By Tallon Smith & Jamie Parsons

The Narrandera Lizards have won the 2024 ProTen Community Cup Minor Premiership after completing a perfect 6-0 regular season campaign at the Barellan Sports Ground on Saturday.

The Lizards secured the minor title after a 42-12 victory in their final regular season match against the winless Goolgowi Rabbitohs to open the day’s play.

Centre combination Caleb Atkinson and D’Andre Williams each scored doubles as the Lizards cruised to a big victory, as they enter the finals series as the hunted for the second year in a row.

The Lizards will face Rankins Springs in the Major Semi Final after the Dragons beat Hillston 32-8.

Centre Jack Glyde scored four tries for the Springs side, while star five-eighth Salesi Mahe limped off in the second half, but is still expected to play in finals week one.

In the final game of the day, the hometown Barellan Rams scored a big 44-14 win over Ivanhoe.

On the day where the club celebrated their 1974 and 1984 premierships, the Rams dominated to book hosting rights for week two of the playoffs.

Jamie Parsons has the full wrap of the round below.

Men’s Games

Goolgowi were playing for pride with zero wins from five starts, running out against the undefeated Narrandera Lizards.

Although it was kept respectable in the first half, Narrandera ran away with it in the second half with several long range tries, including two each to Caleb Atkinson & D’Andre Williams.

In the second game Rankins Springs needed a win to lock up second place and with it the right to host the semi-finals next week.

A shaky start with several missed opportunities meant a 10-0 lead at halftime, with another blowout second half including four tries to Jack Glyde.

A period of Hillston resistance with tries to Goolgowi back-ups Ollie Taylor & Laurie Sandford ended the score at 32-8.

Barellan raced out of the blocks early to lead 24-6 at halftime against Ivanhoe, the teams battling for third spot and the right to host the preliminary finals.

Ivanhoe fought back with two tries to Thomas Lee to make it 24-14, but couldn’t hold on as Barellan made it a third blowout game 44-14 at fulltime, including 28 points to captain Noah Forbutt with four tries and six goals.

Women’s Games

Barellan switched their game to the 10am timeslot at the request of Ivanhoe so the Hens could have more players and it worked out well in their favour.

Despite two tries to Tommi Booth the Rams were given a scare when Ivanhoe fought back late to be within four, the first time this year Barellan have had two tries scored against them in a game.

Barellan though managed to keep their undefeated record 16-12.

Goolgowi with some help from players backing up put in one of their best performances to give the third-placed Narrandera a run for their money.

Narrandera showed why they have made the finals for the third year in a row, Olivia Light-Wate scoring her second try late to wrap it up 20-10.

Hillston Bluebirds had only pride to play for this week but were up 4-0 at halftime against Rankins Springs.

The Dragonettes improved in the second half to block Hillston out and qualify for the finals, with Georgia West scoring the final two tries to make it 14-4.

Full Scores

Women’s

Barellan 16 (Tommi Booth 2, Monique Higgins tries; Monique Higgins 2 goals) defeated Ivanhoe 12 (Niumai Serukabaivata, Bobbi Goolagong tries; Shailyn Williams 2 goals)

Narrandera 20 (Olivia Light-Wate 2, Isabelle Eason, Tiana Rose tries; Tiana Rose  2 goals) defeated Goolgowi 10 (Sophia Kelsey, Taylor Newman tries; Jessie Burns goal)

Rankins Springs 14 (Georgia West 2, Talesha Garbuio tries; Tash Tuckett goal) defeated Hillston 4 (Anitah Day try)

Men’s

Narrandera 42 (Caleb Atkinson 2, D’Andre Williams 2, Corey Prior, Jamain Morgan, Brody Williams tries; Brayden Ingram 7 goals) defeated Goolgowi 12 (Tom Condon, Ollie Taylor tries; Tom Condon, Ollie Taylor goals)

Rankins Springs 32 (Jack Glyde 4, Billy Vearing, Brent Parsons tries; Damian Walker 4 goals) defeated Hillston 8 (Ollie Taylor, Laurie Sandford tries)

Barellan 44 (Noah Forbutt 4, Rodney Gibbs, Oswald Herrmann, Gary Braddick, Blake Jamieson tries; Noah Forbutt 6 goals) defeated Ivanhoe 14 (Thomas Lee 2, Jermaine Dixon tries; Tarelle Jones goal)

Men’s Ladder

	W	L	D	F	A	PD	Pts
Narrandera	5	–	1	164	78	84	11
Rankin’s Springs	3	–	3	108	60	48	9
Barellan	3	1	2	162	80	82	8
Ivanhoe	2	2	2	84	102	-18	6
Hillston	1	5	–	44	162	-118	2
Goolgowi	–	6	–	54	134	-78	0

Top Tryscorers – Noah Forbutt 9, Caleb Atkinson 8, Jack Glyde 7, D’Andre Williams 6, Stan Herrmann 5

Top Pointscorers – Noah Forbutt 74, Brayden Ingram 42, Damian Walker 32, Caleb Atkinson 32

Women’s Ladder

	W	L	D	F	A	PD	Pts
Barellan	6	–	–	190	22	168	12
Ivanhoe	4	2	–	130	70	60	8
Narrandera	4	2	–	92	56	36	8
Rankin’s Springs	3	3	–	60	88	-28	6
Goolgowi	1	5	–	55	150	-95	2
Hillston	–	6	–	32	171	-143	0

Top Tryscorers – Sophia Kelsey 9, Madison Morris 5, Samantha Simpson 5, Bobbi Goolagong 5

Top Pointscorers – Monique Higgins 58, Sophia Kelsey 44, Tash Tuckett 22, Shailyn Williams 22

Finals Preview

Due to Narrandera hosting the grand final, semi-final hosting rights revert to the second & third placed teams. The finals schedule looks like this:

Semi-Finals, 6th July

Hosts – Rankins Springs

Minor Semi-Final – 3rd v 4th

Womens – Narrandera v Rankins Springs

Mens – Barellan v Ivanhoe

Major Semi-Final – 1st v 2nd

Womens – Barellan v Ivanhoe

Mens – Narrandera v Rankins Springs

Preliminary Finals, 13th July

Hosts – Barellan

Loser Major Semi v Winner Minor Semi

Grand Finals, 20th July

Hosts – Narrandera

Winner Major Semi v Winner Preliminary

This week’s women’s games see a repeat of last week’s thriller for a spot in the Grand Final, Ivanhoe attempting to defeat Barellan for the first time in six attempts.

They continue to go close, so very well might just get there this time.
In the minor semi Narrandera have been very impressive in most of their games, including a 14-0 win over Rankins Springs in Ivanhoe Round 3.

Rankins Springs though are at home, and elimination finals are always unpredictable.

In the men’s games the major semi is sure to be a thriller, with both teams undefeated and Narrandera on top by finishing off games v Ivanhoe and Barellan, while the Dragons couldn’t get the job done.

The Dragons though have the best home record in the competition, and kept the Lizards to a 12-all draw in Ivanhoe this year.

Barellan will be favourites against Ivanhoe after last week, though the Roosters kept them to a draw in their first meeting in Round 3.

In the four times the minor semi has been played, fourth place has beaten third every time.