NSW rugby union country championships: Central Coast pulls off final-minute victory

Trailing by one point with one man down and just one minute to go, the Central Coast pulled off a remarkable clutch play to seal a thrilling rugby title.

The Central Coast went back to back at the NSW Rugby Union Country Championships. Picture: Josh Brightman/NSW Country Rugby Union

Trailing by one point with one man down and less than one minute remaining, the Central Coast looked in deep trouble in the final of the NSW rugby union country championships.

With a scrum feed 40m out from their own line, their opponents Central North just had to get the ball through the sea of legs and play out the final seconds to secure the title.

But with just seven in the scrum the Central Coast forwards pulled off a remarkable play by pushing over the Central North pack and earning a penalty – and with it, a last-gasp shot at victory.

“Throughout the whole game we were getting hammered and penalised for our scrums, so in the dying moments of the game to get a scrum turnover penalty was awesome,” said Central Coast captain and front-rower Ethan McInnes.

With the referee marking the spot 40m out and towards the sideline, McInnes turned to his flyhalf and goalkicker Jayden Wooley to see if he had the legs to take it on.

“I turned around to Jayden and said, ‘Can you kick it?’ and he just said, ‘Give me the ball.’”

With 30 seconds on the clock, Woolley started the ball just to the right of the posts before bringing it back beautifully to sail through the sticks and put the Central Coast ahead 37-35 in what was an ultimately decisive lead.

“Once he had the ball and was confident then I was confident that he would do it,” said McInnes.

“When he kicked it we still had one play that we had to defend, so it wasn’t quite over but it was a relief to get ahead. There was definitely relief because it felt like we were under pressure the whole time to perform.

“We knew we were going in there as one of the favourites, and then once we knocked off Hunter in the first game then we were pretty firm favourites, so to not let that 19-nil lead slip and go back to back was amazing.”

Indeed, it proved to be a fitting finale to what was a thrilling country championships final that featured yellow cards, comebacks and of course a dramatic finish that saw the Central Coast back up last year’s title to win the Caldwell Cup for the second year in a row.

After racing out to a 19-nil lead, the Central Coast didn’t have things its own way as the team was forced to fight off a spirited Central North comeback.

On the back of two yellow cards handed out to Central Coast players, Central North surged back into the contest and took a dramatic one-point lead late in the game as it looked to pull off a comeback for the ages.

However some late heroics from the forward pack and Wooley sealed a dramatic victory.

“It’s a bit of a relief. We obviously won but we didn’t make it easy for ourselves the whole way through,” said McInnes.

Kicking off against fellow major contenders Hunter, the Central Coast passed its first test, running home with the game late to finish 43-21 winners before drawing 17-all with Central West in a tense second pool game to book its spot in the final.

On the back of the successful campaign, McInnes was confident that a host of players will be in line to be rewarded with higher honours.

“Individually there were some amazing performances from the players and I think that we’ll end up getting a lot of players named in the Country squad, which would be good,” he said.

Central Coast players Matt Martin and Ethan McInnes with the trophy. Picture: Josh Brightman/NSW Country Rugby Union

“The team as a whole just came together and we just really love playing with each other; it’s probably one of the best team environments I’ve ever been in and this feeling of this team with all these boys coming together was pretty amazing and I think all the boys would agree with that.

“I’m just really stoked with a lot of the performances. Jake Hubbard was outstanding, Rob Peden was amazing and then Jayden Woolley at 10 obviously came up with that big kick but throughout the tournament he really performed at a high level.”

In what was a strong weekend for Central Coast teams, the Colts narrowly missed out on defending their title from 2024, going down to Central West 17-5 in the final, while the women’s side failed to qualify for the finals after losing to Hunter and recording a 5-all draw with New England.