Rugby league country championships: Newcastle Rebels defeat Monaro Colts to claim back-to-back titles
Former Origin stars and NRL veterans showed their class as one region proved that they’re still the best in the bush in the NSW country championship grand final.
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The Newcastle Rebels have claimed back-to-back titles and reaffirmed their status as the best bush footy team in NSW after defeating the Monaro Colts 20-4 in the country championship final at Cessnock Sportsground.
With a squad flush with former NRL players, country representatives and Presidents Cup winners, the Rebels showed their class and ultimately proved too strong for the resilient Monaro side.
And while the Rebels took a 14-4 lead into halftime and outscored the Colts four tries to one, the contest remained in the balance until eight minutes from time when the home side finally put the game to bed.
“It was tough, it’s great for bush football,” said Newcastle coach Garth Brennan. “It was a close, really hard-fought game between the two teams.
“Everyone probably thought we were going to come and blow them all away in a high-scoring game but it wasn’t. Monaro came to play and we did enough in the first half to set it up for us, which was pleasing. We could have executed better in the second half, but I’m sure Monaro probably feel the same way.”
Newcastle fullback Cameron Anderson was named man of the match while hooker Luke Huth was also outstanding as the Rebels recorded their second straight country title to hold the country championship crown for another year.
With the likes of former NRL players Blake Ferguson, Will Smith (both Newcastle) and Sam Williams (Monaro) featuring in the final and others present throughout the competition, there was heightened interest in this year’s country championships, with Newcastle coach Brennan, who himself was the Gold Coast Titans’ head coach from 2017 to 2019, saying that the big names were good for local rugby league.
“It’s fun. I want to give back to country rugby league. I want the other divisions with some ex-NRL players who’ve come back to play bush football to pick their players next year to make it a really strong competition,” he said.
“This year was stronger than it has been, that was seen by the results not only today but also the results Monaro had over the last few games. To have the likes of Todd Carney, Sam Williams, Luke Douglas, Blake Ferguson and those sorts of guys coming back to play in this sort of competition is great for the game.”
Indeed, in a game featuring ex-NRL players, former Kangaroos and Origin star Ferguson didn’t waste any time showing his quality with a line break in just the third minute to give the Rebels excellent field position.
After his team earned a repeat set, hooker Luke Huth jumped into dummy-half, went to the blind side and found winger and Cessnock teammate Honeti Tuha who strolled over in the corner in just the fourth minute.
Nine minutes later it was time for the Maitland connection to shine, with Pickers five-eighth Chad O’Donnell laying on a beautiful ball from prop James Taylor to score and put Newcastle up 10-0.
While it looked like Newcastle might run away with the game, Monaro came charging back and looked odds-on to score midway through the half, only for Tuha to pull off a crucial intercept and save a try for his team.
The Colts had their tails up though and shortly after Williams showed just why he spent a decade in the NRL and Super League with a lovely dummy and perfectly weighted kick for winger Brandon Withers to score in the corner.
However errors piled the pressure back on Monaro and Newcastle made the Colts pay five minutes before the break with former Penrith, Parramatta and Gold Coast utility Will Smith feigning to kick and then finding centre Matt Soper-Lawler, who himself showed lovely hands to put Will Nieuwenhuise over in the corner for a 14-4 halftime lead.
Instead of rolling over, Monaro dug deep to stay in the contest and came close a couple of times early in the half as Newcastle’s goal line defence held firm.
Ferguson once again showed his class with a break down the right on 53 minutes, however the former rep star bombed an almost certain try when he ran the ball instead of passing to Tuha on his outside with the tryline begging.
Although the Rebels’ attack looked a little disjointed at times, they kept piling the pressure on Monaro as Taylor was held up over the line in search of his second.
Nieuwenhuise then thought he had his second with 20 to go but the last pass from Soper-Lawler was ruled to have gone forward.
And while the Colts battled hard the Rebels put the game to bed with eight minutes to go.
Once again showing why he is so highly regarded, Huth ducked out of dummy-half and caught the Colts napping before finding man of the match Anderson in support to score under the sticks and seal a 20-4 victory.
Newcastle 20 (Tuha, Taylor, Nieuwenhuise, Anderson tries; O’Donnell two goals) defeated Monaro 4 (Withers try)
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Country championship final: Newcastle Rebels v Monaro Colts
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