THE Bathurst contingent competing in the NSW Country vs Queensland Country fixtures in the Queensland city of Bundaberg had mixed success during their matches on Saturday night. Only the under 16s came away with a victory, though one of the locals drew high praise from his coach.
The under 16s featured Panthers second-rower Blake Lawson who started the match, and he was impressive in his side's 26-18 win.
St Pat's forward Ben Whitley was also in the squad and named on the bench but did not see any game time.
Coach Maurie Hulbert said that Lawson was particularly strong in the victory.
"Blake was outstanding, his running was very strong and his defence was good," he said.
"It will stand him in good stead and put him in the minds of the people who matter. It is only under 16s but there were plenty of talent scouts watching and when you go out and perform like that it helps you make a name for yourself."
The NSW side crossed for five tries in a classy display, and the fact that they both ended up on the right side of the ledger will stand both players in good stead when future representative teams are selected.
It only took the NSW side four minutes to open the scoring with Sam Burgess – no relation to South Sydney's English battering-ram of the same name – crossing out wide, and when Brody Rigg scored soon afterwards they led 8-0.
Queensland did hit back with a converted try but prop Josh Northam scored the third try for NSW to keep their opponents at arm's length.
Despite scoring first in the second half through Jayden Johnson, NSW again found themselves in a tight arm-wrestle when two quick tries from the home side levelled the scores at 18-all and it looked at though goal-kicking might prove costly for the visitors.
Johnson though scored another try and at 24-18, after defending a handful of sets on their own line, NSW went eight points clear with a penalty goal to Scott Williams, and duly closed out the match.
Queensland turned the tables on their fierce rivals in the under 18s clash, winning convincingly 42-18 as their attack simply had too much flair for the visitors, but St Pat's under 18s star Kirk Roberts – playing outside Panthers five-eighth Andrew Mendes – managed to get his name in the scorebook for the Blues.
The Oberon-based winger scored one of his side's four tries but, realistically, the Blues were never in the contest.
They trailed 24-8 at half-time and were unable to force their way back into the game, conceding seven tries to four by full-time.
The main game between the NSW Country Firsts and the Queensland Country Rangers was a close one befitting the standard of the players involved, which included former Bathurst player and current Mudgee forward Simon Osborne, and the home team had slightly the better of a dour first half, going to the break up at 12-6 before going on to dictate terms a little more in the second half, winning 19-16.
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