Dubbo South Primary School have finished as runners-up of the PSSA state rugby competition after going down to Newport Primary School in last week's final. The team travelled to Sylvania, in Sydney last Tuesday and advanced to the afternoon grand final after putting in a great performance against Newcastle's Edgeworth Primary School in the morning's semi-final to win 17-12. They met the powerful Newport in the final and the team from Sydney's northern beaches proved too strong for James DeLyall's side. "They were pretty tired, they gave it their all," coach DeLyall said of his side. "Our semi-final was our final looking back in retrospect, the boys gave it everything." While Newport ran away with the match to win 55-12, DeLyall was proud of his boys playing against a side containing five NSW representative players. "Our boys did really well," he said. "Only a handful of them had played rugby before." Considering the majority of the Dubbo South side had not played rugby before this season, finishing second in the state to a team littered with NSW players is a remarkable achievement. After winning the Dubbo rugby gala-day earlier in the year, the Dubbo South side outclassed Armidale’s Ben Venue Public 43-10, before a forfeit from Clovelly Public School put them through to the semi-finals. After such a great run in the 2013 competition DeLyall admitted he is already excited about next season, with a lot of the young team available for selection again. “Definitely,” he replied, when asked if it was a great achievement for his school. “A couple of the boys are only in year five as well so it’s really good.” DeLyall admitted Newport were the better side in the decider before thanking the parents for travelling to Sydney and cheering the boys on. “They were a lot bigger than us, it was like watching the Wallabies play,” he joked about the Newport performance. “But it was great having the help too, especially all the parents, there were only about four boys who didn’t have parents there so it was good having so much support.” The South Dubbo side received pennant flags for finishing runners-up and DeLyall said the whole trip to Sydney had been a great experience for the boys. “They were ecstatic, the boys enjoyed coming away with something,” he said. “A lot of the boys hadn’t been to Sydney before or been to the beach so it was great for them just to get away.”
The Dubbo South Primary School with their runners-up pennants after competing in the PSSA State Rugby Final last week.
Dubbo South Primary School have finished as runners-up of the PSSA state rugby competition after going down to Newport Primary School in last week's final.
The team travelled to Sylvania, in Sydney last Tuesday and advanced to the afternoon grand final after putting in a great performance against Newcastle's Edgeworth Primary School in the morning's semi-final to win 17-12.
They met the powerful Newport in the final and the team from Sydney's northern beaches proved too strong for James DeLyall's side.
"They were pretty tired, they gave it their all," coach DeLyall said of his side.
"Our semi-final was our final looking back in retrospect, the boys gave it everything."
While Newport ran away with the match to win 55-12, DeLyall was proud of his boys playing against a side containing five NSW representative players.
"Our boys did really well," he said. "Only a handful of them had played rugby before."
Considering the majority of the Dubbo South side had not played rugby before this season, finishing second in the state to a team littered with NSW players is a remarkable achievement.
After winning the Dubbo rugby gala-day earlier in the year, the Dubbo South side outclassed Armidale’s Ben Venue Public 43-10, before a forfeit from Clovelly Public School put them through to the semi-finals.
After such a great run in the 2013 competition DeLyall admitted he is already excited about next season, with a lot of the young team available for selection again.
“Definitely,” he replied, when asked if it was a great achievement for his school.
“A couple of the boys are only in year five as well so it’s really good.”
DeLyall admitted Newport were the better side in the decider before thanking the parents for travelling to Sydney and cheering the boys on.
“They were a lot bigger than us, it was like watching the Wallabies play,” he joked about the Newport performance.
“But it was great having the help too, especially all the parents, there were only about four boys who didn’t have parents there so it was good having so much support.”
The South Dubbo side received pennant flags for finishing runners-up and DeLyall said the whole trip to Sydney had been a great experience for the boys.
“They were ecstatic, the boys enjoyed coming away with something,” he said.
“A lot of the boys hadn’t been to Sydney before or been to the beach so it was great for them just to get away.”
