By MATT NICHOLLS
ARMIDALE’S stranglehold on the New England Rugby Union competition grew tighter on Saturday as the Blues hammered the Barbarians by 52 points at Alcatraz Park.
In front of a big crowd for the third annual Charity Shield match, the Blues led from start to finish and never waivered in their pressure.
The 55-3 scoreline was an accurate reflection on the contest, or lack thereof.
Even without three of its biggest names – Ed Hiscox, Mike Te Moana and Alex Smith – Armidale looked a class above the Barbarians.
The Blues’ structure was impressive and their cohesion at the breakdowns proved vital.
The Barbarians showed glimpses when they had the ball, but made too many mistakes under pressure.
As the scoreboard became more lopside, the Baa Baas lost their cool and their discipline fell away.
Matt Simshausher was given 10 minutes in the sin bin for a professional foul as the Blues found a break deep into attacking territory, while the halfback was later shown a yellow card for dissent towards referee Peter Haynes.
But the Barbarians’ lack of discipline was not measured in penalties and sin bin offences.
The Baa Baas didn’t work hard enough in defence or spread quickly enough in attack to challenge the Blues.
Led by halfback Brodie Rigby and fly-half Josh Croft, Armidale moved the ball fluently and with purpose.
The Blues raced to a 10-0 following a penalty goal from Croft and an Anthony Piddington try, before the Barbarians responded with a penalty goal of their own from the boot of Sam Blatchford.
But that’s as close as it got for the afternoon.
First half tries from Nicola Furlan, Dan Ah See and Alex Waters gave the Blues a 27-3 lead at the break.
Any hopes of a comeback were dashed when burly Blues forward Peter Cumming picked the ball up off his toes and headed towards the try line before passing off to Jack Hodges who took the lead to 34-3 after the Croft conversion.
Bilal Ahmadi, Croft and Furlan also crossed the line in the second half to blow out the margin.
In the other first grade match on Saturday, St Albert’s College defeated Guyra 52-8, setting up an intriguing match between Albies and the Blues this Saturday at Bellevue Stadium.
RESULTS
First grade: Armidale 55 d Barbarians 3, St Albert’s College 52 d Guyra 8.
Second grade: Barbarians 15 d Armidale 14, St Albert’s College 50 d Guyra 7, Robb College 32 d Gwydir 12.
Third grade: Barbarians 19 d Armidale 15, Gwydir 48 d Robb College 12.
