Boorowa, Temora premiers again as rugby season draws to a close

The Central West Rugby Union season has drawn to a close, with the Boorowa Goldies and the Temora Tuskerettes claiming the crowns this season. The grand finals on 23 August drew a bumper crowd to Boorowa, where fans were treated to two top quality games of rugby. In the women’s Temora defeated the Grenfell Pink Panthers 27-17, before the Goldies delighted the home crowd with a 10-8 win over the Harden Red Devils in the men’s final. The competition now has two dynasties running concurrently, with the Goldies securing back-to-back premierships, while the Tuskerettes took home their fourth straight title. Boorowa Rugby Club president Adam Hick says the 2026 premiership win came from humble beginnings in Round 1. “In 2025 we had an incredibly strong squad and following that year we had a pretty big turnover in personnel,” Adam said. “It put a fair bit of pressure on our playing squad, in Round 1 we went out to Condobolin and only had the bare minimum of 15.” Boorowa lost only two games in the regular season and won the minor premiership, embracing the mantra of ‘winning ugly’ early in the campaign. “We had lot of boys playing a lot of minutes, playing out of position and just doing the best we can, and we were managing to get the job done but it wasn’t always pretty,” Adam said. While reinforcements strengthened their squad through the season it was that same mantra that helped them conquer the Devils in the low-scoring grand final. The Harden Rugby Club celebrated their 50th anniversary this season and came within a kick of the silverware as part of their golden jubilee. “On a whole, the season’s been bloody fantastic,” Harden Rugby Club president Charlie Brown said. The Devils were the only team to qualify for the finals in both senior competitions, with Harden’s women’s side falling only one game short of a grand final appearance. “From that perspective I couldn’t be happier or prouder of the Club, but on the other hand, wishing we could have gone that one step further,” Charlie said. “We’ve got a lot of young blokes who are still learning and still getting better all the time, we’re still on the up and hopefully everyone stay hungry.” Grand final day also provided the opportunity for an awards presentation following the men’s game. The player of the final awards went to Boorowa second-rower George Chudleigh and Temora prop Paris Jones. George Simiana from the Condobolin Rams was named men’s player of the year, while Ben Jones from the Young Yabbies took out top point-scorer with a season tally of 93. In the women’s Kaesha Maxwell from the Tuskerettes won player of the year, with Grenfell’s Amber Taylor scoring the most points with 66.