Pride & Scorpions take out Girls & Boys 11s City v Country titles

Pride & Scorpions take out Girls & Boys 11s City v Country titles

Southern Country Pride and Western City Scorpions have both taken out their respective NSW City v Country titles after two thrilling finals on the Central Coast. 

The Girls 11s decider between Pride and Western City went down to the wire, with Pride scoring first in an extra time drop off before defending their line brilliantly to claim the one try win. 

Scorpions took control of a tight first half and took a 1-0 lead to the break following a brilliant long range individual try from Nepean’s Indianna Carrol.

Pride equalised in the second half and took the match to extra time, then scored through Ella Greatz in the first set of the drop off to take the lead. 

Scorpions threw everything at their opponents to keep their title hopes alive, but there was no way through the resilient Southern Country defence. 

In the Boys 11s decider, Scorpions battled back from 2-1 down to claim a 5-3 win over Northern Country Knights. 

Scorpions opened the scoring after some impressive footwork from Riley Davis but Knights quickly hit back and edged ahead after tries to Gabriel Goodenough and Tyler Blackhall.

Western City levelled the scores early in the second half following a try to Dom Vella and took the lead after Tyrone Moeroa backed up nicely on the inside to give his side a 3-2 lead. 

The Knights hit back midway through the second half, but Scorpions had too much class in the closing stages and scored twice more through Issac Grey and Cyrus Boomfield to seal an impressive win. 

City take slim lead into final day of NSW City v Country tournament

City take slim lead into final day of NSW City v Country tournament

City teams won four of the final five grand finals on the opening day of the NSW City v Country tournament on the Central Coast and will take a one point lead into the final day of the tournament on Sunday. 

Country dominated the senior age groups and took out the Womens Masters, Mens 35s, Mens 40s, Mens 45s and Mens 50s divisions. 

The Womens Opens final was an all country affair, with Northern Country Knights beating Southern Country Pride 6-1. 

In the Mens Opens decider, Western City Scorpions overcame a two try deficit to claim a 3-2 win over Northern Country Knights. 

While in the Mixed Opens final, Southern City Seahawks beat their Western City rivals 8-5. 

It looked as though Country would take a comfortable lead into the final day until late on Saturday, when City teams hit back and won all three Mixed divisions and the Mens 55s. 

City lead Country 8-7 heading into Sunday’s junior tournament. 

NSW Senior City v Country Grand Final Results

Womens 20s: Scorpions 3 def Knights 1

Womens Open: Knights 6 def Pride 1

Womens Seniors: Pride 2 def Seahawks 0

Womens Masters: Country won series 4-0

Men’s 20s: Seahawks 3 def Scorpions 2

Mens Open: Scorpions 3 def Knights 2

Mens 30s: Seahawks 6 def Scorpions 2

Mens 35s: Country won series 3-0

Mens 40s: Country won series 2-1

Mens 45s: Country won series 3-0

Mens 50s – Country won series 4-0

Mens 55s: City won series 3-0

Mixed 20s: Scorpions 3 def Seahawks 2

Mixed Open – Seahawks 8-5 Scorpions

Mixed Seniors – City won series 4-0 

2019 NSW City v Country Series

City – 8

Country – 7 

NSW City v Country: Western City score three straight to beat Knights and claim Men’s Opens title

NSW City v Country: Western City score three straight to beat Knights and claim Men’s Opens title

Western City Scorpions scored three unanswered second half tries and fought back from 2-0 down to beat Northern Country Knights and claim the NSW City v Country Men’s Opens title. 

In a final featuring a number of players from the Homebush and Central Coast sides that met in a thrilling 2019 NSW State Cup decider, very little separated the teams early. 

The Knight began to find space midway through the first half and scored two tries in three minutes through Broden Bailey and Jack Cooper, who both found space on the Scorpions left edge. 

A poorly executed kick gave Western City territory deep in the Knights end late in the first half, but Northern Country’s defence held strong and the home side went to the break up by two. 

