THE St Helens contingent helped the North West Counties complete a successful tour of Oceania.

Leigh East prop Gareth Hayes winning try helped the under 15s side beat Penrith under 15s 22-18 in New South

Wales on Tuesday, to finish their Oceanic Tour unbeaten.

In a thriller in the famous Penrith Panthers stadium, the English boys owed much to first-half conversions off the touchline by Andrew Ballard (Ashton Bears) and Ian Hardman (Widnes West Bank). Each side scored four tries but, decisively, the tourists landed three goals to Penrith's one. The third North West Counties goal went to Ballard when he improved David Allen's second try in the second-half.

Allen, the Halton Hornets player, who has signed a contract for Wigan, finished powerfully to score twice from the back of the scrum.

Centre Craig Johnson (Wigan St Judes) and front row forward Hayes, also crossed Penrith's line.The Hayes try was expertly fashioned by Coyle's slick handling and the Leigh lad capitalised in style with a determined dash to beat the cover and score wide out. His unconverted try two minutes from time sealed the tourists victory after the Aussies had drawn level at 18 all with their fourth try a few minutes earlier.

This win against the Panthers under 15s development squad, which took officials of the parent NRL club by surprise, enabled the younger of the two North West Counties tour sides to finish unbeaten with seven wins and a draw from eight matches.

The team included Roby (Blackbrook), Gwilliam (Blackbrook), Irvine (Ashton Bears), Pilling (Ashton Bears), Smith (Parkside Golborne), Lacey (Pilkington Recs).

The under 16s were beaten 38 -10 by the Penrith Panthers under 16s. Skipper Wayne Corcoran and substitute back Alan Thompson, from a Corcoran cross kick, scored tries and Carl Forber kicked a goal.

As the score suggested, North West Counties were well beaten by a faster side, which scored seven tries to inflict the touring team's biggest defeat.

Corcoran (Royton Tigers) made several second-half breaks, but the Penrith defence always closed in before the visitors supporting attackers could capitalise on their skipper's initiative.

In a scrappy game, punctuated by numerous stoppages and warnings, North West Counties prop Adam Bibey was sent to the sin bin in the second-half for a high tackle but this had little bearing on the result.

The team included Forber and Terry from Thatto Heath and Milligan from Blackbrook.

The under 16s finished with three wins, one draw and five defeats from nine games.

The party flies to Los Angeles on Thursday and will arrive back in London on Sunday.