Darren Barton is sporting a bit of a silver glow.
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The Gunnedah oztagger was part of the Australian Indigenous over-50s side that finished runners-up at the recent Oceania Indigenous Invitational Cup in New Zealand.
Coached by Tamworth's Paul Noldt, the Aussies went down to the New Zealand Barbarians 4-2 in the final.
"They were probably just a bit too good for us," Noldt conceded.
He said they were never really in the game, and remarked that the better they seemed to play the more the Kiwis stepped up.
It was Barton's third time away with the Aussie side after playing at the 2015 and 2018 World Cups.
"It was a great experience travelling over to New Zealand and playing amongst other indigenous sides," he said.
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An operator at Whitehaven Coal's Maules Creek Coal Mine, Barton had a great tournament. He was his sides top try-scorer for the tournament with eight tries in six games.
"I felt honoured to be able to do that," he said.
He joked that it felt like he scored more than eight, but that might have had something to do with the amount of running he had to do to score them. A lot of them were length of the field tries.
He almost got over in the final.
"I took an intercept up our end of the field but got caught about five metres out," he said.
The Aussie side was comprised of players from the length and breadth of the country - from Western Australia all the way to the Northern Territory and Queensland, and also included Tamworth's Harry Cutmore and Chris Hunt.
The Barbarians were the only side to beat them over the three days, also getting up when they met in the pool games.
"We only got together the day before," Noldt lamented.
"Had we had a bit more time together, they were definitely beatable."
The three-day tournament brought together teams from countries including Italy, Hong Kong, Japan and Spain and was a successful one for the Aussie sides, many of which Whitehaven were the major sponsors for.
Sending over 12 teams they brought back eight medals.
For Barton the trip capped off a busy few weeks. Earlier this month he was part of the Northern Rangers over-50s that contested the nationals in Coffs Harbour.
