You don't have to go far in a country town like Narrabri to find the heartbeat of the Santos Festival of Rugby.
The two-day rugby festival has so many layers whether its the local catering operators turning out their biggest spread of the year, "No Vacancy" signs on every hotel, classic rugby stories at the bar or the footy itself.
Owner Morgan Jones and wife Angie, as hosts at the bustling Tourist Hotel, see it from all angles.
"The festival is the biggest everything for Narrabri," Angie says.
The Queensland Reds and NSW Waratahs meet in men's and women's action on Saturday. The sevens girls have four interstate matches over the weekend. The Under-19s go at it at 1pm on Sunday.
Jones will experience the action in the frontline as well.
He's retiring after this weekend. A former first grade flyhalf at Wests in Brisbane, he's settled into country life over the past four years.
He brought his boots to town as well.
At 37, he has one final hitout in him for the Narrabri Blue Boars Over-35s who face the Classic Wallabies at 11am on Sunday morning.
The Over-35s go by the "Pickled Porkers" tag and will pull in cotton farmers from Wee Waa, local tradies and other stalwarts of the club.
They have a 30-year-old ring-in waiting in reserve should things get challenging against an old gold team boasting Nathan Spooner, Pat Howard, Taqele Naiyaravoro, Nathan Charles, Henry Speight and Co.
"The body says this is it," Jones says with a laugh.
His sons Hugo, 6, and Digby, 4, think it is pretty cool that dad is playing against the Wallabies. They've heard of them so this must be on par with a Test match in their little eyes.
Spooner, 49, who featured against Ireland in two Tests in 1999, hasn't played in years although his love of the game is deep through his roles at the Easts club in Brisbane.
He's playing because daughter Abbi is in action as well in Narrabri in the Queensland sevens team.
"We're not sure if a calf or a hamstring will go first. Dad bought new boots and a mouthguard this week and he's got every bit of strapping tape in the house in his bag," Abbi says with a laugh.
You bump into a tall, slender figure in the main street and start up a chat.
It's Les Knox. He's 75 but still loves sport as deeply as when he was assistant manager and all-rounder for the 1988 Indigenous cricket team than toured the United Kingdom.
He knew that team needed a talisman so he was part of convincing Wallaby great Mark Ella to join the adventure as team manager.
Unsurprisingly, Ella was a dexterous cricketer as well, a fine left-handed bat.
Knox prefers rugby league but what's good for Narrabri and young people looking for an outlet through sport trumps everything.
He's at the rugby this weekend.
The Santos Festival of Rugby is in its fifth edition on rotation between Narrabri and Roma.
One of the biggest annual football and community events in regional Australia drives millions of dollars in economic benefit for both regions.
Santos Chief Executive Kevin Gallagher has a Scottish accent straight from the Shetland TV series.
Establishing the Festival of Rugby is something close to his heart as an avid fan of the game.
"It was obvious to me when I started in this role (in 2016) that Santos had to engage more with the community," he told the festival's street party audience on Friday night.
"You have to be part of the community - employ locally and bring people together which is what sport is always so good at."
He's an old Pickled Porker himself albeit it was a brief cameo a few years back.
"One famous pass at the end of a game...intercepted for a try," Gallagher says with a laugh.
The Festival of Rugby is always that. Everyone has a story as part of the wonderful energy that pulls a weekend of fun together.
