North West Sport

Thailand has become a home-away-from-home for Tamworth’s Ben Burrage; a place where he’s been able to show off and hone his skills as a Muay Thai fighter. The world champion suffered a defeat during his latest stint in the country, beaten on a points decision. His focus now turns to bringing a world title fight to Tamworth early next year. PLEASE NOTE: AUDIO UNAVAILABLE.  

West Tamworth Tennis Club has opened its doors to kick off the summer of tennis. Players of all ages and abilities were welcome to take part in a free gala day, and there was plenty of colour, as participants dressed up as their favourite tennis player. For the more daring, there were cardio-tennis sessions, and players could also test their hitting speed, through the serve radar. PLEASE NOTE: AUDIO UNAVAILABLE.  

It’s been an incredible weekend for rugby star Rhiannon Byers. The Inverell player debuted for the Australian Women’s Pearls in Fiji. Competing in the Oceania Sevens Championships, the Aussies met arch-rivals New Zealand in the final. A convincing win over Fiji in the semi-final saw the Pearls advance to the decider, where they skipped-out to a 14-nil lead. That was before New Zealand rallied, but the Aussies hung on to win by four points. PLEASE NOTE: SOME AUDIO UNAVAILABLE.    

The Northern Inland Academy of Sport opened its doors today, hosting a coaching development day for anyone in the region. They rolled-out big guns for the seminar too, with former Australian Olympic coach, Bill Nelson conducting the session.  

It’s the first round of the War Veterans Cup, a representative program that brings the upper echelon of the region’s cricketers to the crease. Tamworth’s First XI tomorrow, fitting of that, as they take on Armidale with a team sporting youth.  

The New England Girls’ School has unveiled of a new rugby Talented Athlete Program. The year-round program kicks-off in term one next year, and will see NEGS players go head-to-head with Sydney schools.  

Players from the Northern Inland Academy of Sport have been given an opportunity to train with the best-of-the-best. They’ll be travelling to the New South Wales Tennis Centre at Homebush, to receive coaching from the sports elite.  

It was the Tamworth region’s first official NRL match, a fixture that saw just over 10,000 people pack Scully Park. And while the result went the way of the Newcastle Knights, the Wests Tigers are coming back, in what was an easy decision for CEO Justin Pascoe.  

The University of New England will be home to some special guests this week… With the Parramatta Eels taking part in a training camp to prepare for next season. Getting out into smaller communities is set to be a new focus for the club in 2019.

The New England-North West will be well represented  at next year’s Under 13’s Indoor Hockey State Championships. Four locals were named in the squad today – Elliott Clarke, Sam Griffith and Benjamin O’Connor will star in the boys Lions side. While Pip Constable will represent the New England in the Lions girls. They’ll travel to Goulburn for the competition in January. NOTE: VISION ONLY