The Glen Innes Elks went down fighting in their second match of the New England Rugby third grade season when they came up against last year’s grand finalists St Albert’s College on Saturday.
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The Elks were beaten 29-7 but vice-president Sam Price said, similar to their first outing against Robb college, there were plenty of positives with glimpses of promise throughout the game.
“You don't like to lose but we had good numbers and the guys played well,” he said.
“It is going to take a fair while through the season to get everyone to gel together, just a broad range of players [and] a couple of blokes that haven't played together.”
The Elks will miss Henry Burridge for the rest of the year with a season-ending injury but Price is still optimistic about the side’s chances.
“The boys played really well,” he said.
“Albies went through us out wide, a bit of pace and they beat us in the technical aspects of the game, just not having that experience is where you see it.
“The blokes had a good time, plenty of positives came out of the game, solid defence in parts.
“It will take a couple of weeks to look like we are starting to come together.”
This weekend will see the competition take a break with the Country Championships taking place in Warren.
The competition will resume on May 5 for round four with Glen Innes hosting New England Rugby newcomers Tamworth Magpies.
In round three’s first grade games, Armidale Blues landed their second win on-the-trot when they took on the Barbarians at Alcatraz on Saturday.
Holding a 12-5 advantage at half-time, the Blues opened up their attack to surge home in the second half.
The Blues piled on 29 points to finish as 41-18 winners.
Tamworth Magpies nearly snatched a draw from Robb College. Magpies’ substitute hooker Lachie Ennis landed a hat-trick in the game – twice in the last five minutes – to put his side in contention.
His third try came in the final seconds and made it 20-18 with the kick to come.
Playing against his former club, Harry Morrow unfortunately couldn’t add the extras, the conversion hitting the pads at the bottom of the left post, as Robb held on for their first win of the season.
They had led 20-8 with just over 10 minutes remaining, Robb skipper Andy Leathem admitting to some nervous moments as the Magpies stormed home.
“Thank god we came away with it because it would have been pretty disappointing,” he said.