The Goondiwindi A-Grade Boars suffered another home ground defeat on Saturday night going down to the Gatton Hawks 48-32 at a frightfully cold and windswept Gilbert Oval.

The Boars were their own worst enemy committing several basic and fundamental errors that led directly to three tries to the Hawks who gratefully accepted the points they were gifted.

These fundamental errors are known in the trade as “Coach Killers” and Master Coach Terry Aquilina did well to survive the night given the monotonous regularity in which they occurred during the game.

The Boars were primed for a big game back on home turf but soon found themselves on the back foot as the Gatton Hawks crossed for a try in the 5th minute to lead 4-0.

Goondiwindi man-of-the-match, David Wild scored the first of his three tries in the 12th minute and when radar boot Clyde Hickling converted the Boars had skipped to a 6-4 lead.

The Goondiwindi defence was containing the Gatton forwards in the middle of ruck with Jake McCosker, Kedron Gunn and Steve Coote tackling everything that moved, but it was on the fringes that Gatton had success with their back-rowers running wide and finding open spaces and they scored in the 16th minute to resume the lead 10-6.

David Wild again took it upon himself to attack the Hawks line and in a blistering turn of speed and powerhouse running he crossed for his second try in the 23rd minute to have the scores level at 10 all.

Super-sub Craig McKenzie joined the try-scorers with a typical burst that saw him spreadeagle five would-be defenders in a charge that was somewhat reminiscent of the great Origin coach Mal Meninga in his heyday.

The two teams headed to the sheds at half-time with the score in favour of the visitors 22-14.

The second half began disastrously for the Boars with Gatton scoring a try before Master Coach Terry Aquilina had time to resume his position in the coaches box and the Boars were down 28-14 in the 41st minute of play.

Some great attacking football from Clyde Hickling, Sam Greenland and Brodie Macdonald saw the ball pass through several sets of hands before finding Rah-Rah convert Mark Jekyll running into a gap and crossing for a much needed try to have the Boars trailing 28-20 with 35 minutes left to play.