Parkes Boars Rugby Union Club thrilled a large crowd of supporters at Northparkes Oval on Saturday when they won all three grades against Forbes Platypi on the inaugural Can Assist Charity Day.
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Led by a barnstorming performance from Central West prop Grant Lowe and the boot of his brother Warren, the Boars stormed to their third win in four games with the 29-17 victory.
Leading 23-5 at half-time, Parkes carried on their good work in the second stanza to out play their Twin Town rivals and put the icing on a great day for the club.
Earlier, the Colts easily won 35-0 before the seconds combined well for a 26-10 victory.
The first grade victory gives them the same number of wins as fifth placed Mudgee and sixth placed Dubbo with only bonus points separating the three sides.
The home side started the better side and missed an opportunity to open the scoring after four minutes when a penalty goal attempt sailed wide.
Camped inside the Platypi 22 metre zone, the Boars broke through for points when a good Dan Ryan pass found Tohi Tangi Nusipepa who proved unstoppable close to the line to score.
Warren Lowe added the extras for 7-0 before Forbes were penalised for off-side from the kick-off, allowing Lowe to add another three points with a successful penalty goal.
The Boars continued to dominate play and were rewarded after some good pick and drive play by the forwards resulted in Ben Ryan diving over for the home side’s second try.
Lowe made no mistake with the conversion for Parkes to jump out to a 17-0 lead after 15 minutes.
Forbes finally found their footing in the game and pressured the Boars line through some good attacking play and intelligent kicking.
The Boars defence was very disciplined, but they could not hold out a determined Forbes who scored after eight phases of play through halfback Eoin Scullion.
The conversion was missed for Parkes to lead 17-5.
The Boars suffered a set back when captain Dan Ryan was forced from the field after suffering an ankle injury 14 minutes from the half-time break.
The home side quickly regrouped and extended their lead when Forbes infringed in a scrum to gift Lowe an easy three points.
Another penalty goal before half-time saw the Boars in control at 23-5.
The second half was a closely fought affair with neither side willing to give an inch.
After five minutes the Boars extended their lead to 26-5 after a Forbes high tackle resulted in another Lowe penalty goal.
With 28 minutes remaining, Forbes looked certain to score and crossed the line, only to be held up by desperate defence from Sam Dennison and Toby Baigent.
The restart saw Forbes again start a maul towards the Boars’ line.
There was no stopping former Boars captain-coach Haemani Lavaka as he rolled across the Boars defence to score right in the corner.
For the second time in the match, Forbes were penalised for being offside at a restart and Warren Lowe made no mistake to push the Boars lead out to 19 points at 29-10.
The remaining 20 minutes were an arm wrestle highlighted by solid defence from Grant Lowe, Nick Westcott and Matt Hunter.
With 30 seconds remaining, Forbes pushed across the line to put the ball down near the posts.
The conversion was good but it was all too late as the Boars took the match 29-17.
Warren Lowe ended the match with an impressive personal tally of 19 points.
Grant Lowe was awarded the Player’s Player award and three Best and Fairest points after a barnstorming performance at prop.
Jimmy Peters and Tohi Tangi Nusipepa both received two points for strong games while Warren Lowe received a point.
After the game, the teams retired to the Royal Hotel to continue the fundraising for Can Assist with a jumper auction, auction of a dinner at Parliament House and four tickets to a Brumbies match.
Both Parkes and Forbes players and supporters got into the spirit of the evening with Can Assist clearly the winner on the day.
Next week the Boars face off against the inform giant-killers Cowra Eagles.
First grade starts at 3.15pm at Northparkes Oval.