Mel Waterford, Marita Shoulders and Teagan Miller help NSW Country Corellas win President's Cup

The Corellas took on Queensland Country for the new title at last Friday's Santos Festival of Rugby, with Waterford and fellow Bathurst Bulldogs players Marita Shoulders and Teagan Miller enjoying a 21-5 win at Narrabri.

Corellas had the advantage throughout the match and managed to put on late points to give themselves some breathing room during a hot battle - literally and figuratively - in challenging conditions against the Orchids.

The women's and men's country clashes took part on Friday before the NSW Waratahs and Queensland Reds continued the battle of the border the following day in their men's and women's trial matches.

Waterford said her match and the festival as a whole were a great experience to be a part of.

"It's a really great opportunity for the girls who are just off that tier of Super W to be able to have games where they can have games at that level of competition," she said.

"It was awesome to play in an atmosphere like that at the Festival of Rugby, which Santos put on, and we got to watch the Super W girls and Waratahs guys do their captain's run and see what was involved in that program, as well as being able to watch them play.

"The girls made it easy for me. They're a great team and they all just played so well on the day. It was lovely to be able to captain a win."

Waterford said the game was closer than what the score showed, with the biggest difference coming down to the Corellas' player rotations in the Narrabri heat.

"We got some fresh players off the bench, and they really made an impact. That was really important in the heat," she said.

"It was a really hot game so just being able to have those fresh legs come on was a real game changer. It was important at half-time to just try and get your body temperature down and recover before the second half.

"The heat never really dropped until after our game was finished. It was tough."

Meanwhile, fellow Bulldog Peter Fitzsimmons came off the bench for the men's side in their clash against Queensland.

Unfortunately for Fitzsimmons and his side they went down to Queensland 22-12.

Waterford said it will be great to see the NSW-Queensland rivalry develop at a country level in the years to come, especially when there's Bathurst clubmates coming along for the trip.

"The plan is to keep this rivalry going and keep this game continuing moving ahead," she said.

"It's another match in the country colours, which is what all the girls want to do, and it's a really exciting game.

"It's also great playing with your mates and playing with people that you get to play with every week. There's some great combinations at Bulldogs and being able to take them away at that level is great."

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