Caption TAS Rugby 1:
The New England Lions under-16 side were no match for Southern (CSSA) in the first round on Saturday.
Caption TAS Rugby 2:
The Under-16 Lions were unable to penetrate the defence of Southern (CSSA).
New England Lions retained their title as open champions at the NSW Country Schools championships at The Armidale School on June 8-9, while in an upset result, a quality Far North Coast outfit took out the Under-16 division.
More than 250 young rugby players from country zones across the state took part in the championships, which are selection trials for NSW Country Schoolboy sides, as well as a development squad to tour North America next year.
Carnival convenor Jim Pennington said it was gratifying to see a spread of quality players from across all the zones – evidenced that despite being the open champions and taking out the Bernie McGrane Shield, New England has no more than four players making up the NSW Country Schoolboys opens team.
“All the teams played so well, New England never really had a shutout victory and that gave all players a chance to showcase their talents in front of selectors and ARU talent scouts,” Pennington said.
“The big upset was in the 16s – the money was on Central North or Mid North Coast, but the Far North Coast boys put on an exhilarating display of quality rugby to take out the Don Wiburd Cup.”
Among those who made selection in the opens were New England’s Jackson Gilbey from The Armidale School, who was awarded player of the tournament, and Tom Gilbert of Mid North Coast, younger brother of Northern Suburbs captain and Waratah A.J. Gilbert.
Special guest, Brumby lock Sam Carter was an inspiration to the boys with many anecdotes from his career – including Pennington revealing that he was never selected to play representative rugby while at school.
The opens team will play Combined High Schools in Sydney later this month and Fiji Schoolboys XV in an international fixture at TAS on Monday 23 September.
