The Tamworth community showed their heart as Jack Cutcliffe was remembered in fitting style at Ken Chillingworth Oval on Saturday.
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The third annual Jack Cutcliffe Memorial tournament saw men's and women's teams from Pirates, Calrossy, Farrer and Sydney club Eastwood battle it out in memory of the former Pirates junior, and for a worthy cause, with all proceeds from the tournament going to the Heart Foundation.
Jack's father, and Pirates president, Tom Cutcliffe said it was a great day.
"It might have been a bit bigger than last year," he said.
He was admittedly a bit unsure about how it was going to go with the weather so hot and was heartened to see so many people come down and support the event.
As it was they had a bit of everything as far as the weather. After sweltering the first game, by the end of the third game it had started raining and it rained pretty much through to the end.
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The honours were shared with Pirates triumphing in the under-17s to win the "The Jack Cutcliffe Memorial Trophy - In The Spirit Of Rugby", Calrossy prevailing in the women's and Eastwood pipping Pirates in the "old boys" clash 29-24.
"It (old boys) was a really good game," Cutcliffe said.
In what was a see-sawing tussle, he said the lead changed hands four or five times. Many of the Pirates side were team-mates of Jack, and with only a couple of minutes remaining they held the advantage. But Eastwood scored a late try to claim the spoils.
The under-17s was played as a round robin between Pirates, Calrossy and Farrer, the hosts beating Calrossy in the final to wrest back the silverware, after Eastwood won last year.
Jeremy Maslen coached the Pirates side and thought they played pretty well for "a bit of a thrown together side". Only about eight of the players were part of their regular side.
"We recruited half a dozen boys from Quirindi," Maslen said.
On top of that they also had a handful of players that had expressed interest in playing with the club next season have their first run with them.
"It was a bit of a glimpse of next year's team," he said.
He said it was a good day and night of rugby with all of the games "good games".
Cutcliffe said they want to try and build on it and make it "bigger and better for next year".
"If we can get another Sydney side that would be good," he said.
He was waiting on final figures for how much they raised.
