It is the 10th successive year the junior rugby tournament has been staged, and 2014 saw over 1050 junior rugby players from throughout NSW and Queensland participate. 

The carnival is a must on most prestigious boarding schools rugby calendars, and Inverell Junior Rugby Club has attended every year. It is a carnival held over two-days and the boys were provided with accommodation at TAS overnight. The Inverell juniors were among the original participants a decade ago. 

This year the junior Highlanders beat Matthew Flinders Anglican College from Buderim, QLD 12-6 in their first encounter, and that was followed by a resounding win in their second game against St Patrick’s Strathfield 24-0. 

These results saw the junior Highlanders oozing with raw boned country boy confidence when they went into their third clash against the much favoured The King’s School, Sydney.

A pre-game speech by Coach Chris Perceval had the boys firing, and they dominated throughout the match, both in field position and physical play. 

The Inverell boys were unable to cross King’s line and with some late possession Kings were able to score on the full-time bell to come out winners 6-0. 

However, the junior Highlanders were not totally defeated. King’s coaching staff acknowledged a draw would have been a more appropriate result, after the effort all the players had put in during the match.

Having licked their wounds, the Highlanders were pumped for the final Saturday game against the Queensland Dalby Wheatmen, which contained an old team mate in Paddy Kelly. 

They dominated play and won the match 29-0. Inverell’s for and against of 65-12 resulted in them being ranked in 4th place. It also put them in a third place play off against Padua College, Brisbane. 

Unfortunately the Padua boys were a little more drilled, and Highlander’s could not fight off a 19-7 defeat.

In a tremendous show of sportsmanship during the match, junior Highlander’s Captain, and player of the tournament, Xavier Bundock, advised the referee he had not grounded the ball after being awarded a try. The decision was reversed, and Bundock was acknowledged by Padua, who clapped his honesty to a man.

Inverell Junior Highlanders were the only non-school based team in the top 10 and can rightly feel very proud of their achievement.

The boys only completed two training runs and were up against teams that have trained at boarding schools for months, however, their raw talent and enthusiasm had them playing on equal terms.