NEW South Wales Country head coach Mat Thomas was encouraged by his Cockatoos’ performance at Chatswood Oval last Saturday night despite being thumped 61-0 by the Australian under-20 side in a 10 tries to none shellacking.

“We knew it was going to be like that, you’ve got to remember the side we played is full of future Wallabies,” Thomas said.

“They’re the elite under 20s in the country, plenty are already playing Super Rugby so we’re not disappointed at all.

“We’d had a couple of training sessions leading into it while they have played several games and had six months’ preparation before that game.

“There was a lot of really positive signs for us, the score blew out in the last 20 minutes so to play the way we did for 60 was great.

“We just can’t compete with that kind of side defensively for 80 minutes. They were actually a lot bigger than us and their speed and execution, particularly at the breakdown, got us in the end.”

Saturday’s match-up was the Cockatoos’ representative season opener and the side somewhat kept up with Australia in the opening period, trailing 28-0 at half-time.

The national under-20 side piled on another 33 points to nil in the second half to claim the easy win.

Thomas was particularly impressed with the Cockatoos’ three Central West representatives in Dubbo Kangaroos centre Filisione Pauta, Forbes Platypi utility Mahe Fangupo and Cowra Eagles second-rower Chris Miller.

Former St Stanislaus College Bathurst flanker Harry Veitch also played, starting at openside breakaway.

“Filisione, at outside centre, was really good. He consistently got us over the advantage line and was very strong on the carry when we had the ball,” Thomas said.

“When Mahe came on he just brought a different dynamic to the side, he’s so unpredictable. Chris Miller was good too, he’s just strong. He’s quite underrated, I think he just needs to start believing in himself.”

The Cockatoos continue their campaign against the ACT Brumbies Provincial side at Bathurst’s Anne Ashwood Park on Saturday, June 18.