Thomas was encouraged by the Cockatoos' performance at Chatswood Oval despite being thumped 61-0 by the Australian under-20 side in a 10 tries to none shellacking.

Despite the lopsided result, Thomas was particularly impressed with the Cockatoos' three Central West representatives in Kangaroos centre Pauta, Forbes Platypi utility Mahe Fangupo and Cowra Eagles second-rower Chris Miller.

Former St Stanislaus College Bathurst flanker Harry Veitch also played, starting at openside.

"Filisione, at outside centre, was really good. He consistently got us over the advantage line and was very strong on the carry when we had the ball," Thomas said.

"When Mahe came on he just brought a different dynamic to the side, he's so unpredictable. Chris Miller was good too, he's just strong.

"He's quite under-rated, I think he just needs to start believing in himself."

In terms of the match itself, Thomas was honest and said the result was no great surprise given the calibre of the Cockatoos' opposition.

"We knew it was going to be like that, you've got to remember the side we played is full of future Wallabies," he said.

"They're the elite under-20s in the country, plenty are already playing Super Rugby so we're not disappointed at all.

"You know, we'd had a couple of training sessions leading into it while they have played several games and had six months preparation before that game.

"There was a lot of really positive signs for us, the score blew out in the last 20 minutes so to play the way we did for 60 was great.

"We just can't compete with that kind of side defensively for 80 minutes, they were actually a lot bigger than us and their speed and execution, particularly at the breakdown, got us in the end."

Saturday's match-up was the Cockatoos' representative season opener and the side somewhat kept up with Australia in the opening period, trailing 28-0 at half-time.

The national under-20 side piled on another 33 points to nil in the second half to claim the easy win.

The Cockatoos continue their campaign against the ACT Brumbies Provincial side at Bathurst's Anne Ashwood Park on Saturday, June 18.