With a maiden New Era Cup grand final appearance 2019 was already memorable for Orange Barbarians, despite missing out on that crown, but they capped the year off perfectly last weekend by hoisting the Western Rams Community Cup.
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The final round of the competition, one designed to support the sport in smaller communites which welcomed back the likes of Carcoar and Burrangong, was played at Manildra's Jack Huxley Oval on Saturday.
Three rounds had been played with the fourth being the one that counted and Barbarians rolled through undefeated to claim the 11-a-side crown, first knocking off Carcaor (16-6), Burrangong (6-nil) and then the Gilgandra Panthers (18-4).
"Carcoar had gone through the other rounds undefeated, we'd had some good battles with Burrangong and Gilgandra's competition only finished last weekend so it was a tough day," Barbarians coach Mitch Britt said.
Gilgandra's competition only finished last weekend so it was a tough day.
- Mitch Britt
"It was based on a points system and we only had to win the last game to win the competition and we managed to do that, which was great."
Gilgandra went into the competition having lost last weekend's Castlereagh Rugby League grand final to Coonabarabran.
The Barbarians had also lost their grand final, but the weekend;s win made up for that somewhat.
"A lot of guys didn't back up after the grand final but we had a good group, we played to enjoy it, threw it around and just had some fun," Britt said.
"We played some really good footy too. It was really good to be able to test ourselves against some Woodbridge Cup teams and Castlereagh League sides too, and we all enjoyed the competition, it's a good concept."
A combined Cargo-Molong Bull Heelers won the league tag.