One of the highlights of the Junior Rugby Rep calendar is the traditional 'City vs Country' carnival. This sees the boys from the bush test themselves against their metropolitan cousins across the under 14, under 15 and under 16 age groups in the boys, as well as the U17 girls contesting the "Grace Hamilton Cup" for a third time. Plus a new tradition will start this year as the U15 girls will contest their inaugural clash in a "yet to be named" Cup/Shield.

The last match-up for the City vs Country fixtures is the under 18 boys whom have already met in mid June. Their Rep program runs a lot earlier that the rest and thus they played their game at Chatswood Oval under lights following a Shute Shield game between Gordon and Randwick. It was a fitting setting for what was potentially one of the more classic games between these two longtime combatants. Sydney skipped to an early lead but the NSW Country lads fought themselves back into the game and with about 5 minutes left of the clock trailed 24-18. They spent the last 5 minutes pounding the Sydney tryline but to no avail and the City boys held on for the win. The NSWJRU I team was selected immediately afterwards and just to prove the point of how close a game it was, 12 Country lads and 11 City lads were selected thru. What a game.

A number of years back the NSW Juniors committee decided that this carnival should be showcased in our country areas - the metropolitan venues already have the Regionals and "City vs Country" should stay in the bush. So recent venues such as Bathurst and Tamworth a result of this policy.

This years venue will be Newcastle at the Showground No.2 which is a fantastic ground fitting for such an occasion. Our hosts will be the Hunters Junior Rugby Union and we thank them for having us. Lets hope for some more classic encounters as good as we have seen in recent times.