RUGBY UNION
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CENTRAL West claimed last weekend’s under-13 NSW Country Championship at Lismore, finishing joint winners with Hunter after a nail-biting draw in the final.
Central West led for all but the last five minutes of the decider, but one defensive lapse allowed Hunter to draw level at 15-15.
As such, you could be forgiven for thinking the Baby Bulls would be disappointed having to share their spoils.
But, considering they had to recover from a second round hammering at the hands of the Novocastrian side to even qualify for the decider, Central West co-coach Bruce Morrison - who mentored the side along with Bathurst’s Shane Cantrill - said it was the exact opposite for his troops.
“The boys are rapt with it. Being runners-up last year then joint title winners ... who knows, we might get there by ourselves next year,” Morrison laughed.
“We’re as chuffed as we possibly could be as coaches. We’re very proud of the effort, especially when we had to regroup after that first loss to Hunter and with the way the guys stood up after we copped a couple of injuries.
“There were guys playing out of position, but they got the job done.”
Morrison said he was particularly impressed with performances of the five Orange City Lions - Angus Butcher, Harry West, Oscar Watson, Aden Fraser and Noa Fraser - and two Orange Emus - Jack Morrison and Angus Staniforth - in the squad.
“Aden Fraser won best back of the tournament, he’s handy, he had a great weekend. I’m not sure how many tries Aden scored, but it would’ve been plenty. All the Orange boys and the entire squad were really good,” Morrison said.
The Baby Bulls kicked off their campaign with a 45-14 win over Far North Coast before being beaten comfortably by Hunter 31-10.
“We regrouped after that loss, had a chat about where we went wrong. We knew we could beat Central Coast the next morning, which would set us up against Hunter again,” Morrison said.
They did that, accounting for Central Coast 22-0, before ambushing the much bigger Hunter side from the word go in the decider to lead at half-time and then the majority of the second period.
But, one error defensively let Hunter score in the dying stages and steal a draw.
With no NSW Country side being named for their age group, the Central West side’s focus turns to the NSW State Championship in Drummoyne on the June long weekend.
“It’s a pity there’s no Country side picked for our age group, I think we would’ve had several boys make it,” Morrison said.
NSW Country representative
CENTRAL West earned seven NSW Country selections following the under-14 and under-17 NSW Country Championships, played over the last fortnight, a monumental effort considering both sides finished in the bottom half of their respective competitions.
Dubbo ’Roos Max Rumble and St Stanislaus College Bathurst’s Reece Sweeting were named in the under-14 NSW Country side after helping Central West to sixth last weekend in Lismore, while Dubbo’s Patrick Berryman, Bathurst Bulldogs’ Felix Quinn, Mudgee duo George Fletcher and Billy Carberry and Orange City’s Nick Fisher all made the cut in the under-17 Cockatoos side, after starring for Central West in Ourimbah two weekends ago.
“We had a pretty good weekend there at the under-17 championships considering we finished sixth overall,” Central West manager Deryck Ward said.
Central West finished fifth at the under-18 titles at Ourimbah, with no one being named for NSW Country, while the under-12 side finished fifth last weekend in Lismore. There is no Junior Cockatoos side named for that age group.
The under-15 and under-16 championships will be played this weekend in Scone.