City vs Country Origin

City vs Country Origin
Sport Rugby league football
Instituted 1987
Number of teams 2
Country Australia (NSWRL/CRL)
Shield Holders Country Origin (2011)
Most titles City Origin (12 titles)
Related competition State of Origin

City vs Country is an annual Australian rugby league football match that takes place in New South Wales between City and Country representative sides. The City side represents the Sydney metropolitan area. While technically it is Sydney vs the rest of NSW, players from the Central Coast (such as Matt Orford and Mark O'Meley) often represent City, but other players from the Central Coast (such as Chris Heighington) represent Country. The Country side represents the rest of New South Wales.

The concept of an annual clash between a City and Country team originally started in 1911 with a Metropolitan side taking on the Country team. The first match officially took place on 10 June 1911 with City taking the victory 29 to 8. It would take another nineteen years before an annual clash between an official City and Country side was agreed upon during the 1930 season.

Both sides were originally made up of the best players playing in the Country Rugby League of New South Wales and the Sydney-based NSWRL Premiership. However, the increasing drain of players from rural areas to the NSWRL clubs led to the City side becoming increasingly dominant and the Country side uncompetitive. The 'origin rule' for player qualification being introduced in 1987 so players in NSWRL clubs originally from outside Sydney became eligible to represent Country.

The players who now represent the City and Country sides come from the National Rugby League competition in Australia. The match is played before the Rugby League State of Origin series and is often referred to as a selection trial for the New South Wales Blues team.

Contents

History

Country versus City has long played a part in New South Wales sporting history, with the first traces of the concept being linked back as far as 1886. The then Southern Rugby Football Union (later to become the NSWRU) would hold an annual `test match' between a Combined Countrymen and Metropolis sides, with the match to be used by the organisation for picking players for NSW.

The concept took off and by the early 1900s `Country Week', as it was titled, became a major component of the Rugby calendar. This rivalry between City and Country continued to occur after Rugby League was formed in 1907. However, it was only in 1911 that rugby league held its first recorded City V Country clash. While there is some indication that a match may have been played in 1910, the code's infancy probably resulted in the game not being of a high enough standard to be recorded.

The representative match was played on a laissez-faire basis in League up until 1928 when the Country Rugby League and New South Wales Rugby League saw the value in making the tournament an annual match. This was understandable at the time for League, as many areas in Country NSW had not even heard of League until late 1927.

Newcastle was the first non-Sydney town to take up the code in 1909 in its own domestic competition, which was boosted by the participation of the `Rebels' in the NSWRL Sydney competition in 1908 and 1909. The Illawarra region followed in 1910, but further away from Sydney it took longer for the code make any impact.

By the time the match was made a permanent fixture, interest in the concept was high enough to make it sustainable. However, similar to State of Origin before 1980, Country Rugby League faced the problem of its major players being snapped up by the richer Sydney clubs, draining the regional representative sides. This assisted City's domination of the fixture.

It wasn't until 1987, with the recent inclusions of Canberra, Illawarra and Newcastle in the NSWRL competition, that the "player drain" issue was addressed. The Origin rule, which was also used to revive the State of Origin concept, proved invaluable in giving Country the player base it needed to compete with the City team. However, Country only recorded their first win five years after the concept was introduced, in 1992.

Country then won three out of the five years after their first Origin victory before the City vs Country concept was removed from the representative scene (much like the World Sevens and Kangaroo Tours) as a result of the Super League War.

The competition wasn't revived again until four years later, when the National Rugby League saw the match's value in terms of media exposure, television ratings and the merit of taking the fixture to country towns.

City vs Country results

Overall summary

Team Played Wins Losses Draw
City 84 65 17 2
Country 84 17 65 2

Year by year

The table below shows the results of the annual City vs Country games from 1930 to the present day. The colour of the year denotes the team that has won or retained the shield.

Under residency selection rules

1930 Country 35 City 26
1931 City 17 Country 15
1932 City 27 Country 14
1933 City 47 Country 16
1933 City 17 Country 17
1934 City 28 Country 14
1934 City 32 Country 29
1935 City 20 Country 5
1936 City 41 Country 8
1937 Country 20 City 12
1937 Country 15 City 5
1938 City 42 Country 12
1939 City 38 Country 17
1940 City 28 Country 10
1941 City 44 Country 21
1942 Country 14 City 11
1943 City 37 Country 25
1944 City 17 Country 10
1945 City 41 Country 12
1946 City 31 Country 10
1947 City 33 Country 10
1948 City 28 Country 13
1948 Country 10 City 6
1949 City 23 Country 2
1950 City 51 Country 13
1951 City 24 Country 6
1952 City 23 Country 21
1953 Country 28 City 27
1954 City 50 Country 9
1955 City 31 Country 18
1956 City 32 Country 17
1957 City 53 Country 2
1958 City 55 Country 14
1959 City 37 Country 7
1960 City 22 Country 2
1961 Country 19 City 5
1962 Country 18 City 8
1963 City 35 Country 11
1964 City 27 Country 4
1965 City 32 Country 2
1966 City 18 Country 14
1966 Country 16 City 12
1967 City 17 Country 16
1968 City 34 Country 14
1969 City 27 Country 20
1970 City 22 Country 18
1971 City 17 Country 0
1972 City 35 Country 6
1973 City 33 Country 17
1974 City 23 Country 0
1975 Country 19 City 9
1976 City 47 Country 0
1977 City 36 Country 0
1978 City 30 Country 13
1979 City 39 Country 0
1980 City 55 Country 2
1981 City 38 Country 7
1982 City 47 Country 3
1983 City 30 Country 13
1984 City 38 Country 12
1985 City 18 Country 12
1986 City 34 Country 16

