RUGBY LEAGUE
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COL Wright lauded the efforts of his players on Saturday, saying the victorious Group 11 side "might have small bodies but they've got big hearts".
The Wright-coached Group 11 side were convincing winners at Gilgandra's McGrane Oval, defeating Group 10 38-18 during the annual Western Rams Senior Representative Series.
With Western Rams jerseys on the line there was plenty to play for and the first half was a willing one which saw Group 11 lead 8-6 at the break.
Things opened up in the second stanza and the physically smaller Group 11 piled on six more tries to defeat their rivals for the second consecutive year.
"It was a big effort and we wanted to play fast and we did that and we probably knocked them up a bit," Wright said after the match.
"We played wide and fast and they couldn't keep with our smaller men.
"The smaller men made the yardage for us but the bigger blokes held them so that was the foundation for winning the game."
Group 10 coach Graeme Osborne was hopeful his players did enough to put their hand up for Rams selection but admitted his side gave up too much ball.
"It's all based on ball possession and where you play the ball on the field and I think we only had about 10 sets in the second half and you can't give Group 11 80% of the ball," he said.
"They played some good footy and scored some good tries."
Group 11 started the best and opened the scoring nine minutes in when outstanding Nyngan hooker Reece Goldsmith, who went on to be named man of the match, began a flowing left to right move which resulted in a try to winger Brad Pickering.
But from the resulting kick off Pickering knocked on and shortly after Cowra's Warren Williams, undoubtedly one of his side's best until he departed with a back injury, muscled his way across.
It seemed Group 11 were destined to go in to the sheds down 6-4 but approaching halftime five-eighth Jacob Neill booted a brilliant 40/20 which led to a try to Dubbo CYMS centre Jyie Chapman.
After the break Group 10 got back in front when a perfect Williams grubber was pounced upon by Blake Lawson but that was as good as it got for the men in blue.
Group 11 piled on four tries in 15 minutes with Chapman, Neill, Goldsmith and the powerful Brendon Tago all crossing line to set up a 28-10 lead.
With players tiring and the game opening up, Lawson grabbed his second try fwhen Jack Nobes put a grubber through but almost immediately after a Kotoni Staggs break was well finished off by Parkes fullback Sam Dwyer.
Simon Osborne grabbed a late try for Group 10 but with a minute to go CYMS teammates Colby Pellow and Kieran Shipp combined to put the icing on the cake.
Despite such a convincing win under the nose of Rams coach Darren Jackson and fellow Western selectors, Wright refused to get too carried away when discussing how many of his side will score green jerseys when the squad is announced on Wednesday.
"It's not in my hands but they showed they can play football and it's now the selectors' decision," he said, before stating who impressed him the most.
"The man of the match (Goldsmith) obviously but they all dug in well.
"Kotoni as a 17 or 18-year-old kid out there and the small blokes all played above themselves and they might have small bodies but they've got big hearts."
Osborne confessed Group 11 were likely to score more players in the Western Rams squad following the match.
"Naturally the winning sides gets bragging rights on the number of players they get in but there's some good footballers on both sides," he said.
"Unfortunately for us Group 11 came out with the win on the day."
GROUP 11 38 (Jyie Chapman 2, Brad Pickering, Neill, Goldsmith, Tago, Dwyer, Shipp tries; Staggs 2, Pellow conversions) def GROUP 10 18 (Blake Lawson 2, Williams, Simon Osborne tries; Reilly conversion).
