Report: Wyong region teams had mixed results at the Central Coast Junior Rugby Union (CCJRU) grand finals, held at Central Coast Stadium, on Saturday, September 9.
The day was a great showcase of the skills of young rugby players and the large crowd was given constant reasons to cheer with the quality of play they were seeing. Special guest was Australian 7s player and Olympian, Jesse Parahi, who played in many CCJRU grand finals when he was a Junior. In the first fixture of the finals to feature a Wyong region team, the Ourimbah U13’s battled it out with Avoca Beach, who were attempting to claim their fourth consecutive premiership. By halftime, it appeared that Avoca had it in the bag, ahead 17-0. But Ourimbah had other ideas and fought back strongly to reach a 24-17 lead. Late in the game, Avoca Beach scored the only try of the match, into the wind, but the difficult conversion attempt slid by the posts, and Ourimbah took the match and Premiership 24-22. In the U14’s, it was a similar affair, with Ourimbah again squaring off against Avoca. Ourimbah had a much easier time gaining control of the fi eld this match and went to the break leading 26-7. Both teams went hard in the fi nal half, putting up 19 points apiece. Ultimately, Avoca could not recover from their slow start, and Ourimbah walked away victors, 45-26. In the U15’s, Warnervale met with Woy Woy in a heated clash.
After leading 24-12 at the break, Warnervale managed to hold on to the lead and settled the match with a 29-12 win. The U16’s again pitted Ourimbah against Avoca. But this time round, Avoca were just too good, breezing through to halftime with a 21-0 lead. Avoca’s strong defence kept Ourimbah pointless in the second half for a resounding Avoca victory 26-0. In the U17’s and the fi nal premiership of their junior careers, Warnervale met Avoca in a fantastic display of rugby. Avoca clawed out an early lead in the fi rst half and managed to keep Warnervale off the scoreboard, going into the second half with a 14-0 lead. Warnervale responded strongly with three unconverted tries in the second half. Unfortunately for Warnervale, Avoca also managed to get across two tries and a penalty goal which sealed the match and the U17 title, 27-15.
Source: Media release, Sep 12 Larry Thomson, Central Coast Rugby Union