IT wasn’t all roses and rainbows at the NSW Country Championships for the Orange Thunder, but one moment provided the open men’s side with a rare smile.
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Having duked it out with Hunter-Western Hornets rivals Mudgee in the second round and the scores locked at 4-all as time expired, Keegan Harding threw a long ball to Keegan Swain, who touched down in the corner to break the deadlock and hand the Thunder a memorable win.
“Right on the buzzer,” Thunder veteran Joel Begnell said.
“We were all tied up and Keegan threw it wide. It’s great to get one over Mudgee.”
In a mixed campaign for the open men’s side, the Mudgee thriller was the undoubted highlight.
A promising start to the 2016 tournament, the City of Orange Touch Association representatives enjoyed a strong opening, claiming a 5-0 win over Port Hunter to precede their Mudgee victory.
But day two of the championship was much tougher.
Against a top-flight outfit from Wollongong, the Thunder boys lost 10-1, while losses against Beresfield (7-2), Newcastle (4-2) and then, finally, Doyalson (6-4) wrapped up Orange’s campaign.
The Thunder was also represented at the mixed open’s championship, with a young side going down in each of its four games in Wollongong.
COTA secretary, Begnell revealed the goal at this year’s championship was to introduce a host of the association’s best young players to the open level.
“We’ve had a fair amount of experienced guys in the side but the bulk was made up of under 16s and under 18s guys, we’re really trying to transition them through into the senior competitions,” he said.
“We’ve drafted a few of our best junior players into these senior sides so they can transition into these teams and be part of rep touch for a long time.
“It’s a fairly big jump up in competition, but that’s what we want.
“But given the way we started it was pretty disappointing to finish the way we did.”
Begnell nominated Harding, Ryan Moore and Lachlan Wilson as his side’s best at Wollongong over the weekend.
He said the home side was the Thunder’s toughest opponent.
“They’ve got elite players that play competition all year round. They dusted us a bit there.”
The Thunder’s next tournament is the State Cup in December.
Nick McGrath
Editor, Central Western Daily
Editor, Central Western Daily
