May 11, June 1 and July 7 – outside of finals, Orange City and Orange Emus fans best circle those three dates in their diaries as soon as possible.
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Central West Rugby Union released its 2019 Blowes Clothing Cup draw earlier in the week and the biggest thing it revealed is just how gigantic next year’s local derbies are going to be, particularly if the Lions improve as expected.
While the first of the three in round five will be your typical, cross-city grudge match at Endeavour Oval – although in fairness they’re hardly ever run-of-the-mill affairs – the next two regular season encounters will be absolutely epic.
MORE IN RUGBY: A to Z of the 2018 Central West Rugby Union season
Round eight’s clash set to be under lights at Wade Park following Eastern Suburbs’ Shute Shield clash with Gordon, the Beasties once again committing to their Beach to Bush round, with the Lions acting as hosts this time.
In the final round the two sides will once again clash under lights but at Endeavour Oval, as Emus once again link with Knox Old Boys to aid the BrothersIVBrothers charity cause.
“It’s all pretty exciting,” Emus president Steve Fergus said.
“The excitement’s building for the season in general after the success of last year’s competition and credit to (CWRU chief executive officer) Matt Tink and the board, they’ve tweaked the draw a lot to accommodate some big events clubs have planned and that’s great.
“Our local derbies never really lack any punch, but to be able to play Orange City on the same day as the Shute Shield and then finish the season with the second match of our tri-series with Knox Old Boys, which helped raise $65,000 for the BrothersIVBrothers cause in 2018, will just be huge.”
Fergus said he’s confident that expected improvement will come for the Lions too, with “good things happening at Pride Park” like the appointment of Viv Paasi as coach.
“There’s excitement there, even though we won the derbies pretty convincingly last season they were still tough games of rugby. But we’re hungry for the Lions to keep improving, and for that rivalry to return to what it has been in past years,” he said.
Prior to the first of the three local derbies in round five, Emus will face Forbes, Dubbo Kangaroos, Cowra and Bathurst Bulldogs in the opening month of the season. They’ll have seven home games and eight road trips in 2019.
The Lions, on the other hand, will take on Cowra, Bulldogs, Roos and then Forbes and are also set to have eight away games to their seven at home.
Emus kick-off their season on the road while the Lions will be at home.
“Every week was tough last season and the games are only going to get harder this season as club’s improve I think,” Fergus said, before saying his club is champing at the bit for its round four grand final rematches against Bulldogs.
Emus’ first, second and third grade sides faced off with the Bathurst club in this year’s deciders.
“Despite last season’s results, we think Bulldogs must be considered favourites in 2019 considering they’ve got a young, exciting squad that has finals experience now and a coaching team that other clubs must envy,” he said.
The 2019 Blowes Clothing Cup season begins on April 6.
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Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
