JOBE Botrell and Zarayn Knight might not have won an Oceania Cup Oztag Championship with their Australian Indigenous open men’s side but they had a cracking time.
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In Knight’s case it was literal as he suffered a hairline fracture of the jaw!
The 17-year-old Tamworth High Year 12 student did it in the first game but played most of the nine following games regardless.
He was making light of the injury when he and Bottrell flew into Tamworth Airport Monday afternoon after their Oceania oztag tour.
“I dived to kill the ball but one of their players kicked at the ball and got me under the chin,” he recalled.
He was taken to hospital after being attended to at the ground and then signed a whole lot of forms to enable him to continue his tour despite the injury.
He said it hasn’t inconvenienced him a great deal.
“I ended up playing seven of the 10 games,” he said.
“It’s not too bad.
“I’ve got to be right to play in the Australian Under 18 side in two weeks’ time at Campbelltown against the Australian Barbarians.”
Bottrell’s tour wasn’t as dramatic. The 27-year-old, who has just moved from Tamworth to Gunnedah to manage a quarry, was on his second tour.
“I went to the World Cup over there a couple of years ago,” Bottrell said.
“We had a similar finish then too.
“We ran fifth or sixth in the World Cup and had a similar result this time too.
“We had six wins and four losses this time and finished fifth.”
He’s been playing Oztag for 12 years and hopes for more tours although it could come in the older age groups and not open men.