Central North Rugby Union’s senior representative sides impressed in both the men’s and the women’s divisions across the long weekend as the zone lined up at the 2024 NSW Country Rugby Union Championships in Tamworth.
Narrabri Rugby Club was represented by four players, which included Will Ciesiolka and Josh Schwager in the sixth-placed Central North men’s team and Cassidy Morley and Esta Kalatzis in the third-placed Central North women’s team.
It was mission complete for the men as the Kookaburras topped pool C following two victories on Saturday to secure a return to Caldwell Cup contention in 2025. They took down Western Plains 24-17 in their first game of the tournament and then cruised past New England 37-7 in their second game.
That saw the Kookaburras qualify for the Richardson Shield final, which they won back in 2022, but this year they were beaten comfortably as the Central West men got the job done 55-20.
Narrabri Rugby Club stalwart Daniel Kahl was one of three Central North men’s team coaches alongside Quirindi’s Ed Nankerville and Scone’s Scott Hatch. Kahl told The Courier that the side achieved what they had set out to do.
“The primary objective was to get out of pool C, so it’s really good,” he said.
“It sets us up now with the challenge of strengthening the squad even more from this year and looking to stay up at that level. We got a taste of what that requires when we got outplayed by Central West on Sunday, but there were patches of that game that we put it to them.
“I thought we matched them in the set piece the whole game, but their breakdown work was just a bit more accurate than ours. They have some handy players and they found a way to unlock us.
“The first day was really good for us. It was a typical, tight one against Western Plains. They always seem to bit of a bogey side for us, but the guys did well to control that one. Even though it was close, we were mostly in control. We then put a good performance in against New England. We asked the boys to be a bit more ruthless and stick to the game plan and they did a good job of that.”
Kahl thought that Ciesiolka and Schwager both did themselves and the Narrabri Blue Boars proud with their efforts across the weekend.
“(Ciesiolka) had really good input off the bench playing a fair bit of hooker for us, which isn’t his usual position,” Kahl said.
“He scrummed really well and did a great job. He won a turnover in the final, which is something Narrabri is used to, but there were a few people pretty amped up that a prop won a turnover.
“He played really well. He does his job really well.
“Schwag really enjoyed playing at that level again. He was in the midst of having a huge game in the final but unfortunately he did a hammy getting across in cover. He was just starting to warm up into some of the best footy I’ve seen him play.
“He had a really good weekend too.”
Central North’s promotion into the top six for next year’s campaign came at the expense of Mid North Coast, who finished ranked last out of this year’s combined pool A and B teams and will now join New England and Western Plains in pool C.
Central Coast claimed this year’s Caldwell Cup following a thrilling 46-43 grand final victory over Illawarra.
In the women’s division, Central North were in pool B this year alongside Central West, New England and Illawarra in their pursuit of the Thompson Cup.
Central North downed New England 15-5 in their first game of the day, with Morley crossing for one of their three tries. That win put them through to the pool final where they met Central West following their 17-7 victory over Illawarra that morning. Central West then defeated Central North 30-0 to progress to the Thompson Cup final against pool A winners Hunter, which Central West won 28-10.
The Kookaburras went through to the third-place playoff against pool A runners-up Mid North Coast and they prevailed in a nail-biter as they won 14-13 to claim third place. Morley scored her second try of the weekend in that game.
Kahl said he thought that Kalatzis and Morley were impressive across the weekend.
“Esta is a warrior and she led that team around really well doing all the hard stuff,” Kahl said.
“She put in some big shifts.
“It was great to see Cass Morley getting some time there. She was on the wing and got a fair bit of time at fullback.
“Every time she got the ball, she was dangerous. She scored a couple of tries and set a couple up as well. It was good to see her playing at that level and really performing like we at Narrabri know she can.”
