two tries, the first to flanker Tim Allworth and the second was a great set-piece forward try with a rolling maul five metres out, Craig Campbell accept the meat pie on behalf of the pack.
Early in the second half, prop Charlie Tuck demonstrated he’s a well-rounded footballer by leaving a trail of Goats in his wake and crossing the line carrying three more on his back. Buttsworth again with the conversion to extend the lead to 29-12.
However, the Goats weren’t “kidding” around and crossed under the posts for his second to close the gap to ten points, 29-19.
Tries to lock Sam McLeod and replacement second row Lachie McCutcheon saw the score 41-19 and the result seemed assured for Narromine, before Geurie scored again and converted to have the score at 41-26 and an unlikely comeback was still on the cards.
A further try to Narromines replacement lock Bryce Mallon and a second for McCutcheon saw the Gorillas crack the half century and eventually run out convincing winners 51-26.
It was a quality game put on by two teams that are expected to feature in finals this year. Credit must go to the players from both sides for putting on such a display, 13 tries in total and zero penalty goals.
The Gorillas have a bye this weekend. Next game is May 6 at Cale Oval.
