Country pride will go on the line at Scully Park on Sunday when the Cockatoos juniors tackle their City cousins.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The battle between the two rivals has been an annual fixture for over 15 years and will feature a host of local talent with Tamworth’s Miah O’Sullivan, Phoebe McLoughlin and Amy Raphael, Gunnedah’s Piper Rankmore and Narrabri’s April Smith to pull on the gold for the under-17s girls, Mitch Henderson and Jordan Leota the under-15s boys, Mitch Watts the under-16s boys.
All are excited to rip in for what will be the culmination of the representative season.
O’Sullivan and McLoughlin were both part of the Cockatoos side that claimed the spoils in the inaugural under-17s women’s clash last season.
McLoughlin will be pulling the attacking strings at five-eighth while O’Sullivan will play in the centres and Raphael in the forwards.
From a touch football and netball background, she was thrilled to get the Cockatoos call-up, admitting it came a bit out of the blue.
It has been a great campaign so far for the Cockatoos 17s, finishing runners-up at the inaugural Schoolgirls State Championships.
“We lost to the Western Force in the final by four points,” O’Sullivan said.
They have a fair idea what to expect on Sunday after also face, and beating, a Combined High Schools outfit earlier in their campaign.
“We’re assuming a lot of the girls we played in the CHS team will be playing this weekend. It definitely will be a contest,” O’Sullivan said.
“And good fun,” Raphael chimed in.
The under-15 boys enter their clash with high hopes.
“We have a pretty good team and are coming off a win (over ACT on the weekend),” Henderson said.
He will steer the attack at five-eighth, while Leota will pack down up front.
The under-16s went down by a try to ACT in what was a tight affair, and know where they need to be better Watts said.
They will tackle a City presidents side in the final of four games on Sunday, and Watts can’t wait.
“I’ve been looking forward to it for a while. It’s been a goal,” the second rower/number eight said.
“When 1.20pm on Sunday arvo comes it will be game on.”
While it won’t be a full-strength City outfit he is still expecting them to be big and mobile.
READ MORE:
The Calrossy student last month represented the Cockatoos at the Generation Blue Under-16s invitational tournament.
“It was crazy. Just the intensity and how long you’re going for. You tackle and get back up and you’ve got a 130kg kid coming at you,” he said.
The under-14s fixture will kick-off proceedings on Sunday at 9.30am.
They will be playing for a special shield named in honour of David McCormack, who was a member of the NSW Country Juniors Coaching Staff for a number of years and a a founding member of the Hastings Valley Rugby Club.
The off duty NSW Police Senior Constable was tragically killed in a car accident as he was returning home from watching his Hastings Valley team win the grand final in 2007.
SCHEDULE
Under-14s – 9.30am
Under-15s – 10.40am
Under-17 girls – 12 noon
Under-16s – 1.20pm Mitch Watts
