CENTRAL COAST COMPETE AT THE
NSW COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS IN PORT MACQUARIE
Central Coast had a mixed weekend in Port Macquarie at the NSW Country Championships. The Senior XV, Colts XV and Women’s 7’s teams competed over the two days of the Championships.
The 1st XV lost both their two matches on Day 1 but put in very concerted effort on both days. They had a very good win on Sunday. The Colts team took out the Tier 1 Colts Final with a fantastic win over rivals Hunter in a close one by 14 points to 8. The Women won 2 and lost 2 but finished the Championships very strongly, and finished fifth.
The highlight of the weekend was the great win by the Colts team who took out the Tier 1 Rowlands Colts Cup for the first time in many years. This team has been in this final many times in recent years and has been unable to secure the win. But the Colts finally got through for the wonderful victory. Central Coast started the match very well and led by 11 points to nil very early on after a try to Lachlan Peruch and 2 goals to Isaac Barnes. This scoreline after only 14 minutes was the best possible start. However the remainder of the match was a very dour battle. With both teams having chances to place final points on the board, it was Hunter who responded with a try prior to the break to reduce the lead to 11-5 at halftime. Hunter kicked a penalty goal early in second half so with the score at 11-8 the match was certainly up for grabs. Play went from one end of the field to the other, but no points were posted. At one stage Central Coast had 2 players in the sin bin, but still they hung on with some very gritty defence. A penalty goal to the Coast close to fulltime gave them breathing space with the score 14-8 but they still had to show some very dogged defence late in the match to hang on for victory.
It was a great achievement by this team and the win places them at the top of NSW Country Colts rugby.
On the Saturday the Central Coast Colts had to play exceptional rugby to get to the Final when they defeated Central West by 13 points to 5. This match was by no means one way traffic and with the scores locked at nil all at halftime it was still anyone’s match. However a very good second half saw the Central Coast team home and into the Final.
Central Coast Seniors had a disappointing day on the Saturday. They had a tough day with two very hard fought clashes. The were defeated by Far North Coast by 50 to 41, and then lost to Mid North Coast by 23 points to 12. In both games the team had their chances but things just did not go their way. They were close but just not quite there. They fought back well on the Sunday with a very good win over New England by 59 points to 21, but because of the results on the first day there were not going to appear in the overall winners circle.
The Women 7’s had 2 losses early on but fought very well to record two very pleasing wins in the final matches.
RESULTS ………………….
SENIORS
Central Coast 41 Far North Coast 50
Central Coast 12 Mid North Coast 23
Central Coast 59 New England 21
COLTS
Central Coast 13 Central West 5
Central Coast 14 Hunter Newcastle 8
WOMEN 7’s
Central Coast 5 Hunter 29
Central Coast 12 Central North 17
Central Coast 15 New England 12
Central Coast 29 Far North Coast 5