![The Illawarriors at the 2024 NSW Country Championships. Picture supplied The Illawarriors at the 2024 NSW Country Championships. Picture supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/kZL4qV6yTxfrWZJxKQxjSN/f3e66a7b-12c0-427d-acbd-091b831236e0.jpg/r0_238_1843_1274_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The Illawarriors have fallen just short of winning the Caldwell Cup for the first time in five years, suffering a heartbreaking 46-43 loss to Central Coast in the NSW Country Championship final at Tamworth's Scully Park on Sunday.
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Illawarra men's rugby representative team looked on track to win with 15 minutes left to play but could not hold off the fast-finishing Central Coast side.
It was a tough pill to take for the Illawarriors, with both teams scoring six tries apiece in the quality high-scoring decider.
Tom Baker finished with 19 points for Illawarriors after crossing for two tries, kicking three goals and one penalty goal .
Illawarriors other tryscorers were vice-captain Eli Sinoti, Nico Cowley, Norwin Iatu and Baillie Leonard, while Ryan Schoupp slotted two conversions.
Illawarrios coach Sean Barrett was disappointed to lose but not by the gutsy performance of his team.
"It would have obviously been great to win, and we had our chances, but I can't fault the effort of our boys," he said
"This is our best result in the three years that I have coached the team.
"I'm sure the guys are disappointed but they can take heart from how well they played throughout the weekend."
Barrett said the Illawarriors were proud to be part of a final one Country Championship administrators rated the "best Caldwell Cup finals in a long time".
He said his captain George Miller and his fellow back-rowers Alex Crotti and Tom Cusack were tremendous.
He also praised inside centre Frank Prodger and Tom Baker for their great tournaments.
"We had 12 people making their debuts. It was a great effort from all our guys, I couldn't be prouder," Barrett said.
Having finished third in 2023 and 2022, the Illawarriors progressed to the championship game for the first time in five years.
They did so after downing Hunter 26-7 in their opening pool game on Saturday before playing out a 12-all draw with defending NSW Country Championship champions Central West later that day.
These results propelled Illawarriors into the Caldwell Cup final against Central Coast, much to the pleasure of Barrett.
"We did really well. We defended for long periods of time in both games/ We didn't have a lot of ball, especially in the second game, but in both games we sort of came home with a wet sail." Barrett said.
Illawarriors were down 7-0 against Hunter at halftime before coming home strong in the second half, scoring 26 unanswered points in just as many minutes.
Nico Cowley, Frank Prodger, Eli Sinoti and George Miller crossed for tries while Tom Baker kicked two goals for Illawarriors, who were also down 12-0 at halftime in their second outing against Central West before Ryan Schoupp converted a try late on to secure the draw and spot in the final.
"We were down and then sort of just played a bit smarter, kicked well into field position, held on to the ball a bit better and managed to get the results needed," Barrett said.
"It was very cold, wet and slippery at Scully Park on Saturday."
It was a much warmer day on Sunday for the final.
Unfortunately for Illawarriors they were missing the services of their Kiama centre Mick Taylor, who fractured his eye socket in the win against Hunter.
"Mick is a Cockatoos player so he is a very good player. It's a shame he missed the final but we managed to give all 25 players a run, which was important.," Barrett said.