At the time all three were at uni in Armidale with French and Webber playing with St Alberts and Archer Robb.

On the weekend the trio were celebrating with the Blue Bulls after they held off a fast-finishing Far North Coast 24-19 to make it back-to-back Caldwell Cups.

French was part of the triumph two years ago, but for Webber and Archer it was their first taste of Country Championship success.

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Webber suited up for Central West in 2018 but was sidelined with injury and missed the 2019 campaign.

Archer hadn't played any rep football since pulling on the red and white for Central North in 2017 when he was playing for Gunnedah.

One of the Lions' best in that 2016 campaign, he was huge for the Blue Bulls at blindside breakaway over the weekend. He was everywhere for them, both in attack and defence.

"It's awesome," the Mendooran native said in the midst of the celebrations.

"I've had a few years off playing rep since moving to Dubbo."

"I was going to play last year but obviously COVID put that to bed."

Now in his third season with the Dubbo Kangaroos, Archer started at six in both games over the weekend and scored the opening try in their 21-7 win over Central Coast on the Saturday.

"I was pretty stoked when I was starting because there's some pretty red-hot flankers," he said.

Brought off mid-way through the second half in the final there were some nervous moments on the bench as the Blue Bulls' comfortable 24-5 lead was whittled away to just five points with seven minutes remaining.

"They came home against Illawarra yesterday (Saturday). They were having a go with 20 minutes to go and we were 19-points up, and they chased down a 19-point lead yesterday," he said.

"I was on the bench there and I was nervous but the boys got it done."

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