Twenty-one years ago, a young Marty Roebuck joined the NSW Country team led by Simon Poidevin and they pulled off a massive upset against Sydney in the annual Sydney-Country clash.
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They became the last Country winners before the match concept was dropped when the sport turned professional in 1996.
Now Bathurst Bulldogs players Chris Plunkett and Tim Hollis have the opportunity to follow in Roebuck’s footsteps when they line up for the NSW Country Gold team against their city rivals at Coogee Oval on Saturday.
The match is being billed as a return to traditional representative rugby and, according to Country coach Col Jeffs, it is an ideal opportunity for his team to put themselves back in the minds of the Australian Rugby Union powerbrokers.
“It’s great to get the opportunity to get back into the eyes of representative coaches,” Jeffs said.
“In 1995 Steven Merrick was selected for the Waratahs and the Wallabies from this match, so there’s nothing to say that Country players can’t benefit from the exposure they will get from this game.”
As well as the players who represented the NSW Country Cockatoos in recent matches, several players have also been called in from the Sydney First Grade competition.
There is no doubting the task that lies ahead of Country and Jeffs said his team aren’t setting any outrageous goals. First and foremost, they want to avoid getting blown off the park by Sydney.
“We will be happy to be competitive. We have seven Sydney First Grade players who will come in and strengthen our side,” he said.
“There is some pressure being put on us with people who are expecting us to get a win but if you look at those games in the past, it shows just how hard that task is.
“The win would be a nice bonus but we aren’t getting ahead of ourselves.”
The preparation hasn’t been all smooth for Country with two of their regulars out with injury and three players who would have come from the Sydney competition called up to Super 14 representation. At this stage both Hollis and Plunkett will come off the bench during the game.
“There have been some changes with Ben Colley and Mike Te Moana both out and we lost three players, Sam Carter, who has been called up to the Brumbies, Nick White to the Brumbies and Paddy Ryan to the Waratahs,” Jeffs said.
“They were three strike players and our two Country back rowers so it will be a test of depth, but I’m still confident we can be competitive with the squad we have.”
The Country coach hopes the match will return to the annual calendar and said all of his players should make the most of the chance to impress.
“It’s a good opportunity especially for the two Bathurst boys to play at a higher standard of rugby than they are used to. Because of the calibre of our opponents, this game is probably the pinnacle of the Country calendar,” he said.
The city v country clash will be preceded by a match between the NSW Country Corellas womens team and their Sydney counterparts.
Among the Corellas will be four CSEwes; Ashley Adams, Kimberly Fyfe, Amy Copping and Jessica Scadding.
Michelle Perry was also selected but withdraw because she has since gone overseas.
The match between Country and Sydney kicks off from 3pm on Saturday from Coogee Oval and will be broadcast live on ABC TV.
