It’s been 30 years since the u19 Inverell Highlanders team secured the first premiership for the club. The u19s were both minor and major premiers only losing one game all year. The grand final was played in Barraba against Tamworth.
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The score? Who scored? Who cares? They won.
Memories are a bit scratchy about details from the game apart from who won and who pulled off the best play of the season to help secure the victory. More on that later. What follows was sourced from an independent source close to the team.
It’s a cliché but the 1988 u19 Highlanders were a champion team not just a team of champions. Al Newman was sort for unbiased clarification of this point. The team was sculptured by 3 men of impeccable rugby pedigree namely Terro (aka Allan Terrasson), The Pale Whale (aka Done McRae) and Tank (aka Peter Tozer). Without their contribution the team would only have been a shadow of itself.
Sadly Terro passed away exactly 10 years ago on June 23, 2008, so celebrations at the reunion on Saturday will be tempered by this loss.
All the forwards had blinders linking well with each other and moving the ball up the field setting the ideal platform for the backs to do their work. Although a champion tam and not meaning to single anyone out but loose forwards Parnell, Newman and Rainger reeked havoc on the opposition nullifying the inside backs from set pieces and pilfering ball all over the park. Independent verification of this came from the Inverell Times articles written all season.
Duff, Bailey, Kingston, Angel, Kennedy, Little and Heagney toiled selflessly in the tight 5 allowing somewhere for the loose forwards to rest their weary bones during scrums.
When the time came to score a try Sweet Pete (aka Peter McLachlan) assessed, pivoted, side stepped, barged and then ran through the entire opposition to score and Jono (aka Jonathon Duff) slotted a field goal from close to the sideline on Highlanders side of half way.
Bottles (aka Ian McLachlan) passing and kicking from the base of the scrum were sublime and Sen provided incisive runs from fullback. Dasey, Hands Howard, Wilson and Mitchell carved up their opponents on the end of clean ball supplied all day by the inside players.
As far as the player points awarded for the game it is a given that The Moth (aka Brett Parnell) and Shane Wilson shared what ever points were left over after Fuller and Rainger had their fill. Read on.
Now to the most important part of the game and a story worthy of the best strategic play of the year if not ever by a player and a move that was surely worthy of the players players award.
It goes with out question that Rainger strategically breaking his collar bone in the first 15 minutes of the game was a stroke of genius and is without equal in terms of influencing the outcome of the game.
Needless to say he bravely soldiered on until close to half time but succumbed to the injury and had to be replaced. Because of this selfless act Kent Fuller took the field as Rainger’s replacement on the blind side of the scrum.
Fuller tore the opposition apart in attack and defence in a best on field performance that went a long way to help secure the win. What vision shown by Rainger, what self sacrifice. Nothing else need be said. Thank you and good night.
- Contributed Content
