Wests claim two victories on Illawarra Junior Rugby League grand final day

Leading Collegians 10-6 at halftime, the Devils fell behind in the second period and trailed 12-10 with just minutes remaining. Wests did not give up however, eventually crossing for a late try to edge Collies 14-12. Daniel Meafou was named player of the match.

The victory was one of two for Wests on mod league grand final day, with the first division 10 years side claiming a 44-30 win over Corrimal. Creighton Meafou was named player of the match after crossing for a hat-trick. 

Corrimal were able to claim the 10 years second division title with a 42-26 victory over North Burgh.

The Corrimal 11s claimed the Cougars second win of the day, with an 18-12 defeat of Wests in the first division grand final.

Illawarra Junior Rugby League’s Luke Potter described the day as a great way to finish a successful season, with all the children leaving with a smile on their face, no matter the result. 

“Yes it was a very successful day,” Potter said. “Playing in the grand finals, these are the better teams and we saw some really good skills that were shown by a lot of the kids. The kids have clearly developed throughout the year with some wonderful coaching. The main thing for us was the enjoyment level, despite not all of them winning a grand final, there were still a lot of happy kids.

“We had some really talented boys on display. We’re very lucky here in the Illawarra, if you look at who’s moved through our junior league competition and is now playing NRL and has represented NSW and Australia, we speak about Illawarra being Australia’s greatest rugby league nursery and that showed again on the weekend.” 

In Saturday’s other boys grand finals, Shellharbour edged Thirroul 4-0 in the 12 years second division, with Mitchell Sweet named player of the match. Northern Suburbs won the 11 years second division with a 36-12 victory over Port Kembla Black.