Five North West boys have been chosen to represent the NSW Combined High Schools side after an impressive effort in their regional team at last week's state championships.
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The North West side took on 11 other teams from around the state and managed a top four finish.
Coach Jason Walker was confident heading into the event his side would give the competition a shake and that they did.
With minimal training and preparation in the lead up to the competition in Coffs Harbour, mainly due to the far distances in North West, Walker knew it would take time for the team to gel.
It was mid-way through their first game against Central Coast that things began to click and they finished the match with a 15-7 win.
"In the first-half we were a bit disjointed and weren't on the pace," Walker said.
"But come the second-half we came back and scored three tries to beat the Central Coast - they are a tier 1 side which means they have been ranked one of the higher teams."
The second game of the tournament saw them play fellow countrymen Riverina where they scored another win 17-5.
They were dealt a blow with McIntyre High School's Logan Mcilwain injuring his kneed and unable to proceed with the rest of the tournament.
Farrer's Dusty Hagon was man-of-the-match in both of those performances.
Their third game against three time winners Sydney West was a different story.
The city-based team rocketed away to an early lead 14-nil but it was the tenacity of the North West boys which impressed onlookers.
"They have 10 times the population and 10 times the size and every player in their backline is linked up to an SG Ball or Harold Matthews NRL side," Walker said.
"Nobody gave us a chance, the boys dug in, dug deep, they believed in their structure, believed in the rugby Gods and they pulled themselves into that game to score two tries ourselves and make the score 14-10 with 10 minutes to go.
"For the last 10 minutes of that game we had the ball on their line and we could not get over it.
"Everybody that was involved in the CHS said that was the grittiest and gutsiest performance they had ever seen from a country team versus one of the big teams in Sydney."
Their lost to Sydney West meant the North West boys had to play the Hunter in a play off for third place.
They started well and scored first but a quick flurry saw Hunter climb in front to eventually take the match 17-12 and place North West fourth in the state.
"Twelve teams in the competition and we finished fourth and we got five boys in the NSW CHS squad which is a quarter of our cohort, that is the most for many years," Walker said.
Of those five, four are in the open's squad Farrer's Lachlan Dietrich and Dusty Hagon, Narrabri's Bernard O'Connor and Sidney Harvey.
Warialda's Riley Laidlaw was chosen in the under 16s after his efforts at the carnival.
Alongside Laidlaw, Os van Velthuizen and Harry Hagon were chosen in the side despite not playing at the carnival.
With only Sydney North East, Sydney West and Hunter in front of the standings, North West picked up the trophy for best performance by a country team.
They also won the Dustbowl award for the highest placed team from west of the Great Dividing Range.
The future is also bright for North West with most of the squad only in year 10 and 11 and eligible for selection in 2023.
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