The Greater Northern Tigers under-18s will face the Western Rams in a Laurie Daley Cup semi-final at Kandos this weekend.
The Darryl Rando-coached outfit lost its last round match 20-10 to the Rams at Farrer’s John Simpson Oval in Tamworth but, in a quirk of the Country Championships, meet Western again on Sunday for a berth in the final.
Central Coast and Monaro play in the other showdown.
“It’s great for the boys to make the semis,” Rando said.
“They gave a fair effort the other day (loss to the Rams) and have put a lot of effort in.
“They just need to be a bit smarter and cut out a few mistakes.
“If we can stop those errors and play a little bit better as a team, we can give it a fair shake.”
Harry Reid returns from injury to boost the Tigers.
The Singleton hooker missed the Rams’ game after starring with three tries in the previous win over Northern Rivers Titans in Armidale.
Ned Chapman moves back to 18th man after filling in for Reid in the number nine.
Corben Hampstead suffered a concussion in that loss to the Rams but Rando is confident the strong running centre will be right for Sunday.
“We should get our hooker (Reid) back and hopefully Corben will be right, too,” he added.
“We’ll train at Kandos on Saturday afternoon and then play Western in the semi at 11am Sunday.”
- by Geoff Newling
LAURIE DALEY CUP SEMI-FINAL
GREATER NORTHERN TIGERS: 1 Mitch Henderson, 2 Billy Youman, 3 Blake Johnston, 4 Corben Hampstead, 5 Alex Lawrence, 6 Ethan Antzakles, 7 Pichai Dixon, 8 Mark Simon, 9 Harry Reid, 10 Jake Clydsdale, 11 Luke Smith, 12 Hayden Bull, 13 Sam Fechner, 14 Jesse Cadalbert, 14 Joash Boney, 16 Daniel McMillan, 17 Charlie Parsons, 18 Ned Chapman. Coach – Darryl Rando
WESTERN RAMS: 1 Samuel Lane, 2 Darcy Leadbitter, 3 David West, 4 Lachlan Lawson, 5 Nathan Walker, 6 Braye Porter, 7 Cooper Egan, 8 Mana Dermott, 9 Fletcher Haycock, 10 Bill Statham, 11 Riley Wake, 12 Finnley Neilsen, 13 Zac Williams, 14 Mitchell Cleary, 15 Cooper Ferrari, 16 Jesse Shorter, 17 Tobias Miller, 18 Jia Siakisoni
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