Close to 50 matches will be played out on the day with a number of Dubbo schools taking on visitors from the powerful red Bend Catholic College at Forbes, Orange’s James Sheahan, Wellington High Schools and Henry Lawson High School at Grenfell.

Matches will be played in the under 13s, 15s and 17s while there will also be two pools of five League Tag sides.

St John’s, Dubbo South, Delroy and Senior Campus are the local schools involved.

“It’s a big day and there’s going to be about 40 or 45 matches played so there’s heaps of involvement,” the NRL’s Western Game Development Officer Dave Elvy said.

“It’s good to see the schools getting involved and it keeps getting bigger and better.”

There will be four sides contesting the under 13s and six in the under 15s while St John’s, Red Bend and James Sheahan are the three sides in the open’s under 17s division.

The winner of each of those age groups will advance to the western area finals at Parkes on June 7 where a zone winner will go on to play the best from Riverina.

The winner of the League Tag competition will also advance to Parkes for the chance to be crowned champion of the western area.

“At school there are so many choices for sport and at some stage the kids have actually got to stay in and get an education so it’s so good to see schools supporting the Country Cup,” Elvy said.

“The girls’ League Tag is a bonus too, it’s massive everywhere out this way and it keeps growing so it’s good for the game.”

Elvy added the bulk of matches will be of the highest standard with a number of Western Rams players expected to line up in the under 17s matches.

That will not only mean top entertaining matches on Wednesday, it also means the regional winner is every chance of makin an impact in later rounds.

“I think we can be competitive with schools from other regions,” Elvy said.

“There’s a good chance one of the schools from our region can go on and be competitive.”

The action gets underway from 9.30am with the League Tag the final match at 2.40pm.