The Braidwood Redbacks travelled down the mountain on Saturday to meet a strong Batemans Bay Boars side on a warm South Coast day.
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The Readbacks, missing loose forward Joel Jordon and front rowers Buzz McGloan and Luke Cumming, went into the game with high expectations after a strong week at training and the luxury of a five man reserve bench.
Unfortunately the Boars came out of the blocks with more vigour and posted two quick tries in ten minutes to take a 12-0 lead.
The Redbacks, who never gave up, struggled to contain the Boars’ strong running loose forwards who combined well with their speedy backs to post three more tries before half time.
The Redbacks came out stronger in the second half and spent a positive 15 minutes in attack, and, unlike the previous week against Gungahlin, were finally rewarded with a try to Harry Shoemark which was subsequently converted by Ben Howard.
The final score was 62 to 7. While the Redbacks have been on the wrong end of a couple of big margins, there are many pleasing signs from a squad that only consolidated numbers a few weeks ago.
It is a good sign for the coaches to finally have full numbers turning up to training and a full reserve bench to provide more options on a Saturday.
With this consistency the Redbacks are expected to improve considerably as the season progresses.
From the weekend’s game, three points went to Lawrence Rea, two points went to Tim Foster and one point each to Billy Hatzis and Nick Blackmore. The Players’ Player for the day was Nate Wells.
The Redbacks seniors, juniors and junior parents caught up on Sunday morning for a wood chop in support of a number of wood raffles, which commenc this coming Saturday morning in town.
The club encourages locals to come down and buy a ticket to win a ute-load of prime Araluen Red Wood.
A huge thanks goes out to Jamie Camiller for letting the Redbacks gather the seasoned wood from his property near Araluen.
This weekend will see the Redbacks back at home against Yass. Kickoff is at 2:30pm at the Rec Ground, so come down for a sausage sandwich and a drink and support your local Rugby side.
