Redgies were in trouble well before the kick off, as only 11 blokes made the trek and a 12th happened to be cursed with the King name and King tardiness, and found himself in Singleton at kick-off.

It was never going to be pretty, but the way that the 11 Walcha men fought had to be seen to be believed and they were rewarded with a try to Harry Locke whose shoulders had already flattened a number of Scone players in the lead up.

With a couple of early injuries, the Rams were down to nine after 10 minutes (Aldy was not yet at Muswellbrook) and the flood gates began to open.

Young Ryan Withers showed he will be a hard Ram for the future after his shoulder popped out and he trotted to the sideline, ripped his jersey off, slipped the shoulder back in place and headed back out into the fray.

The game was called at half-time with the Walcha boys exhausted but holding their heads high in what was a phenomenal effort. The team shared the points as there wasn’t one player who held back and things are looking good for when a few players return from injury and other commitments. Aldy arrived to clap the boys off the field.

A Grade took to the field and while it was later discovered that the Scone plan had been to shut down Simon Newton, it was only a matter of minutes before he shrugged off a couple of tackles to put Ed Cordingley away down the right touchline for the opening try.

That was followed by a penalty goal to Walcha, and Scone replied with one of their own. Walcha put together some strong phases before new five-eighth Thor Crombie sent Ed Cordingley away down the left touchline for his second and Walcha was looking solid with a 17-3 lead.

The Rams’ achilles heel of the past few weeks was back in the later part of the first half as Walcha gave away too many penalties which resulted in a try to Scone. Skipper Will Fletcher led the defensive charge with his bear hug tackles thwarting a number of the “British and Irish Scone”-attacking raids. Sandy Cameron showed his continued generosity by turning himself into a human battering ram, and through the shoulderless tackle, he found himself with 10 minutes to decide which flavour of beer to buy the boys.

Some more ill-discipline and an intercept try saw Walcha trailing 23-17 at half time, thanks largely to the sniper-like boot of the Scone kicker… the Red Devils should consider making him an offer.

Coach Barry Hoy noted there was no reason that Walcha couldn’t put 30 points on in the second half and the challenge was accepted. While Scone converted an early penalty goal, Walcha were never in trouble in the second half.

The Walcha forwards led by Sione Kamoto and Aldy King stepped up their game significantly and set a great platform to force Scone right back into their half time and time again. The result was a penalty goal to take the score to 26-20 before Simon Newton again cut through the Scone defence before offloading to Henry King who scored beside the posts.

The Rams forwards were really on a roll by this stage and were dominating the line-out which soon resulted in another try set up by a huge decoy line from Simon Newton, and Dom Bower found himself in a yawning gap through which his ultra-fast but ultra-short legs motored through for another try to Walcha.

The last 10 minutes of the game were an arm wrestle, but the Walcha defence was far more resilient and despite Sione finding himself in the sin bin, Walcha were able to hold out Scone until the final seconds where Walcha was caught short on the blind side. The game was done and Walcha were able to secure a valuable bonus point win.

Three points went to Will Fletcher, two points to Thor Crombie and one point each to Sione Kamoto and Henry King with players’ player also to Henry King.

The Rams take on Barraba at Captain Cook Oval this weekend which is likely to see the Redges with a well-earned week off. The following week will be an all-important clash with Moree at Moree which will likely decide second place on the ladder heading into the second round.