Twins Battle It Out For First Time

After approximately 25 years of playing alongside each other on the Touch Football field, day two of the event saw Byrne and Roberts play against each other for the first time ever.

After moving to Newcastle 12 months ago, Byrne lined up for the Hunter Western Hornets for the first time at this event. After many years of playing with the Sydney Scorpions alongside Roberts, their round four game saw the twins battle it against each other in front of proud Dad, John.

Speaking to www.austouch.com.au just before their game, the twins couldn’t wait to play against each other for the first time.

“It’s a bit weird we’ve been playing Touch for 25 years and we’ve always played in the same club teams, always for Manly in the same rep teams, this will be our first time ever in Touch in different sides,” Byrne said.

“We’ve played a lot of other sports, Hockey, Netball, Cricket, Softball and we’ve never played against each other in any sport.”

“It will be interesting because we are pretty competitive and chatty on the field so it will be very interesting to see how we go against each other,” Roberts said.

The twins grew up with an older brother and younger brother, which they credit as the reason for their competitiveness. Not a lot has separated the twins over the years, both excelling in several sports and other activities but they have always been in good spirit.

“We’re very alike in terms of Tash used to always just beat me in the running and I’d always just beat her in the swimming events. I think I beat her by 0.1 in the HSC. It’s always been incredibly close in terms of whenever we do have individual competitions with each other that it will be either her or me and we just talk it up and give it to each other,” Byrne said.

“We talk the same and we sound the same, no one can tell the difference. When people see us together they think we are pretty alike. We’ve lived together for many years. We’ve been pretty close for 37 years so we are pretty much inseparable and we think the same and talk the same, we don’t really need to talk to each other to know how the other is feeling.”

For the record, not a lot separated the two teams on the stadium field on day two, with the Hornets running away with a 6-5 win over the Scorpions, with Roberts one of the touchdown scorers for the Sydney side.

And if they have it their way, there may just be a rematch on finals day on Sunday. While it’s a battle on the field, all is fine off it.

“We still love each other but you know what, on the field it’s a different story, particularly against each other,” Roberts said.

 “It’s all about having fun and a bit of a laugh. Whoever wins, good on them.”