Illawarra completed its NSW Country Caldwell Cup redemption bid at Warren on Sunday afternoon, taking advantage of a plethora of Central West errors in the final to claim NSW Country’s top tier championship and atone for the previous year’s grand final hammering at the hands of Newcastle-Hunter.
While the Pauli Tuala-led Illawarriors were clinical and ruthless in the final Central West was equally as sloppy, the Blue Bulls’ stunning upset of Newcastle-Hunter the night before clearly taking its toll physically and mentally.
Every time Central West made a mistake Illawarra swooped and either added points or created a scoring opportunity, four of the side’s six tries in the 37-15 win came directly following an error, rubbing salt into the Blue Bulls’ wounds.
“This is just… I don’t really know what to say,” Tuala said in his post-game speech.
“We set the goal to come together as a group and win this back and we didn’t really gel until [late in the preparation], which is a good show of character.
“We got [the Caldwell Cup] back, I couldn’t be prouder.”
The evergreen Tuala was spectacular in the final, which Illawarra led 20-5 at the break before outscoring Central West 17-10 in the second half as well.
