"WE'VE been flattened."
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Those were the words that Central West Rugby Union chief executive officer Matt Tink used to described his feelings when he learned that the 2020 Country Championships would not go ahead.
Having secured the men's and women's Country Championships title double last year to follow on from a successful pre-season tour of New Zealand, Tink was excited to see what this year's representative program would bring.
But the coronavirus pandemic forced officials to cancel the country titles, which were to be played in Tamworth on the June long weekend.
"We felt we had really good momentum with the game in our zone, so yeah, we've been flattened a little bit by this," Tink said.
"I know all sports have dealt with this, but we really felt we were on the up, so it's really disappointing. There's not much you can do I guess.
"But we has such good momentum off our New Zealand tour and winning it last year."
While the Blue Bullettes and Blue Bulls will have to wait until 2021 to defend their crowns, Tink can still see positives in a situation where there aren't many bright spots.
He feels the desire to wear a Central West jumper has been reignited in players across the zone after a pre-season trial.
"We actually had trials this year for men's and women's teams," he said.
"I coached the Central West side over 15 years ago when I was down here and I was ringing guys to come and play and Dean Oxley was doing that before I got here.
"I said to him 'Mate, I feel your pain. Bugger this, we need to fix this'.
"So this year between the guys and girls we had over 70 people trial.
"It was amazing, the guys actually played an internal game, it was unbelievable."
Rugby Australia is scheduled to provide an update on the short-term future of the sport in the opening week of May.
