THE under-17s competition was thrown into controversy on Friday afternoon when the Bourke Original Warriors were disqualified after playing an over-age player.
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The Warriors defeated the Walgett Aboriginal Connection (WAC) in one of the matches of the day but WAC lodged a protest, stating a Bourke player was over-age and it was upheld.
WAC then went through to the next stage where they defeated La Perouse, qualifying for Monday's semi-final in the process.
The WAC-Bourke match was a fiery one with two local rivals going head-to-head and there was plenty of push and shove and big hits which resulted in two Bourke players being sin binned in the first half.
WAC went in with a 12-0 lead after the first 15 minutes and had all the momentum after tries to Matt and Jai Lyons and two Josh Siegwolt conversions.
It didn't take long for the Warriors to get themselves back into the match in the second half with big prop Fredi Sione scoring and when Joe Mateo finished off a slick team move shortly after it was all square at 12 apiece.
Matt Lyons scored his second for Walgett approaching full-time but it went unconverted.
Then inside the final two minutes Craig Orcher converted a Clayton Edwards which seemingly gave Bourke an outstanding win but it wasn't to be.
Walgett, after then defeating La Perouse, will now meet the Newcastle Yowies in a classic semi-final on Monday.
In the other side of the draw, Kempsey United and the Toomelah Tigers will play in the semi.
Kempsey proved far too good for both Illawarra and the Redfern All Blacks on Friday and coach Allan Lockwood was in a confident mood, saying if his players stay focused there's no reason they can't be lifting the trophy on Monday afternoon.
"I'm pretty confident we'll make it to Monday but we'll see what happens," he said.
"I think it all comes down to them."
Captain Isaiah Barker was outstanding for Kempsey, leading to plenty of praise from his coach, but Toomelah will be no easy match after they defeated the Goodooga Magpies and Maitland United on day one.
"Isaiah Barker is a star to look for in the future but all the guys played to their potential and hopefully we'll continue doing that in the next rounds," Lockwood said.
