Parkes Boars second grade side produced a clinical performance at Northparkes Oval for the Can Assist Charity Day.
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Set up by a 19-0 halftime lead, the Boars secured a comfortable 26-10 win over Forbes Platypi.
Led by a superb performance from Tim Lawler, the Boars produced one of their better efforts this season.
Lawler was well supported by former Central West forward Israel Symington and Karl Oliver.
It was Oliver’s first appearance this season as he recovered from a broken leg sustained in the final round last year.
Al Gersbach led the team on for his 200th game, playing at No 8 lock.
The Boars had a full 25 players turn out for the important home game against rivals Forbes.
The home side opened the scoring after five minutes.
Following a Boars line out win, a maul rolled over line for a try out wide courtesy of Israel Symington for 5-0.
Forbes looked to hit back by pressuring the Boars line.
It held solid to keep the visitors scoreless in the first half.
On the back of a number of penalties, Boars spread the ball wide to find Matt Clark on the fly.
Clark weaved his way through the Forbes defence to score next to the posts for 12-0 after a successful conversion.
Clark continued to make inroads into the defence and, combined with Harley Harmer, proved a force using their combined strength to make valuable meters.
Parkes extended their lead to 19-0 when Symington stole the ball and burst down field.
A good pass found centre Joe Nash who crossed the line to score under the posts.
Parkes continued to work and went to the half-time break full of confidence at 19-0.
The Boars knew they could not drop off and needed to be the first to score in the second half, which they did.
Nash made another break through the Platypi defence to kick down field.
Clark chased the ball 75 metres to pick it up and pass to a flying Kyle Ward to score to give Parkes a comfortable buffer at 26-0.
With just more than 11 minutes remaining, Forbes won a scrum and found a gap to score near the posts.
The conversion was missed from in front to leave the score at 24-5.
The Platypi came to life in the final minutes of the game but it was too little too late.
They did manage a late consolation try, but the 26-10 victory was a fitting match for the captain-coach Gersbach’s 200th game.