Mitch Watts has described his selection in the NSW junior rugby union under-18s No.1 side as "completely unexpected".
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The Calrossy Year 11 student was, along with Pirates' Toby Maslen, named in the team to tackle the GPS thirds this Thursday night.
It follows impressive performances for NSW Country in their clashes with Manly colts and the Sydney under-18s, the Tamworth Magpie, much to his surprise, adjudged by his coaches as their best forward against City.
He has been named to start in the second row against GPS, the game forming part of the selection process for the NSW juniors team to travel to Perth next month and tackle the Western Australian Force Academy team.
The next step from there is the Waratahs Gen Blue team to play Queensland and the ACT in September, with the end goal the Rugby AU Australian schools and under-18s.
Watts got a bit of a taste last year, making the Cockatoos under-16s, and whatever happens from here is looking at it as" a great experience and great opportunity".
"I'm just taking it as it comes," he said.
"I was planning on this year to play the Association of Independent Co-Educational Schools (AICES) stream and focus on school a bit more."
"Then a mate said 'c'mon come to the trials for Central North', so I gave that a go and then unexpectedly made the Country side and then unexpectedly this."
He said it will be "quite the honour" to pull on the blue jersey on Thursday night, and is looking forward to the challenge of testing himself against some of the best schoolboy talent running around.
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"It will be good," he said.
"We have a pretty handy side allround the park so we'll see how we go."
The Cockatoos went down to their City rivals 24-18, a slow start costing them.
"They were up by 14 in the first 20 minutes," Watts said.
The Country boys closed the gap to 14-8 at half-time and were pressing the City line in the final minutes but couldn't get over.
