One former and four current Narrabri Junior Rugby Club players represented Central North in the under-16s division at the 2021 NSW Country Junior Rugby Union Championships in Armidale last weekend.
Current junior Blue Boars under-16 players Bernard O’Connor, Sid Harvey, Zack Mallows and Don Watkins teamed up with former Narrabri boy Toby Michell-Smith and many other talented players from across the zone at the tournament.
Central North finished runners-up after going down in Sunday’s grand final.
Central North played three pool matches on Saturday which were contested across 15-minute halves.
It downed Mid North Coast 19-7 in a game which Don scored the first try of the tournament for the zone, then beat Central Coast 10-8 after scoring a penalty goal as the full time siren sounded.
The side then lost its third pool game when it went down 22-0 against Hunter, however, the two wins earlier in the day were enough to secure it a spot in the semi-final round.
Semi-finals were contested on Sunday across 22-minute halves.
Central North took on Illawarra in its knockout match and scored a nail-biting 7-5 victory to earn a spot in the decider.
In the grand final, also played across 22-minute halves, the Central North boys went down 25-14 against Far North Coast.
The NSW Country under-16s side was named at the conclusion of the tournament which included Bernard and Sid who both impressed across the two days while playing as halves partners.
Bernard, the side’s halfback, and Sid, the five-eighth who occasionally switched to fullback, earned the praise of their Narrabri Junior Rugby Club under-16s team coach Clayton Pursche.
“It’s a huge effort by the boys and I’m very proud but not overly surprised because I see the hard work that they put in,” Pursche said.
“Those two boys live and breathe rugby.”
Central North will be in action again next month when it competes at the NSW Junior State Championships across the June long weekend.
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