The Macquarie Raiders and Parkes Spacemen played out an entertaining 20-all draw as the Western Youth League took centre stage on the weekend.
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With no Group 11, Group 10, or Woodbridge Cup going ahead in 2020 clubs from each of the three competitions have come together to ensure under 18s fixtures go ahead this season.
The region's rising stars didn't disappoint in round one with six closely-contested matches fought out across the region.
The Raiders-Spacemen battle on Sunday wasn't the only draw as Wellington and Cowra couldn't be separated at Kennard Park.
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Cowra captain Rory Brien was pleased with the result ad his young side's effort against what was a new opposition.
"I think if they bring the same game that they did last week, to this weekend's match, they're certainly going to be in with a show, it was a really good defensive effort," Brien said of the Wellington game.
"I think we were a little bit hard done by with our numbers.
"We only had two on the bench and had a couple of injuries in the game so we finished the final quarter with none.
"We had to play our front rowers on the wing to give them a spell and relied on the under 16s a bit. It was hard for them to play on Saturday and then put their hands up for Sunday."
That one finished 12-all while a double for Kieran Rosenbaum couldn't get the Raiders across the line at Forbes.
That thriller was part of a double-header at Forbes with the other seeing the hometown side downing CYMS.
Forbes produced a strong second-half effort to down the Fishies 24-12.
Orange sides Hawks and CYMS and the Mudgee Dragons also won in round one.
RESULTS
ORANGE HAWKS 20 (Aiden Nunn, Angus Wilson, Jake Richie, Mitch Watts tries; Ben Norris 2 goals) defeated LITHGOW WORKIES 14 (Sam Lane, Zane Harrington, Cooper Nunan tries; Cooper Egan goal)
WELLINGTON COWBOYS 12 (Jayden Hyde, Elijah Colliss tries; Deakin Flick 2 goals) drew with COWRA MAGPIES 12 (Ky Johnson, Nathan Steele tries; Luke Kinsey 2 goals)
MUDGEE DRAGONS 18 (Cody Leydon, Kain Munro, Ryan Porter, Hunter McMurtrie tries; Cody Lawson goal) defeated CANOWINDRA TIGERS 4 (Jacob Duncan try)
ORANGE CYMS 36 (Ollie Keegan 2, Kaeden Dickson 2, Alex Brien, Ollie Hoskins, Cody Kelso tries; Addison Williams 4 goals) defeated BATHURST PANTHERS 16 (Charlie Hutchings, Noah Griffiths, Lachlan Large tries; Noah Griffiths goal)
FORBES MAGPIES 24 (Harrison Scott, Matt Noakes, Sam Richards, Thomas Phillips tries; Noakes 4 goals) defeated DUBBO CYMS 12 (Noah Ryan, Joe Yeo tries; Ryan 2 goals)
DUBBO MACQUARIE 20 (Kieran Rosenbaum 2, Brandon Hamilton, Sonny Knight tries; Nathan Walker, Kaiden Hill goal) drew with PARKES SPACEMEN 20 (Bayden Moran, Jammara Gooloogong, Harrison MacGregor Cody Crisp try; Zane Eshman 2 goals)
