The Baradine Magpies remain in the hunt for a semi final berth after taking out the battle of the birds on Saturday, defeating the Christie and Hood Castlereagh League’s other Magpies outfit, Trangie, 40-30.
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The win keeps Baradine in the race for fourth spot on the competition ladder sitting just one point adrift of the Coonabarabran Unicorns with four competition rounds remaining.
The game was an entertaining one, twelve tries were scored, with Trangie hooker Brayden Carney bagging four of them but it was Baradine who scored the win it desperately needed in the chase of Coonabarabran.
The Unicorns had to battle hard against a dogged Coolah Kangaroos team to claim their two competition points.The Roos could have led at half time but after bombing a number of try-scoring opportunities had to settle for a 16-all scoreline.
The second half saw Coonabarabran slowly draw away to register a 38-28 victory. The Unicorns were best served by fullback Shannon Doole, half Sebastian Backhouse and front rower Matt Turner while Coolah half Brayden Burgess and front rower Andrew Rumble had big games.
The other match was a Boronia Cup Challenge at Gilgandra with the Panthers taking on the Dunedoo Swans.
The hosts scored three tries within the opening 12 minutes and from there were never truly threatened, with Dunedoo’s only points coming in the 71st minute as Gilgandra scored an emphatic 50-6 victory.
While the senior league match at Gilgandra never reached any great heights, the same could not be said about the league tag encounter between the Pink Panthers and the Swannettes.
In somewhat of a surprise, the Pink Panthers recovered from being down 6-0 in the opening minute to go on a rampage and lead 22-6 at half time.
The Swannettes were certainly not going to lay down and they scored converted tries in the 10th and 15th minute of the second half to set up a thrilling and frantic final ten minutes with the scoreboard reading 22-18.
That was to be the final score, the loss being only the second time this year that the Swanettes have tasted defeat and despite the loss they still lead the competition.
Other league tag games saw Warren prove too strong for Gulgong, winning 54-0, while Baradine kept its semi-final aspirations alive with a 42-10 win over Trangie
Next weekend in the Castlereagh League will be highlighted by the senior league clash at Gulgong when the third-placed Terriers host the competition-leading Gilgandra with the hosts out to become the first side to down the Panthers in 2017.
Elsewhere, Dunedoo hosts a batting Coolah, Trangie takes on Coonabarabran, Coonamble plays host to Warren and the Baradine Magpies have the bye.
