The side’s trip wrapped up last week, with Conroy’s brother-in-law and fellow Saint Jaden Ekert also playing a part in the campaign, which saw them finish fifth in the Affiliates Tournament.

A double defeat on the second day of the competition put paid to their finals chances after they had opened with consecutive victories, but according to Conroy, there was still plenty to take out of the effort.

“We had a couple of games to warm up against the Midlands side, which is the equivalent of one of the state sides from here in Australia, and we played fairly well in those,” Conroy explained.

“We started off the tournament itself very well and had a 10-0 win in the opening match and a 7-2 win later that day, but it came undone a bit on day two.

“The Maori side performed the Haka which was interesting and they seemed to be pretty keen. They won 4-0 and did a job on us and we dropped the game later that afternoon as well, so that was a major factor in where we finished.”

The Maori side ended up making the final, but were bested by the Hawkes Bay under 21s side.

Following on from their commitments at the Affiliates event, Australian Country were then used in warm-up matches by West Harbour and North Harbour’s under 21s teams, who were preparing for their own national titles.

Australia managed a 3-all draw with West Harbour and finished their tour on a positive note with a 2-1 win over North Harbour.

“It was nice to finish well, especially after the disappointment of missing out on the finals,” Conroy said. 

“The schedule was very tough, we were pretty sore and tired at the end of it all and in a way it was like being a junior player again to have two games in a day. 

“The staff were fantastic though and we had a physio who did a lot of work with us to make sure we were fit and ready for each match.”

Conroy was making his first appearance with the side, having climbed rapidly through the representative ranks in the last few seasons. He didn’t disappoint as shown by his recognition with the players’ player title.

Ekert too was impressive, though was forced to miss some games with injury.

“It was a really big surprise to win that award, but a huge honour,” Conroy explained.

“I definitely picked up a lot of new things out of the trip that I can use in my game back here in Bathurst and I’ll be putting my hand up again next year if they’ll pick me again, it was awesome.

“Jaden went very well, he was a real leader in that side though he did his groin at one stage late in the tournament and had to sit out a few games.”