BATHURST Bulldogs have done their part to deliver a dream Central West Rugby match-up in next week’s grand final qualifier against the Dubbo Kangaroos after a 25-10 win over the Narromine Gorillas on Saturday.
In front of a shivering but vocal home crowd at Ashwood Park, two pieces of brilliance from flying winger Bart Bogart proved the difference in an at-times dour game.
Bogart opened the scoring after five minutes with a piece of blinding acceleration that showed just why many judges rate him the quickest and most dangerous outside back in the competition.
On the end of a regulation backline movement which involved Ray Lange and Phil Tonkin, Bogart simply caught the final pass and proceeded to make his opposite number look almost foolish as he zipped around him.
Given that he created the overlap though nothing more than pure speed, it was a rare piece of attacking football.
Lange converted the try and added a penalty goal a short time later, and it appeared to be a case of Bathurst by how much after 10 minutes.
Bathurst had all the territory early, and with the Gorillas struggling to kick effectively the home side were camped on Narromine’s line for the first half-hour but could not find another way through.
The Gorillas’ one shining light was their line-out, through which they poached plenty of ball thanks to jumpers Craig Campbell and Andrew Stanley.
They frustrated the Bulldogs, and after Lange missed another penalty and Narromine’s Scott Burgess intercepted a Scott Johnson pass when it appeared Bathurst were certain to score, the visitors had somehow survived to the break still only eight down.
Back on the attack straight after the break, hooker Andrew Breen resumed the scoring for Bathurst on the end of a line-out.
Despite falling further behind on the scoreboard, Narromine finally began to warm up and string some passes together, with fly-half Sam Ward looking dangerous whenever he was given space.
When they did eventually get a look at the Bathurst line, they made no mistake as half-back Ryan Pratten strolled over untouched to score Narromine’s first try.
Having converted the try, Scott Burgess added a penalty goal to the tally and all of a sudden the Bulldogs’ lead was down to three points.
Burgess missed a chance to tie up the scores, and it may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Kicking from deep in their own half as things were getting tight, the Gorillas found Bogart on the half-way line. With absolutely no space to work in, Bogart looked up the touch-line and set sail for home.
With no gap there for him to go through, the winger’s sheer pace enabled him to scoot up the line untouched and break the game wide open with as good an individual try as anyone has scored all season.
In no time Narromine had been played out of the game, and the result was confirmed a few minutes later when Jono Cody scored his team’s fourth.
Coach Michael Burgess was understandably happy to progress but knows his side will need to improve next week against Dubbo.
“We started well, dropped off and then it wasn’t until Bart’s second try that we turned things around,” he said.
“But we finished off great and now we get a crack at Dubbo, which is what we wanted.”
“In the second half I thought Narromine were getting the momentum when we started losing line-outs but that try broke them I think after they had clawed their way back.”
Cody was outstanding for his side, while Breen and skipper Adam Dwyer were both big contributors around the ruck all day.
But it was Bogart who will be on the Dubbo hit-list after his only two real touches were rewarded in sensational style.
BATHURST BULLDOGS 25 (Bart Bogart 2, Andrew Breen, Jono Cody tries; Ray Lange pen, Mitch Lavelle conv) def
NARROMINE GORILLAS 10 (Ryan Pratten try; Scott Burgess conv, pen).
Email a friend
Favourites
Del.icio.us
Facebook
Digg
StumbleUpon
MySpace
Reddit
Newsvine
LinkedIn
Kwoff