Played at the Lark Hill Sports Complex at Port Kennedy, NSW Country’s under-18s boys rang rings around their less-experienced rivals, with wingers Sam Bramich and Jesse Wighton crossing for six tries between them in the rout.

Dubbo Macquarie gun Luke Gale scored a treble in a man of the match showing from the backrower, a momentum building win coach Aaron Watts didn’t see coming.

“They were very impressive though,” Watts, from Scone, said.

“Particularly for that first game. We’ve trained well and we’ve been focussing on not doing the same thing as the boys are doing each week.

“So we’re mixing it up in the hope the boys can take something away from the tour back to their club footy and just be better footballers.”

Nyngan Tiger Clayton Couley can already see the benefits.

The visiting NSW Country outfit was virtually unstoppable for the entire duration of the game, rocketing to a 44-0 lead by half-time with Western Ram guns Lachie Farr (Blayney) Mitch Andrews (Forbes), Brad Gaut (Parkes), Rick Nobes (Cowra), Joseph Dwyer (Parkes) and both Couley and Gale starring in the victory.

“We didn’t expect that,” Couley said.

“The coaches just wanted us to stick to what we’d been working on, the structures we’ve been training, and see what happens.

“We knew we were in for a good night when we scored off the first set though.”

NSW Country will face a far sterner test in their next game on Saturday, a clash being played as the curtain raiser to the New Zealand Warriors and Manly NRL game at Perth’s NIB Stadium.

The tourists tackle the Western Australia under-18s side, a team stacked with talent – seasoned talent at that having just come off a SG Ball campaign.

“Defence will be the biggest thing,” Couley predicted ahead of Saturday’s second and final tour match.

“We’re working hard on getting up off our line and working hard for each other.”

“The tour has been outstanding. The coaching staff is great.”

Watts lauded the work of Hodge brothers Cody and Tyson, from the South City Bulls club in Wagga, in the North West Reds shellacking, while Bears fullback Farr was very strong before coming off after receiving a “whack across the beak” late in the contest.

Watts cleared Farr as a certain starter for Saturday’s game, adding he was looking forward to the challenge of taking on the gun WA outfit.

“They’ve been together for a while now and played the SG Ball competition as a team this season. They’re very confident as a team so it’s going to be tough,” he said.

“But the boys should be proud of themselves after an effort like that (70-point win).”

NSW COUNTRY UNDER-18s 70 (Sam Bramich 4, Luke Gale 3, Jesse Wighton 2, Isaac Worboys, Zac Saddler, Teig Wilton, Mitch Andrews tries; Max Burey 9 goals) def NORTH WEST REDS UNDER-19s 0