Needing to strike first, Western City looked more lively in the second half and soon showed their attacking flair. 

Mohammed Tamer somehow spun through three Northern Country defenders to get his side on the scoreboard, before Bunsom Chaipanya showed plenty of pace and raced away to level the scores. 

With momentum firmly in their favour, the Scorpions continued to attack from all areas of the field and scored their third try in 10 minutes through Dale Willis to take a 3-2 lead with four minutes remaining. 

Northern Country had several chances to strike back and force extra time in the closing stages, but the Knights couldn’t find a way through the rock solid Scorpions defence. 

A handful of Homebush players have now won a NSW State Cup, an Australian Championship title with Warriors and a NSW City v Country title with the Scorpions in the past six months. 

Scorpions claimed a tight 3-2 win over Knights in the opening match of the day, before going on to beat Southern Country Pride 6-1 and draw 2-2 with Southern City Seahawks. 

Pride then went on to beat Seahawks 5-2 to claim third spot in the playoff. 

NSW Junior City v Country: Jed chasing silverware and his sister in his first “big” rep tournament 

NSW Junior City v Country: Jed chasing silverware and his sister in his first “big” rep tournament 

There’s a lot on the line this weekend when the NSW City v Country tournaments are held on the Central Coast. 

But few have more at stake than 11-year old Souths junior Jed Westaway. 

Westaway will play for the Southern City Seahawks and won’t just battle the other sides in the Boys 11s division, but also his star sister. 

“This is my first time doing it and it’s pretty much my first big rep tournament so I’m really excited,” Westaway told Rugby News. 

“I’ve been playing Oztag since I was probably five in the Thursday night comp, then I started playing with Souths when I turned nine. 

“The first year we won all our games, then got knocked out by Parramatta in the semi final. Then the next year in the under 10s, we won all our games again, won against Cronulla in the semi then lost the grand final against Baulkham Hills. 

“Then this year we lost to Baulkham Hills again in the grand final.”

Three successive State Cup finals defeats would be tough for anyone to take, but Jed’s also had to watch on as his sister stole family bragging rights. 

“Really I just want to catch up with my sister and finally win a grand final,” he said honestly. 

“She’s won two or one I think and she reminds me about it every time we lose in the grand final so hopefully I can win this weekend so she has nothing left to say.”

Westaway said he’s enjoyed meeting his teammates, picked from sides from the southern side of Sydney and said he’s already made plenty of new friends. 

“It’s really fun training with my friends and all the guys from the other teams. 

“Some of them are similar and some of them are different. Most of the guys are very talkative and funny. We’ve got players from Souths, Engadine, Roosters, Liverpool, all those areas. 

“None of us are bad in out team, we’ve got good defenders and attackers and some good ball players so I think we’ll go good.”

The NSW Senior City v Country tournament will be held at the newly opened Central Coast Sporting Complex at Tuggerah on Saturday, ahead of the junior tournament on Sunday. 

Download the Sportfix App and search Oztag Australia to access all the fixtures and up to date results and ladders throughout the weekend. 

Australian Oztag Team Up with Cancer Council

Australian Oztag Team Up with Cancer Council

Australian Oztag have always been a big supporter of raising money for fantastic charities and local communities.

Last year our charity partner was the Save our Sons Duchenne Foundation.

In 2019, we are proud to announce that we will be supporting the Cancer Council.

Every year in New South Wales alone, more than 48,000 new cases of cancer are expected to be diagnosed and the impact on families, carers and communities is significant.

The relationship evolved with South East Junior Oztag’s, Leah Bell selecting the Cancer Council as their charity of choice.

South East Oztag won the New South Wales Junior State Cup Club Championship and the $1,000 prize that goes with it. $500 for the club and $500 for the charity of their choice.

With the Cancer Council being Australia’s leading cancer charity, uniting the community, providing support and investing in research to save lives, Australian Oztag believe they are a great charity to support.