Just over 12 months after ending Newcastle Hunter’s six year domination of the NSW Country Championship’s Caldwell Cup, Central West will look defend their title with just five players from last year’s squad.

The new look Blue Bulls have had a disjointed preparation for this weekends annual carnival and will need to gel quickly when they face Illawarra in Saturday’s semi final.

Illawarra coach Sean McCreedy said he’s expecting a tough battle upfront from the ‘physically imposing’ Blue Bulls, but it confident his squad is good enough to claim the Caldwell Cup for the first time since 2004.

“The guys are really excited to represent Illawarra in front of their friends and families and I’m hoping we can play an exciting brand of rugby that will make the local community proud,” McCreedy told Rugby News.

In the other semi final, perennial powerhouse Newcastle Hunter face Central Coast.

“It’s a new look squad but there are still a lot of old heads around. Those guys have won it and lost it (Caldwell Cup) and now they really want it back,” Newcastle Hunter coach Tony Munro said.

“We’ve got a good mix of experience and youth, got a few combinations in key areas and plenty of pace out wide so I think we should go well over the weekend.”

Central North, Far North Coast, Western Plains, New England, Mid North Coast, Southern Inland will also compete over the weekend for the Tier 2 Richardson Shield.

With close to 500 players on show, NSW Country Eagles coach Darren Coleman confirmed he’s on the lookout for players to join his NRC squad in 2015.

“We’ll have our scouts down there watching the entire Championships, not only looking for guys to come into the full time Eagles squad, but also to join our Development squad,” Coleman said.

“We are developing a good match program through September and October this year and I’d like to think there will be plenty of genuine Country boys in that.”

The NSW Country Championships date back as far as 1895 when the first ‘Country Week’ was held in Sydney. All zones were invited to send a team to the ‘football festival’ with the weekend concluding with a match between an invitational Sydney side and a combined Country outfit. Eight years later, NSW Country played its first official match, facing the All Blacks at Sydney University in 1903.

112 years on, all nine Country zones will be represented over the weekend, along with Southern Inland – who are aligned to ACT Rugby.

“It’s great to see the southern region of the state in attendance, 
as regardless of their affiliation boundaries, they have always been considered as a big part of Country Rugby,” NSW Country Rugby president Barry Ruddy said.

The NSW Country Championships will be held at Eridge Park in Bowral from 9am on Saturday with the Caldwell Cup final held at 2pm on Sunday. Matches will be streamed through BAR TV.