SIX yellow cards, 24 penalties, rugby spot fires at almost every opportunity and just one try - there wasn’t a lot of rugby played out in Sunday’s Blowes Clothing Cup colts minor semi-final between Parkes Boars and Dubbo Roos, but it was entertaining.
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In the end, it was the Boars who prevailed 19-0 in a contest that had about as much rugby in it as the state league netball finals.
Ill discipline and flaring tempers defined the contest. Andy Pedrana, Nick Harvey and Tavis Vaughan were all handed yellow cards for Dubbo, while Boars trio James Dean, Jason Lowe and Iszac Oliver also received their marching orders from the referee - the latter two after a scuffle.
Happy to look past the explosive moments of the clash and find some footy to talk about, Boars coach Tony Byrne was happy his side remained consistent throughout the 60 minutes.
“We’ve been playing pretty consistent footy for the last six weeks,” he said.
“It’s been do-or-doe, we’ve come from sixth and into fifth, and the boys are training hard and enjoying themselves.
“We’ve trained hard in the forwards, we’ve got three really good coaches at the club that provide the groundwork for these guys. They’re all energetic and keen and that’s 90 per cent of the win.”
A team lacking discipline, Dubbo colts coach Adam Dubois dished up a perplexing post-match verbal directed at the officials.
“Credit to my guys, I think we looked sharp in the backs and I think we got the raw end of a lot of the decisions today,” Dubois said, his team neither hindered or advantaged from a 12-all penalty count.
Pedrana, in particular, was lucky not to spend more time on the sidelines after already receiving one yellow card in the match.
He was hooked by his own coaching staff mid-second half.
“Some controversial decisions going against both sides, but that’s the rub of the green,” Dubois continued.
“Unfortunately I think the ref had a bit too much to do with the result of today.
“It’s hard to watch a team that slogs their guts out all season to get let down by an official on the day.”
Byrne labelled his forwards as the building blocks for a solid “team effort”.
“We don’t have any stars. It’s a team effort to win,” he said.