Narrabri Junior Rugby Club to host annual carnival on July 26

The 2020 Central North Junior Rugby Union season will go ahead from late July, with Narrabri listed to host the first carnival of the year for players aged 5-12-years-old.

Narrabri Junior Rugby Club will host its annual carnival on Sunday, July 26, at Cooma Oval where all clubs from across the zone are expected to field teams to compete against the hosts in under-6s, under-8s, under-10s and under-12s age groups.

The Narrabri carnival will be the first of eight held during a COVID-19-affected season.

Narrabri Junior Rugby Club president Mick Coffey said that while the task of hosting the first carnival of the season was a daunting one, the club was determined to run a successful event that other clubs could base their carnivals around during the remainder of the season.

“I don’t know what to feel to be honest,” Coffey told The Courier.

“It’s probably a good thing, I’m hoping enthusiasm levels across the zone are high and it should hopefully be well-attended.

“But on the other hand there’s also the unknown. We will be a bit of a guinea pig as far as making sure the COVID plan and everything is adhered to and how that works.

“But we will be preparing for a normal carnival, it’s going to be a challenge but we are up for it.

“We have always prided ourselves on hosting a really good, well-run carnival, setting a benchmark, and that’s what we are aiming for this year.

“People can have a look at how we did it and then bounce ideas off us about what worked and didn’t work and then that can keep things running well for the whole term then.”

The Narrabri Junior Rugby Club’s under-6s, under-8s, under-10s and under-12s will all commence training from Friday, July 3, ahead of their home carnival and the rest of the 2020 season.

Meanwhile the Friday night competition will kick off on Friday July 31, and run through to grand final night on Friday, September 18.

Narrabri Rugby Club will field both boys’ and girls’ teams in the under-14s and under-16s competitions, with the under-14s boys competing for a third straight premiership.

All four of those teams commenced training last week.

“We are really excited for the 2020 season for our 14s and 16s,” Coffey said.

“We had really good numbers show up to training last week.

“Among both of the boys’ teams there’s a lot of experience there now and the enthusiasm levels are definitely very high.

“There’s been two titles in a row in the 14s and they are keen to make that three.

“When you look at the coaching staff, there’s probably not a club or school in the comp with better coaches to be honest.

“The kids will be able to soak up the knowledge from those guys and really take their games to the next level.

“I expect big things from both of those sides this year.

“And the girls, they are very raw but a lot of them have played rugby several times now and both sides, there’s the crux there for really dominant teams in both the 14s and the 16s.”