Year nine second rower Hooper and year eight centre Wright went through last weekend’s competition at Armidale undefeated, toppling Central Coast 22-5 in the final.

Stannies took five players in total to the championships with Ethan Ivory, Martin Rudgley and Austin Miller present.

The Stannies pairing approached the championships with very different aims when it came to selection.

“I was just trying to get into the Stannies A’s. This is really my first year of rugby. I did play under 11s but there wasn’t much that I did there other than chase the ball around like little kids do. I’m very glad I’ve got into this and happy for myself,” Wright said.

“I’ve pretty much only played backyard rugby. I’ve pretty much played soccer my whole life. First year of rugby and now in Stannies A’s, Central West and Country line-up.

“I’m happy to be there because my dad (Ben) played for the Country Cockatoos as well, captained them, played number eight and also played against the British and Irish Lions. If there’s a junior side from them I’d like to play them next time they‘re down.”

Hooper approached the tournament with his sights set higher.

“My goal at the start of the year was to make it into this Country team so I’m pretty happy that I accomplished that. I went into the Central West team just to get a new experience. To make it into the Country team is a good bonus,” he said.

“Central West gives you that extra bit of experience in the big tournaments like the Country Championships and State Championships. We’ve now got the State Champs this week and that will be a good experience once again. There will be a few more teams and we’ll get to bash around the city boys.”

The Central West side were slightly rusty in their opening match against Far North Coast but pulled ahead to a 33-5 win.

Their second match was a thumping 38-0 result over Far North Coast before they went on to a 31-7 win over Hunter to round out their pool matches.

All the Stannies representatives played their part in the convincing result over a strong Central Coast outfit in the final.

“We fought well. We had a few areas we were let down in. We had some good competition though, especially from Central Coast. They had a few big boys and great backs. A few of them made it into the Country team too. It was a really good effort generally around the board,” Hooper said.

“I’d like to thank Mr (Mark) Neill who has done some great stuff for us this year in our training at school ... We also need to thank our Central West coaches Jock Steelepark and Daniel Trengrove, our manager Eric Brown and trainer Greg Butcher.”

Bathurst will have three of its students represented in the Country side with the Scots School’s Nicholas Wald also gaining selection as winger.

Orange plays host to this weekend’s State Championships where Central West start their campaign against Southern Inland at Endeavour Oval.