Country were on song from start to finish against City in the 2023 NSW Wheelchair Country v City clash at Queanbeyan PCYC on Saturday, winning 70-15 in a record margin for the representative fixture.
It was the perfect start for the Country side after scoring first points in just over 30 seconds of play.
The opening try came from a crafty flick pass by No.9 Brett Henman to find Rick Engles untouched to score, before No.17 Diab Karim added the extras to lead 6-0.
A minute later Country were in the clear as Brad Grove made a break. He took possession again just two tackles later to cross the stripe and extend the lead to 10 points.
City managed to halt the early flow of points, trading sets with Country but unable to lessen the margin.
Yet it only took Country 10 more minutes to find the line for a third, with Toby Popple accelerating under the posts from close range. Karim had no problem converting from in front to go ahead 16-0.
Country made the task tougher for their opposition with another four-pointer in the 15th minute. It started with a break in the leadup, this time through Zach Carl, before turning Popple back underneath, who tossed the ball out to Grove for the try. Karim’s third conversion brought the score-line to 22-0.
City eventually got their chance and made the most of it in the 19th minute after forcing a goal-line drop-out. It was a simple case of handing the ball to William Derederenalagi at first receiver, reaching out and maintaining balance to score beside the uprights. Last year’s Player of the Match converted his own try, bring the deficit to 22-6.
The next 12 minutes was more of the same with Country continuing to put points on the board and producing two more tries. Carl was rewarded for another line-break when he dotted down for a try of his own.
That was followed up with some enterprising play from the Country team, going through several pairs of hands before landing in the grasp of Jason Attard to score. Country nabbed another try prior to halftime to lead 40-6 at the main break.
City came out firing in the second half with Derederenalagi setting up Wessam Bakkour in the corner. Derederenalagi added the two points to trail 40-12.
Country replied soon after with another switch of play from right to left. The ball then ended up in the hands of Karim, who chipped over the top of two defenders and regathered the ball on one bounce to score.
City later found themselves in attacking territory again, but on this occasion Derederenalagi settled for a field goal. A few minutes after, City were back there again when they received a penalty in front of the sticks, with the No.2 taking the shot at goal without hesitation.
At the hour mark Engles secured a double for the Country side to improve their score to 48-15. Attard then rounded out a brace of tries for himself to surpass the half-century for his side, with Henman converting for a 54-15 margin.
Country still had more points in them at that point, scoring on three more occasions to finish off a record 70-15 win.
Zach Carl was a deserved Player of the Match for his efforts in the win, proving hard to handle with his speed on the ball and knack for breaking through the City defence.
