The East Maitland Eagles are building quite the rugby union nursery at Tenambit Oval.
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Less than two years after fielding their first junior side the Eagles had 11 players involved in Hunter representative teams at last weekend’s NSW Country Junior Championships at Newcastle No.2 Sportsground with five receiving higher honours.
Fullback Ben Dyson, halfback Patrick White, winger Daniel Burls and breakaway Riley Mitchell were all picked in the NSW Country under 14s squad while No.8 Max Swanenberg made the under-15 junior Cockatoos.
It will be Swanenberg’s second crack at NSW Country level but this time around, following the regular training camps and matches, he will have the chance to tour Fiji.
The quartet in the under 14s will have a domestic-based representative season starting with a camp at Myuna Bay in a fortnight followed by a series of matches throughout June and July including Brisbane City, ACT Juniors and Sydney City.
At last weekend’s championships Dyson became an almost automatic selection when he was named best back for the under-14 tournament.
The Hunter side – which included fellow Eagles Dane Corben, Declan Donnelly and Tobias Attallah – went through the preliminary rounds undefeated by beating Central West (17-10), Central North (38-0) and Central Coast (43-0) but after accounting for Far North Coast (36-14) in the semi-final they were downed 36-7 against Illawarra in the decider.
The Hunter under 15s, which included another three Eagles in Isaac Ulberg, Josh Gittoes and Brody Koitka, fared better and despite losing their first pool match to Mid North Coast (8-12) they beat Central North (42-0) and Far North Coast (17-7), then snuck past Central West (10-7) in the semi before defeating Central Coast 32-20 in the final.
In other representative rugby union news, the Hunter under 16s won the NSW Country Junior Championships title in Dubbo late last month, while Issac Enright from the Maitland Blacks made the under-17 Cockatoos squad.