Central West fell at the final hurdle of last weekend’s NSW Country Rugby Union Colts Championship, the Baby Bulls were beaten by a clinical Newcastle-Hunter outfit in the Rowlands Cup final on Sunday afternoon, at Warren’s Victoria Park.
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The injury-hit Bulls, who most notably lost five-eighth Harry O’Leary on day one, were simply outclassed by the Novocastrians, a side that thrived on a huge defensive effort and capitalised on a number of Central West errors to run out 53-10 victors.
“They’re a great outfit, they were very, very good and they deserved that win. Their backline in particular was very slick and their defensive effort was huge,” Central West coach Scott Hatch said.
“We were the walking wounded, we had three or four guys out from the day one win over the Central Coast and that forced guys into positions they don’t normally play and that took its toll.
“But the fight was there, they were willing and certainly didn’t give up and in that situation that’s all I could really have asked as a coach.”
The development of his side was something else Hatch was absolutely stoked about.
“We didn't get the trophy, no, but we came along in leaps and bounds from where we were in a trial at Canberra so in that sense, it was definitely mission accomplished,” Hatch said.
“We asked them to integrate in with the open side and they did, we asked them to really try and take something from this experience and they did. We asked them to put everything out there on the paddock and they did. It’s disappointing to lose, of course, but overall, I’m pretty happy with what we’ve done.”
It took some time foe either side to gain the upper hand in the final but it was Newcastle-Hunter that eventually did, the new Rowlands Cup champions scoring the first two tries to lead 14-0 through 25 minutes.
But when Newcastle-Hunter prop Jacob Barrett was sin-binned the Baby Bulls took their chance, opening their account through Sam Greatbatch.
The joy didn’t last long though, an Alex Saint knock-on from the restart gave Newcastle-Hunter a chance and it took it, scoring on the stroke of half-time to take a 19-5 lead into the break.
The Novocastrians built on that lead, pushing it out to 36-5 and effectively ending the game by the 46th minute.
The Baby Bulls scored once more with 15 to go, but three more Newcastle-Hunter tries put the result to bed.
Central West was dominant on day one, thumping Central Coast 44-7 on the back of a huge performance from Saint and a Greatbatch double – the duo were Central West’s best all weekend.
“That performance was excellent, we came not knowing what we’d face and they really put them to the sword in that game,” Hatch said.
“I’m sure the guys will go forward now and do really well and with what’s been put in place this year, there’s no doubt next year’s group will be in pretty good stead.