Orange in the Central West is the twelfth biggest city in NSW and the “snowiest” city in Australia. Watched over by the imposing Mount Canobolas it is renowned for its agriculture, wine making and gold mining. And it also exports very good rugby back-row forwards – much to the benefit of Merewether Carlton!

The town boasts two rugby clubs, Orange Emus and Orange City. Both participate in the Central West Rugby Union’s Blowes Clothing Cup First Grade competition that is contested and geographically bounded by Dubbo in the north, Bathurst in the east, Forbes to the west and Cowra down south.

The Emus cracked their egg and emerged in 1947 and have won fifteen first grade titles. City was born in 1973 and has raced to twelve major grade premierships. The clubs clashed in the 2015 First XV decider for Central West rugby supremacy where Emus put their younger sibling in its place 31 – 15, but not before little brother had bloodied their elder’s nose earlier in the day in notching an 18 – 16 victory in the second grade grand final. Those battles were so keenly fought that they were both mentioned in NSW Parliament.

Clearly there is an intense rugby rivalry in Banjo Paterson’s birthplace. Away from the footy field the clubs co-exist – that’s about as good as it gets. On the field the relationship belies Paterson’s famous prose about “a little harmless fun, a trifle overdone” – it’s tribal and bragging rights count for much and linger long in bush football.

In a region of just under 40,000 people you are either Emus or you are City, just as you are either Green or shades of blue in Newcastle.

“That’s how it is, you are either one or the other – there is no in between” according to Billy Freeman who played all of his juniors and a year of Colts and first grade at City. Freeman confessed that he too could have been an Emu however when his parents enquired about signing him up for junior rugby no one returned the phone call, so young Billy entered the Lions den at Pride Park.

Across the other side of town Jayden Norris plied his trade as a No.7 with Emus before joining MCRC this season. He started at the club as a junior however can’t recall why his parents decided on the Emus – but that’s where he started and that’s where he stayed.

Jayden and Bill agree that whilst there is a strong rugby rivalry it only really manifests itself when the club’s are opposed in combat. “Some of my best mates play for City however the place is too small to let rugby get in the way of those friendships” Jayden said. “Its not as if there are fights between the clubs when we go out, we all get on away from footy” Bill added.

How the pair arrived at the Greens is as disparate as the relationship between the clubs they played for back home. Billy came to Newcastle to study at University in 2015 and escaped the seahorse aquarium to link with MCRC in 2017.

Jayden on the other hand came completely ‘on spec’ after receiving a phone call last year from former ‘St. Stanis’ schoolmate and Greens back Joe Crawford who urged him to get to Newcastle and play for the Greens. He didn’t take too much convincing – 2019 and here he is.

So what’s it like when two loose forwards from the opposing sides of the Orange rugby demarcation are thrown together in a Greens jersey in Newcastle?

There were no dramas, they played against each other at Orange however neither one of them can recount any individual conflict. Such a pity as this would have been a much better story if there had been!

The transition to MCRC was probably easier for Jayden – after all Emus do play in green and white and he has no rugby history in Newcastle. He has become a permanent fixture at the back or on the side of the P2 scrum with higher honours beckoning.

On the other hand, Billy’s aggressive and relentless commitment at the breakdown quickly saw him become a Green Room favourite long before an ACL injury curtailed his 2019 season. How cruel sport can be. He’ll be back.