GROUP 11 under 15s bounced back from a disappointing loss in the opening game of the 2016 Junior Country Championships to claim victory in the Southern Plate at the weekend.
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A 32-0 drubbing by Victoria dropped Group 11 out of contention for the cup and back into the plate division but coach Tony Woolnough said he was proud of the way his team regathered their composure to get the best possible result, a Southern Plate final win against Group 10.
"I was very happy with the team's performance. It wasn't a good start against Victoria but after that we went on to beat Group 6, Group 16 and then Group 10 in the final," he said.
Group 11 would now go to Cessnock on July 2 and take on Maitland in the NSW plate final and Woolnough said his team would be well placed to come away with a victory after the form they showed in Wagga Wagga.
"The conditions in Wagga didn't suit us or our style of play but we were able to overcome that so I think it will be better in Cessnock," he said.
"We haven't played too many teams from up north, we come up against Southern teams more often so I don't know much about them, but it should be a good game."
The team featured seven players from Dubbo including Aiden Lake, Tobias Dries, Jarrod Peachy, Thomas Nelson from St John's and Dubbo South's Randall Dowling, Colby Peckham and Kaleb Kearney.
The Southern Plate final against arch rivals Group 10 was close but Group 11 was always in control. They scored the opening try and held a 10-point lead for the final 20 minutes of the game, despite some frenetic attack by Group 10 in the final stages.
Woolnough praised the performances of captain Ben Lovett, Peckham, Logan Conn, Campbell Woolnough and Harry Blake.
The coach said meeting Victoria in the opening match was too much for them but he felt they may have had a strong chance against them later in the competition.
"The Victorian team was full of Polynesian players and it was intimidating for our guys," Woolnough said.
"Half of our team were making their representative debut and that first game caught them out but after that, they improved a lot.
"Victoria were very strong, very intimidating and they went on to make the cup final. I think if we had played them later in the tournament, rather than our first game, it could have been a different result."
