In the boys’ division, NSW Blue remained undefeated throughout both days to claim their third consecutive victory at Nationals, defeating Victoria 24-7 in the Cup decider.
To cap off their successful weekend, NSW Blues’ Jordan Williams earned himself the 2017 Youth Championship’s player of the tournament.
NSW White were not far behind, making their way to the cup semis where they went down to the would-be runner’s up, eventually coming in at fourth position following a tough loss to ACT.
NSW Youth Boys coach (NSW Blues), Expo Mejia gave his take on the weekend in Brisbane.
“We’ve been preparing for this for a long time. We’ve had State Championships, a couple of trials against the Brumbies and we had the Central Coast 7s where we really picked a good squad of 24 players which we split into two teams,” he said.
“We topped both pools which is fantastic and the (NSW) Blue boys went away with it and won the whole thing.
“We had some creative players who created some opportunities for our fast men out wide.”
The girls from NSW Blue came close to a Cup of their own, conceding their only defeat of the tournament in the final against a formidable Queensland Red side.
NSW White faced some tough competition in their 2017 Nationals campaign, coming away with seventh place at the conclusion of day two.
NSW Youth Girls Blue player, Abbey Holmes said that the team was proud of their efforts throughout the tournament and will look to go one better next time round.
“We didn’t come away with the win, but both sides played with a lot of passion and we all went hard,” she said.
A number of NSW players have been selected to attend a training camp for the Australian Youth Sevens squad at Nudgee College. These players include:
Boys: Will Harris, Albert Hopoate, Jordan Williams, Angus Bell, Daniel Ala
Girls: Maddison Ashby, Asiah Paki, Abbey Holmes, Pihuka Duff, Faith Nathan, Jakiya Whifield
National Youth Sevens Championship results:
BOYS, DAY ONE
ROUND 1
NSW Blue 51 - SA 0
ROUND 2
NSW Blue 36 - National Indigenous 5
QLD Red 14 - NSW White 28
ROUND 3
NSW Blue 50 – Victoria 0
NSW White 12 – ACT 19
ROUND 4
NSW Blue 22 – QLD White 17
NSW White 31 – NT 12
ROUND 5
WA 19 – NSW White 25
GIRLS, DAY ONE
ROUND 1
NSW Blue 47 - SA 0
ROUND 2
QLD Red 24 - NSW White 0
NSW Blue 38 - VIC 0
ROUND 3
NSW White 12 – National Indigenous 20
NSW Blue 37 – WA 7
ROUND 4
NSW White 41 – NT 0
NSW Blue 22 – QLD White 5
ROUND 5
ACT 22 – NSW White 0
BOYS, DAY TWO
SEMI FINALS
NSW Blue 17 – ACT 7
NSW White 12 – Victoria 20
FINALS
3rd Place: NSW White 0 – ACT 50
Boys’ Final: NSW Blue 24 – Victoria 7
GIRLS, DAY TWO
SEMI-FINALS
5th Place: QLD White 14 – NSW White 10
Cup semi-final: NSW Blue 37 – ACT 0
FINALS
7th Place: NSW White 28 – Victoria 10
Girls’ Final: QLD Red 26 – NSW Blue 0
