NSW City teams have claimed a hat-trick of honours over NSW Country at Bankwest Stadium today with the Open Women, U/18's boys and U/16's boys victorious on day one of the NSWRL Representative Country v City Weekend, while NSW Country won the Wheelchair Rugby League at Shellharbour City Stadium.
Today’s four matches are part of a bumper NSWRL Country v City Representative Weekend which will feature eight games in two days across three different venues in Wollongong and Sydney. Tomorrow’s program includes the Country v City Open Men’s and Physical Disability games and Steel City Challenge matches between Newcastle and Illawarra in Open Men’s and U/20's.
Day one culminated with the Harvey Norman NSW Country v NSW City Women’s match, which will play an important role in shaping the Harvey Norman NSW Women’s Origin team to play Queensland next month.
NSW City set the platform for a comprehensive 40-16 victory off the back of a strong first-half performance. NSW Country scored first but then it was one-way traffic for the remainder of the half, with a 24-4 score-line at the break.
NSW Country staged a spirited fightback in the second half, almost matching City scoring 12 points to their 16, but the damage had been done in the first half led by Player of the Match Jess Sergis scoring two of her three tries in the opening stanza.
In the U/18's, NSW City claimed a resounding 46-6 win after a dominant second half in which they kept NSW Country scoreless while adding 30 points to their half-time lead of 16-6.
Justin Matamua starred off the bench with a hat-trick and a complete Player-of-the-Match performance, scoring one try in the first half and two in a dominant second half.
In the U/16's, NSW City had a convincing 34-12 victory, and were never challenged after a strong finish to the first half, leading 20-6.
Player of the Match Cooper Toy bagged a double, pulling off an acrobatic finish to put his team in front in the first half, and putting the win beyond doubt with a second after half-time.
In the Wheelchair Rugby League, NSW Country took first bragging rights recording a comfortable 56-22 win over NSW City.
NSW Country established an early 22-0 lead, before going to the half-time break at 28-18. NSW Country opened the scoring again in the second half and soon established dominance, confidently led around the court by experienced Wheelaroos Brad Grove, Brett Henman and Diab Karim.
Details provided courtesy of NSWRL.
