Walcha avoided a repeat of their recent slip-ups against Gunnedah and made it four from four with a hard-fought 13-5 win at Walcha on Saturday.
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The Red Devils have been a bit of a bogey side for the Rams the last couple of seasons. Two years ago they snatched the points with a late try, then last season they pierced the then undefeated Rams’ bubble 27-15.
“This was the one we’ve been working on. This has been the one we’ve been dropping,” Rams co-coach Barry Hoy said.
He said it as a “very tough battle”. There was nothing in it at half-time with scores locked at 0-all.
David James gave the Red Devils the advantage but a try to replacement Alistair King and the boot of five-eighth Simon Newton saw the Rams get home by six.
Hoy couldn’t pinpoint anywhere where they were dominant. The only area they might have had a bit of an advantage is the lineout.
“We probably stole a couple of lineouts, which gave us a fraction more ball,” he said.
Their biggest challenge so far, he and co-coach Hyde Thomson were pretty happy with the way they played.
“There were a couple of times under pressure we didn’t execute,” Hoy said.
“But we didn’t play badly.”
One of the most pleasing aspects was their discipline.
“The discipline from last week was good. Last week it was terrible,” he said.
Newton was their best followed by Sandy Cameron and Thomas Hoy.
Despite the result not going their way, Red Devils skipper Jamie Mitchell said there were a lot of positives. The effort for one. They also showed that they can match it with the top teams.