Report courtesy of Barney Rubble, Walgett Rugby Club

Apologies for the last 2 missed match reports, but this reporter had better things to do than travel to Cobar on a bus that was manufactured back when Bob Hawke was running the show, and to watch the Rams almost get beaten by the Bre/Bourke Brumbies.

But from second-hand news, the Cobar match was much as expected, big boys, big collisions, but the Ram’s fitness ended up sealing the deal. Nothing to report on the bus trip, as the Rams players have finally realised that whatever they tell Barney, eventually ends up broadcast across Facebook. So, the lips have been sealed.

Bre/Bourke was a different story though. The Brumbies turned up with a more or less full-strength team, and although the end score line didn’t show it, they pushed the Rams to an inch of their first loss of the season. Halftime only separated the teams by 6 points, but once again, the fitness regime paid off for the Rams. Running in 3 late tries to seal the game at the death.

After the scare with Bre/Bourke, the Rams were wary of the Galahs, seeing as in the past 5 years Walgett has struggled to beat Galah at home even with overwhelming odds.

However, the Galahs made the crucial mistake of changing the match venue from the Gulargambone “Alcatraz”, to the Gilgandra “YMCA”. Admittedly the YMCA has a much better ground and facilities than Alcatraz, but it was missing the grit that is commonly associated with playing in Gulargambone.

As well as having doors on the showers, which was a point on consternation for some of the older players in the Rams who weren’t able to appreciate the full-frontal nudity that is so often married with playing in a country rugby union competition.

ABOVE: The Walgett Rams were all smiles in the lead up to the game, however remained determined to come away with the win. Image: Kirsty Witts.

When asked why the game was to be taken place 50km deeper into the unwashed “South Country” than Walgett was used to, a Gulargambone spokesman was less than pleasant in their reply.

Turns out the joke was on him, because Jack Yeomans was travelling from Dubbo and only just made the kick off. Barney is sure that The Pink Parrot will help in clearing this matter up.

Nevertheless, the Rams took to the field, still a little shaky after the Brumbies match. However, it seemed like the change of venue also changed the psyche of the Galahs.

After some token resistance in the backline, it wasn’t long before the Rams crossed the line with the meat pie going to one of the backs that had done bugger all in the lead up.

Not to take anything away from the backs, who were missing the flyhalf Thomson Faulkner who was in the gold coast at a bucks party with Partyboy Guy Yeomans.

The Chainsaw stepped up to fill Thommo’s small boots in the position of 5/8 and did an admirable job, although his weekly try haul was significantly lower without having Murph inside him taking all the punishment before offloading for Charlie Friend to stroll across the line.

Harry Deshon ended up doing the “Reverse Sam Evans” in going from openside flanker to the centres to make up for Thommo who was probably getting dual lap dances with Guy at this stage.

Deshon held his own in the backline, and also managed to sneak a try in. Giving the younger Deshon, Jack, time to flourish in his new position on the Flank. Another strong performance for another Deshon, however learning the lineout calls seems to be a problem that not only affects Sam O’Brien.

While we are on the topic of Gout, that’s the given reason Sam O’Brien couldn’t make an appearance on the weekend. A likely story, this reporter believes that O’Brien just saw an opportunity to spend time with his wife and son like the coward that he is.

Walgett continued with the deconstruction of the Galahs in all facets except for the scrum. Hats off to Bowman in the front row for Gulargambone who seemed to be able to hold the entire Rams pack off by himself.

Might have been a different story if Family Guy O’Brien left the raising of children to nannies like any self-respecting Blue Blood would. But this wasn’t the case sadly.

The tries rolled in during the first half with the Rams wondering if the Galahs could even be been there, but as halftime came and went, Walgett was faced with a very different team.

Gulargambone was down 60 odd points to 8, and the rams were expecting them to roll over. This wasn’t the case at all. If anything, the Gulargambone boys pulled together and stretched the Rams attack and defence (with their scrum led by Bowman).

However, some small mistakes proved costly for the Galahs. Letting Charlie Toll stroll through an undefended lineout to run 40m before offloading to Walford who ended up scoring under the posts was one of them.

The other mistake was targeting Walgett’s own Sonny Billy Williams, Charlie “The Red Mist” Berrell. Although this worked in the first half, with The Mist dropping a well placed kick from the Galah Flyhalf, The Mist picked his game up in the 2nd 40mins and started putting the shots on that earnt himself the above-mentioned self-proclaimed nickname.

Other stand out performances from the Rams came from the O’Brien without Gout, Patrick. Paddy stood out with a couple of big runs, and his dominance alongside Charlie Toll in the lineout. Lucky for Walgett as this year they have not 1, but 2 tall streaks of duck shit that love nothing better than stealing opposition lineouts.

Harvey Duncan seems to have learnt how to pass the ball in the last 2 weeks, as he excelled in the No.9 jersey, constantly wreaking havoc around the ruck with darting runs and pin point accuracy in his passes.

But he will need to keep his eye in, as Hay-McKenzie came on in the second half to replace him with the anger that one can only expect from someone that lives closer to Brewarrina than Walgett.

ABOVE: The Walgett Rams during the post-game debrief. Despite the final score, it was clear from the state of their jerseys the boys had given their all against the Gulargambone Galahs. Image: Kirsty Witts.

End score was 87-8, which was a drubbing. But it can’t be overlooked that Gular have a young, keen team that fought all the way through to the last minute which is more than can be said for other teams observed by this reporter.

Every club has rebuilding years (see The Walgett Rams in ’18 & ’19), but the Young Galahs have a good future in front of them. It was great for the Rams to break the Galah HooDoo at last, the same mightn’t be said if the match was played on the gravel strip at Gulargambone though.

PS. Great to see both Brumbies get up on the weekend #Canberra #Bre/Bourke

Points

3 - Chainsaw Friend

2 - Charlie Toll

1 - Patrick O’Brien

Player’s Player - Harvey Duncan