NSW City have held off a fast-finishing NSW Country team in the 2025 CABE NSW Wheelchair Country v City clash, claiming a 36-26 victory at Camellia Indoor Sports Complex on Saturday.
With City leading 18-6 at the break before improving the margin to four converted tries early in the second half, three quick four-pointers by Country had them 10 points behind with 25 minutes on the clock. But City’s lead ultimately proved too much to overcome by the full-time whistle.
The City side broke the deadlock three minutes into the match, with Craig Cannane opting to tap from a close-range penalty before turning Mohammed Chemaissem back underneath to score under the posts. After setting up the try Cannane added the extras to lead 6-0.
Both sides quickly found themselves back in an arm-wrestle, struggling to find any holes in the defence.
Country eventually found success in the 17th minute when Zach Carl surged into a gap to grab first points for his side, before Diab Karim converted from beside the upright to even the scores.
Working their back into attacking territory, City looked to ask more questions of Country’s goal-line defence – firstly when Cory Cannane appeared to have scored only to find one his tags removed just prior to planting the ball.
But only a tackle later Chemaissem put City in front yet again, skilfully swapping ball-carrying arms to reach out and score his second try for the match in the 21st minute. Cannane’s conversion put the blue and gold ahead 12-6.
As the first-half clock ticked over the Country team kept pushing to tie things up, using plenty of ball movement but to no avail. City continued to repel the attacking raids from their opposition, including some last-ditch stops at the line against both Toby Popple and Brad Grove.
On the stroke of half-time, however, City made the comeback task even tougher for coach Danny Jeffery’s side as Craig Cannane veered between defenders to score untouched. He then converted his own try for an 18-6 buffer going into the break.
Within minutes of the second half kicking off, City extended the margin when Joseph Aboud charged at the line from a few metres out. Cannane made no mistakes converting to lead 24-6 after 44 minutes.
One of City’s more remarkable tries came in the 48th minute when Edge Iole kicked the ball ahead from just inside his own half. It looked to be rolling dead in-goal before bouncing on its point as Cory Cannane flashed into the backfield to ground the ball first (30-6).
Country came up with a much-needed reply a few sets later through Brad Grove in the right corner, latching onto a cut-out pass from Karim to trail 30-10. Country added another try soon after in the 55th minute, with Karim sweeping to the left to score a try of his own (30-14).
Country had their third unanswered try at the 62-minute mark when Popple scooped up a mistimed pass from Craig Cannane, finding Grove backing up in support and racing away to score. Karim added two more points to put Country within 10 (30-20).
With just under 10 minutes remaining Cory Cannane found the scoresheet again to hurt any chances of a comeback from the Country side, making a beeline for the right corner post and sneaking around Grove. Craig Cannane, the eventual Player of the Match, nailed the conversion from out wide to lead 36-20.
In the final minutes, a slick piece of skill by Chris O’Brien saw him throw a flick back inside for Grove to score his hat-trick, with Karim's conversion rounding out the 36-26 final score.
The win for the City team marks their second-successive victory in the NSWRL’s annual Wheelchair Rugby League representative clash.
