THE battle lines will be drawn in Armidale on Sunday as UNE and the New England Rugby Union commemorate the ANZAC landing with a special centenary clash.
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The Town v Gown fixture will be the crescendo to what will be a festival of rugby with local action, rep games and the annual TAS Primary Carnival.
This year’s carnival will be the 11th.
Recognised as the largest carnival of its kind in Australia, the carnival is expected to draw up to up 2500 people to Armidale and, according to Armidale Sports Council chair Steve McMillan, boost the local economy by over a million dollars.
Over 1000 players will be taking part from school and club sides stretching from the Sunshine Coast and Dalby to Sydney.
Games will get underway at 8.30am tomorrow and Sunday with the finals commencing around 11am on Sunday.
Across town at Bellevue Oval, the ANZAC game will be one of seven to be played intertwining second- round New England action between the Gywdir River Rats and Robb College and rep trials for the New England, Central North and Far North Coast U20s and opens as they tune-up for next month’s Country Championships.
There will be three games of U20s, with the three sides playing each other once.
The Kookaburras opens will then tackle the Dolphins.
The Lions won’t be joining them, with the majority of the squad tied up with either the Town or Gown sides.
As such, the coaching staff will be using the game to help finalise their squad for Bowral.
“This is our major selection trial for opens,” Lions director of coaching Luke Stephen said.
He is, with Mike TeMoana, looking after the Town side, which will be made up of players from Armidale, Barbarians, Glen Innes and Gwydir.
The Gown side will be coached by Tom Newsome and Dave Schmude and be comprised of predominantly Albies and Robb players.
The response to playing for the Lions was initially a bit sluggish but has picked up in the last couple of weeks.
“We’re still building our squad,” Stephen said.
“The main thing for this weekend is giving guys an opportunity to test themselves against better players.”
He said they were really happy with the players who put their hands up to wear the Town colours.
“There’s a good mix across the three first grade clubs,” he said.
He mentioned Aaron Mackay, Sam Gaites and James McKern as three who he’s looking forward to seeing how they perform.
He’ll also be keeping an eye on the opposition.
“A lot of the guys who are part of the Gown side we’ll be putting under the microscope,” Stephen said.
The 20s will be coached by Mark Charter and are “looking promising”.
“At least 10 of the players are playing first grade with their clubs already,” Stephen said.
“As well as that, three played for the Country 20s at the Southern States Championships.”
Jake Hoban, Dan Sweeney and Tom Smart were that trio and will be key cogs.
The Lions and Kookaburras 20s will kick proceedings off from 11.45am.
Entry is gold coin donation.
There will also be a silent auction for the special commemorative jerseys.
The money from that as well as the gate takings and barbecue proceeds will be donated to “Soldier On” and Legacy.
