On a wet Saturday at Walcha, it was lucky that the Rams had the away trip to Gunnedah in store as the weather turned out to be very pleasant down there.
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A Grade took the field knowing the second part of the season would require them to go to the next level to maintain a hard-earned second spot on the ladder.
After about 10 minutes of sustained pressure in the Gunnedah 22, Simon Newton put a perfectly-weighted grubber through for the speedster Dom Bower to scoop up and open the scoring. Not long after, Ed Cordingley found Cordo back on the inside. Dave Healey put together one of the more awkward try scoring put-downs seen in a while, and Walcha was leading 17-3 after 20 minutes.
Walcha invited Gunnedah back in with a couple of mistakes. Off the kick-off, Sione Kamoto regathered and it wasn’t long before Cordo was over again, extending Walcha’s lead. Pat Keen also celebrated his return from Country duties with a try, and it looked like Walcha would run away with the game.
Simon Newton had other ideas though, finding his Gunnedah mate on the wing for an intercept try, making the score 29-17 at half time.
The second half started much the same as the first, with the backline feeding off a solid Walcha scrum to put Dom Bower into space and he found support in Henry King back on the inside who scored under the posts. Once again though, Walcha invited Gunnedah back in with some errors and Gunnedah accepted, crossing near the posts and converting.
The score at half-time was 22-7 but that was as good as it got for Gunnedah, as the Rams Reggies turned into the juggernaut that they have been threatening to be all year...
The game descended into a heavy hitting forwards battle for the next 15 minutes or so, with Gunnedah enjoying the majority of the possession. After holding Gunnedah out, Walcha finally broke out of the 12-point buffer via a penalty to Simon Newton and from there it was a one-way street with Dom Bower crossing for his second and Pete Young putting the icing on the cake, his disastrous tryless season of 2016 long forgotten.
To put 50 points on was satisfying and augurs well moving forward to Scone at Captain Cook this weekend. Best and fairest went to Jack King with 3 points and players’ player, 2 points went to Ed Cordingley and 1 each to Dom Bower and Sione Kamoto, who shared the players’ player as well.
Walcha had the most reserve graders in years, with 21, and boasting a first grade strength back-line to go with their ever-consistent forward pack, Walcha were hopeful for a big performance.
After a long period of possession for Gunnedah, they crossed and opened the scoring. Walcha regained possession and put together a number of strong phases before Olly Crawford scored Walcha’s opening try.
The floodgates were open and Ed Churchill sliced through the defence to score. Thor Crombie soon followed up with one of his own. The score at half-time was 22-7 but that was as good as it got for Gunnedah, as the Rams Reggies turned into the juggernaut that they have been threatening to be all year, just with a man or seven short.
Lachie Fletcher looked refreshed from his break and his combination with Olly Crawford and Thor Crombie was very smooth. Big Dog Churchill returning from knee surgery was as slippery as ever, bagging a couple of tries but the surgery appears to have slowed him down.
The old boys in the forwards, Tom Rose and Jock Fortescue were rejuvenated by the addition of a few young fellas including our favourite type of recruit in a front rower by the name of Sam Hunt. Stu Hobbs at second row was everywhere with a highlight being his combination with Jake Sherrin down the sideline as the pair toyed with the Gunnedah defence, trading passes and showing speed to score and close out the 54-14 win.
A slim glimmer of hope for finals is still shining for the Rams. Best for Walcha was Stu Hobbs with 3 points and players’ player, Toby King with 2 points and 1 point to Olly Crawford.
