DUBBO TOUCH sent a women's open and mixed open team to the recent NSW Touch State Cup Championships held at Port Macquarie.
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Both teams played well throughout the tournament and made the second division, with women's open squad reaching the quarter-finals and mixed open reaching the semi-finals.
In the preliminary round games both teams came away with a strong win and loss which saw the teams ranked into the second division from three separate divisions.
On the Saturday of competition the mixed opens team had some good wins over Murwillumbah Mavericks, Doyalson and Berkeley Vale Panthers but went down to Peninsula 5 - 2.
The women's open squad came out guns blazing in the round games against Parramatta 2, Wests 2 and Maitland before going down by one try against Forster and then going down to Tamworth in the final match of the day which saw the fitness of both teams tested.
Following the round games the women's open team finished third on a count back by just one try which saw them meet Taree in the quarter-final.
In the past Taree had been a dominant force, especially at Country Championships, so it was always going to be a touch match.
The Dubbo team pulled out one of their bests games of the weekend to only go down 5-2 against the team that ended up taking out the top honours for division two.
In the quarter-final the Dubbo mixed open side defeated Northern Sydney Bears 6-2, putting them through to the semi-final against a very strong Wagga Wagga team.
The semi was a close match but Wagga ended up getting the upper hand to progress through to the grand final.
"The team had a great weekend and demonstrated great team work at their first State Cup tournament together," mixed open manager Pam Wells said.
"They improved each game and were really proud of their result to make the semi-final."
Player of the tournament for mixed open side was jointly won by Jason Boney and Kim Gordon, and Tracey Whillock took out the award in the women's.
"This is the second consecutive year Dubbo has fielded a women's open team at State Cup and I am really pleased with our result this year," Whillock, who also coaches the womens side, said.
"We had some great wins and narrow loses but all in all our team played the best they have all year."
Dubbo players Neil Webster and Graham Robinson also played at the weekend with Manly 50s and Bankstown Opens respectively. Neil's team took out the Men's 50s category in a close match while Graham made the quarter-finals.
The teams now have a long break until the representative season commences again next year in October.