The Roverettes went down in the league tag but are continuing to improve with every outing whilst the Rovers looked good winning 38-22 in an entertaining hit out.

The Rovers took on a new look Boomanulla Raiders team who were bolstered by a deep 32 man squad for the game.

The Rovers pack signalled their intentions from the first set of the game with backrower Andrew Burns putting on an aggressive hit in the early stages which really rattled the Boomanulla forwards.

The Raiders recovered and with a silky offload were able to make a break down the right side of the field.

A kick was put through but defused by new major signing Steven Death.

Death not only swooped on a dangerously bouncing ball, he then made huge inroads in the Raiders defence to kick-start the rovers next set.

The applied attacking pressure with halfback Burns and backrower Batt asking questions of the Raiders right edge defence.

A very structured attacking set concluded with a slick try to winger Crawford on the right hand edge.

Andrew Burns kicked the goal and Boorowa led 6-0.

The Rovers uncharacteristic mistakes allowed Boomanulla to score their opening try after 10 minutes.

Boorowa went about making amends through a couple of good yardage sets coming out of their own end and were rewarded for the quick play the ball speed when given a penalty after some good lead up work by new hooker Garrett.

The Rovers, looking calm and composed when attacking the Boomanulla line soon crossed for the second try of the game.

The try came through Steven Death off the back of a lovely offload from Five-eighth Josh Carmody, this made the score 12-6.

The Rovers were impressing the huge local crowd by completing their sets and playing to Coach Burns’ new game structure and soon were able to capitalise on their dominance with a try on the left hand edge.

After repeatedly posing a threat to the Raiders right hand side, the Rovers were able to sniff out a try to new Centre and team larrikin Ryan Foley.

The Rovers went into the halftime break with a try just before the siren to Blake Anderson making the score at halftime 22-10.

The second half started beautifully for the Rovers with captain/coach Burns capitalising on some great work by his forward pack by hitting a long 40/20.

With the Rovers camped on Boomanulla’s line and looking to inflict further pain, a lack of composure let the side down and they turned the ball over.

This set the tone for the Rovers for the next 10 minute phase with some poor ball discipline costing the side some major opportunities.

Thankfully, the much improved defensive attitude kept Boomanulla’s score to just 16 points until the end of the game.

The Rovers found their feet again after some good yardage sets from the likes of Michael McNamara, Tom Carnell, Murray Armour, Chris Mason and Matty Black.

Again, with the Rovers pack moving forward with ease, Garrett nailed an excellent 40/20 to give Boorowa another great opportunity to score more points.

The Rovers were able to score three more tries to Trent Crawford, a barnstorming Adam Reid and a smart try to Centre Mick Hinds.

Crawford’s second try of the game came from a lovely in and away movement and some real speed from the young winger.

Boomanulla were able to finish the game with a late try exposing the Rovers lack of numbers on the left edge.

The final score was 38-22.

All in all, a great result for a hardworking and physical Boorowa team.

Coach Burns was happy with the result but stressed the team still had a lot of work to do in the coming weeks prior to the season commencing.

Burns was impressed with all 22 players and was particularly pleased with how quickly the team have picked up the new structure.

Amongst the best players for the Rovers were; Batt, Death, A. Burns, Crawford, Carnell and Garrett.

Thanks to the great crowd and see you all on April 8 for the Chris Turner Memorial shield trial game against the UC Grizzlies.