CENTRAL West’s Under 15s and 16s Country Championships teams came close to playing grand finals in front of a home crowd at Ashwood Park over the weekend but both fell short of the last game.
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Hunter knocked the host teams out at the semi-finals stage, and both of the visiting sides would go on to beat Mid North Coast in the grand finals.
Central West’s under 15s and 16s may have had a tough time during Sunday’s finals but the home zone were always impressive to watch and had a combined six players selected in NSW Country train-on squads.
Under 16s coach and Central West Junior Rugby Union representative coordinator.Jason Blake could only watch as several of his key players picked up injuries.
His team put on a set of brave performances to win two of their three matches and finish second in their pool.
“We thought this year we would do well in our pool. We set ourselves a couple of goals and one of those was to finish top of the pool,” he said.
“We started off well on Saturday but by the end of the day we’d lost our hooker with a hand injury, one of our props with a groin injury and our inside centre with his shoulder.”
The Central West under 16s got off to a strong start with wins over Central North (12-0) and Central Coast (10-0) before their injuries began to catch up with them in a 5-0 loss to eventual runners-up Mid North Coast.
In the under 15s Central West started with a 46-0 hammering of Central North and a 15-7 success over Far North Coast.
In the battle between two undefeated zones Central Coast scraped home 7-5 winners over the home side to see Central West finish second in their pool – just like their under 16s squad.
Hunter was too strong for Central West to keep under control in both 15s and 16s but the host zone could leave Ashwood Park with a sense of accomplishment.
Central West’s under 16s fared well in their third place playoff game against Far North Coast.
The Bulls made a great account of themselves in a 12-0 loss, with all points coming in the first third of the game.
With State Championships around the corner the Under 16s are waiting on news regarding several injured players, including Eden Hoy (hand) and Nick O’Hara (groin).
“I think the boys did an excellent job. A few of them have been together for a couple of years and they play so well as a group,” Blake said.
“They’ve only gone down 12-0 in their last game, playing with virtually 14 players for the whole game. They showed a lot of character.”
