Forbes Rugby Union\u2019s first grade side has broken a competitive drought with a 36\u20135 home victory over the Bathurst Bulldogs on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Captain Sam Parish said the win was the result of a long building process, and didn\u2019t understate its significance.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s 637 days since our last first grade comp win – that takes us back to August 2024 against Dubbo,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe club has definitely turned a page and changed a lot since then as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
After several near misses to start the Blowes Cup season, the breakthrough result felt like a reward for persistence. <\/p>\n
Forbes had shown promise in tight contests against Orange Emus and Orange City, but had been unable to close games out.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe win is one the club has been building towards,\u201d Parish said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve obviously got a young squad and quite a lot of talent but it takes more than talent and skill to get a win in Blowes Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just that time together which we haven\u2019t had compared to a lot of these other squads.<\/p>\n
“\u201cEvery week\u2019s a hard week and that\u2019s testament to the comp in central west.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those narrow defeats, particularly the loss to Orange City, proved to be a catalyst.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was a nail-biter and left us pretty gutted really, being so close to that one and just getting pipped at the post literally,\u201d Parish said.<\/p>\n
The response was immediate, with the squad putting together a strong week on the training paddock under first grade coach Sam Jarrett.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been building through some good trial matches at the start of the season and three really tough matches to start the year against some pretty tough clubs,\u201d Parish said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe took a lot of positives out of each of those losses and saw the potential talent there \u2013 for us that game on Saturday took it to that next level.\u201d<\/p>\n
Against Bathurst, Forbes delivered its most complete performance of the season, particularly around the set piece and combinations that had been developing in recent weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe executed a lot higher on those set pieces than we previously have and that just turns the page for us,\u201d Parish said.<\/p>\n
The Platypi started strongly and maintained their structure throughout, controlling possession and capitalising on opportunities out wide.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of our highlights, our strong points we\u2019ve identified, we really executed those and capitalised on that,\u201d Parish said.<\/p>\n
\u201cGetting the ball out to the wing to the likes of Will Seiffer, and Johnny Monk.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tries flowed as a result, with Uetaha Wanoa, Josh Elworthy, James Burton, Will Seyffer and Tom Ray all crossing the line. Elworthy added two conversions to round out the scoring.<\/p>\n
The result was made even more special coming at home on sponsors day, with supporters on hand to celebrate.<\/p>\n
Parish said the win also resonated beyond Forbes, with messages of support flowing in from across the competition.<\/p>\n
Looking ahead, the Platypi will enjoy a well-earned bye – with a few sore bodies in need of recovery – while several players turn their attention to representative duties. <\/p>\n
Uetaha Wanoa and James Burton (under 20s) will line up for the Blue Bulls at Country Week.<\/p>\n
Forbes returns to action on Saturday, 23 May, with a challenging away trip to Dubbo to take on the Roos, carrying fresh confidence and momentum.<\/p>\n
Results from Grinsted Oval Saturday, 9 May<\/p>\n
First XV Forbes 36 Bathurst 5<\/p>\n
Second XV Forbes 22 Bathurst 28<\/p>\n
Women’s Forbes 17 Bathurst 19<\/p>\n
Colts Forbes 8 Forbes 5<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Forbes Rugby Union\u2019s first grade side has broken a competitive drought with a 36\u20135 home victory over the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":669029,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-669028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=669028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/669029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=669028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=669028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=669028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}