By Tallon Smith

The Group 10 Representative side has beaten both their Group 11 and Castlereagh (Group 14) rivals to be crowned the premier district in the Western Region at the Rams trials held in Wellington on Saturday.

In the opening match, Group 10 shocked the more fancied Group 11 outfit by defeating them 16-10.

The result is the reverse of last year’s defeat to Group 11 in Blayney.

They then backed that effort up with another gutsy 16-4 win over the Castlereagh side, to take out the tri-series style event.

In the remaining fixture, Group 11 secured a hard-fought 12-0 win over Castlereagh to finish in second with one win.

The matches were played as 40-minute games split into two 20-minute halves, therefore giving each team a total of 80 minutes on field over the course of the day as in a normal match.

In the other grades, Group 11 defeated Group 10 12-10 in the League Tag contest, whilst the Under 18s encounter was also won by Group 11 over Group 10 by 24 points to 8, with the Castlereagh League not fielding sides in either division.

Attached below is a press release from the Castlereagh Rugby League, who competed in senior representative fixtures for the first time in many years on the weekend.

Castlereagh Rugby League Press Release

“The commitment and attitude were there but the ball security wasn’t!”
Such were the sentiments of Brad James, the captain/coach of the Castlereagh
League representative side that played in the Western Rams trials last
Saturday.

The Cougars were far from disgraced in their matches against both Group 10
and Group 11, going down by 12 points in each encounter.

Playing in very hot and steamy conditions at Wellington’s Kennard Park, the
Cougars first played against Group 10, with their day getting off to an
inglorious start when their opposition raced in for a converted try wide out in
only the second minute of play.

However, from that point on the Castlereagh team dominated the game
territorially but their inability to hang on to the ball saw them fail to convert
that territory into points on the scoreboard and late in the second half the
Group 10 side again went wide for another try to make the half time score ten
points to nil.

The second stanza opened far more productively for the Cougars and with six
minutes elapsed Castlereagh’s centre, Washie Itoya was able to touch down
and they were on the board and in the game with the score reading 10 to 4 in
favour of Group 10.

Whilst the scoreboard had improved for the Cougars, their handling did not,
and this most certainly did Group 10’s chances of victory no harm and with five
minutes remaining they went in for another converted try to make the final
score 16 points to 4.

With the mercury and humidity combining to make conditions not at all
pleasant both the Castlereagh team and Group 11 were keen to complete their
on-field commitments for the day and with minimal time between games the
Cougars were back out on the field.

It would seem that Group 11 were wary of the Castlereagh forwards and the
bulk of their attack saw the ball spread wide resulting in three unconverted
tries and a 12-nil final scoreline with once again the Cougars lack of ball control
not aiding their cause.

Obviously disappointed with the results, James was none the less very proud of
the effort put in by his team, as indeed were all the Castlereagh League
supporters.

In summing up the Castlereagh coach viewed the 2024 trials as a springboard
to further Castlereagh involvement in the years to come, recognising the fact
that the younger players in his squad gained so much experience from being
involved which can only be a good thing moving forward!

Many Castlereagh clubs are now organising trial games in preparation for the
2024 season which will kick off on the 13 April with the League Tag and Youth
League knockouts being played at Coonabarabran followed by the senior rugby
league knockout on the 20th April at Coolah with Round 1 of the competition
being played on the 27th April.

Photo Credit: Scott Morris Photography