Queensland has claimed its third straight national men’s sevens title thanks to a dominant 28-7 tournament final victory over New South Wales on Sunday afternoon.
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The host state went through the tournament undefeated and almost held NSW scoreless in the final at Ballymore (in Brisbane).
However the powerhouse would concede the final seven points of the game when held to six men in the dying stages.
Fortune did not favour the Australian National University side that had conquered the Hedweld Rugby Sevens tournament in Singleton a week earlier.
The side, which was coached by former Gordon and Warringah mentor Jason Grier, faced defeat in all three group games to NSW (33-10), Queensland (12-10) and Tasmania (17-12).
Hugh Taylor would guide the group to a miraculous 24-14 semi-final win against Tasmania on the Saturday.
The youngster would provide two tries in the side’s dominant 24-0 second half however the side would still finish 10th in the tournament after they were smashed by the ACT (31-7) in the final classification round.
This was a cruel blow after the side played off against Queensland two years earlier in the tournament in Adelaide decider under Grier.
“We came to Singleton to finish off our selection criteria ahead of the nationals so our sole focus was to get the guys on the field, running together and seeing the combinations,” he said prior to the weekend.
“We saw a lot of good combinations at Rugby Park (Singleton) and we’ve come out the other side and achieved our job.”
