Border Cup goes north

Unfortunately the cup went north of the border again this year, so next year’s matches will be played in Toowoomba. Davidson said Highlanders captain Chad Makim wore jersey number 12 and played a large part in the senior’s game. He predicted it could flag a positional change for Makim this season.

“But we’ll wait and see about that one,” Davidson said.

He said the under 20s had not trained or played together and it had showed.

“The Darling Downs outfit were well drilled and had that team experience,” Davidson said.

“But it was in no way a whitewash. The scores were pretty close at half-time and Darling Downs did run away with it in the second-half to end up winning 31-7.

“Special thanks must go to a couple of Inverell lads who volunteered at the last minute to join Central West under 20s to enable them to have a couple of players on the bench and allow the game to go ahead.”

Davidson said the under 20s had fought to the end and he expected the team to go onto bigger and better things if it stayed together.

He said the senior game was very good and could have gone either way.

“It was a good close contest and in the end it was just a penalty goal that separated the two sides,” Davidson said.

He said Central North had been in front at half-time, and the lead had see-sawed during the second half. 

“It was 17 all, with just a few minutes to go. They kicked a free point to run out winners 20-17, but Central North were pressuring the Darling Downs line right up to the last couple of minutes,” Davidson said.

“Central North will be much better for the run, and I think had the game been played this weekend, I think the result may well have gone the other way.”

Davidson said even though the cup had gone over the border to the “dreaded Queenslanders” the NSW side was not disgraced.