One week out from the commencement of the New England Rugby Union season, two clubs from Coffs Harbour took a risk and it paid off.
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With the Mid North Coast senior competition called off due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Southern Cross University Snappers and Coffs Harbour Marlins inquired about coming inland.
New England's draw had already been set but featured a bye each week, meaning only one club could enter.
So the cross-town rivals opted to become a joint venture and the Harbour Knights were formed.
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They brought three men's teams over for the three grades - their women opted to remain behind and play in the MNC 10s tournament and their junior teams were still able to play on the coast.
It was a success for the joint venture, all three grades making the grand finals, albeit going down in hard-fought contests. Snappers, and then consequently Knights, president Mat Quirk was rapt with the success of the season considering the teams had a week to prepare after coming together.
"It was a really, really well run competition by the New England guys," he said.
"We absolutely loved it, playing different teams in different venues in what we are used to."
Quirk also praised the sportsmanship and camaraderie among the clubs for making the venture inland an enjoyable one.
As for 2021, Quirk said they would "hate to break the relationship" with New England but have to take everything into consideration, especially the costly travel.
"We haven't had any discussions since the grand final, just the discussions throughout the season, we are pretty open to anything," he said.