Under origin selection rules

1987 City 30 Country 22
1988 City 20 Country 18
1989 City 16 Country 8
1990 City 28 Country 26
1991 City 22 Country 12
1992 Country 17 City 10
1993 City 7 Country 0
1994 Country 22 City 2
1995 City 16 Country 8
1996 Country 18 City 16
1997 Country 17 City 4
2001 Country 42 City 10
2002 City 26 Country 16
2003 City 17 Country 16
2004 Country 22 City 18
2005 City 29 Country 22
2006 Country 12 City 10
2007 City 12 Country 6
2008 Country 22 City 22
2009 City 40 Country 18
2010 Country 36 City 18
2011 Country 18 City 12

2010 City vs Country match

2010 Squad

City Origin Position Country Origin
Lachlan Coote Fullback Josh Dugan
Anthony Minichiello Winger Michael Robertson
Beau Champion Centre Jamal Idris
Chris Lawrence Centre Timana Tahu
Michael Jennings Winger Luke Burt
Kris Keating1 Five-Eighth Greg Bird
Trent Hodkinson Half-Back Brett Kimmorley (c)
Bryce Gibbs Prop Kade Snowden
Robbie Farah (c) Hooker Michael Ennis
Keith Galloway Prop Brett White
Trent Waterhouse 2nd Row Ben Creagh
Mark Minichiello 2nd Row Glenn Stewart
Luke O'Donnell Lock Anthony Laffranchi
Joel Reddy Interchange Todd Carney
Tim Mannah Interchange Tom Learoyd Lahrs
Tim Grant Interchange Willie Mason
Ryan Hoffman Interchange Dean Young
Liam Fulton 18th Man Joel Thompson
John Cartwright Coach Laurie Daley

1Braith Anasta was originally selected to play, but withdrew due to injury. He was replaced by Kris Keating whilst Joel Reddy was selected to fill his interchange position.

Match summary

7 May 2010, 7:35pm

36

 Country Origin
Tries 2 Young (68', 77')
1 Dugan (28')
1 Idris (40')
1 Burt (49')
1 Robertson (62')
Goals 6/6 Burt (29', 40', 50', 64', 69', 78')
Field Goals

18

 City Origin
Tries 1 Keating (16')
1 Coote (20')
1 A. Minichiello (72')
Goals 3/3 Hodkinson (17', 21', 73')
Field Goals

Half Time: Draw 12 – 12

Man of the Match: Josh Dugan

Referees: Jared Maxwell, Matt Cecchin

Venue: Port Macquarie Regional Stadium, Port Macquaire

Attendance: 7,688

Scoring timeline

16th – City 6–0 (Keating try; Hodkinson goal)
20th – City 12–0 (Coote try; Hodkinson goal)
28th – City 12–6 (Dugan try; Burt goal)
40th – City 12–12 (Idris try; Burt goal)
49th – Country 18–12 (Burt try; Burt goal)
62nd – Country 24–12 (Robertson try; Burt goal)
68th – Country 30–12 (Young try; Burt goal)
72nd – Country 30–18 (A Minichiello try; Hodkinson goal)
77th – Country 36–18 (Young try; Burt goal)

2011 City vs Country match

6 May 7:35pm at Lavington Sports Ground, Albury.

Squads

City Origin Position Country Origin
Jarryd Hayne Fullback Josh Dugan
William Hopoate Wing Michael Gordon
Michael Jennings Centre Josh Morris
Beau Champion Centre Joel Thompson
Nathan Merritt Wing Akuila Uate
Kris Keating Five-Eighth Jamie Soward
Mitchell Pearce Halfback Jarrod Mullen
Keith Galloway Prop Dan Hunt2
Robbie Farah (c) Hooker Ryan Hinchcliffe4
Tim Mannah Prop Aiden Tolman
Mark Minichiello 2nd Row Chris Houston3
Simon Dwyer 2nd Row Glenn Stewart (c)
Liam Fulton Lock Chris Heighington
Tim Grant Interchange Tim Moltzen1
Shane Shackleton Interchange Tom Learoyd-Lahrs
Tom Symonds Interchange Trent Merrin
Adam Cuthbertson Interchange Matt Prior
Joseph Leilua 18th Man Mitchell Aubusson
Brad Fittler Coach Laurie Daley

1 Dean Young was originally selected but withdrew due to injury. He was replaced by Tim Moltzen.
2 Kade Snowden was originally selected but withdrew due to being selected to the Australian Kangaroos team to replace the injured David Shillington for the Annual Test Match. He was replaced by Dan Hunt.
3 Beau Scott was originally selected but withdrew due to being selected to the Australian Kangaroos team as the 18th Man for the Annual Test Match. Chris Houston moved from lock to replace Scott's position whilst Chris Heighington moved from the bench to starting lock. Heighington's bench spot was filled by Matt Prior.
4 Michael Ennis was originally selected but withdrew due to injury. He was replaced by Ryan Hinchcliffe.

Match summary

6 May 2011, 7:35pm

18

 Country Origin
Tries 1 Gordon
1 Hinchcliffe
1 Uate
Goals 2/2 Gordon
1/1 Soward
Field Goals

12

 City Origin
Tries 1 Champion
1 Dwyer
1 Hayne
Goals 0/3 Merritt
Field Goals

Half Time: Country 6 – 4

Man of the Match: Ryan Hinchcliffe

Referees: Ben Cummins, Ashley Klein

Venue: Lavington Sports Ground, Albury

Attendance: 8,056

See also

External links

Rugby League in Oceania
Main Articles
Major Federations
National Teams
Pacific Cup
Competitions