INVERELL Junior Ruby Union president Rowan O’Brien said second rower Hugo Percival and half-back Paddy O’Brien had represented Inverell well at the Primary Schools Sports Association (PSSA) Rugby Union State Championships, held at Kiama on August 19-21
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Paddy O’Brien from Ross Hill Public played in the North West team while Perceval from Holy Trinity played in the Polding side.
“The Polding side ended up making it to the final where they were defeated by McKillop, which is their equivalent,” Rowan O’Brien said.
“Polding is the whole state north of the Harbour Bridge and McKillop is the rest of the state to the south of the bridge.
“So there are Sydney as well as bush kids in the sides. They both certainly got to experience some great rugby over the week.
“The conditions were certainly very testing. I think they had about eight inches of rain over the three days, but they experienced some great rugby.”
Rowan O’Brien said the North West team did strike a difficult draw.
“We played the stronger of the Sydney teams in the first few games, but in saying that, it was a great experience,” he said. “They’ll bring that experience and renewed confidence back, when they represent Inverell this week, and though it was a long way to go, we wouldn’t have missed it for the world.
Rowan O’Brien said it had been good to see two future Waratah players keen to get their hands on the trophy.
“To get a feel for it before they can take it home for real in about 15 years time,” he said.
“It was good to see some very good junior boys rugby and it was good to see two of Inverell’s juniors running around out there as well.
“There was some fantastic rugby, and I’m sure there were some future Wallabies running around the field down there, too.”
Rugby at schools in New South Wales is extremely strong.
Public and private schools provide many interschool competitions and representative programs which culminate with the selection of teams.