Young players from across the Highlands have been selected to play in the Rugby 7s State Championships.
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The Highlands will be represented in both the girls and boys competitions this weekend in Coffs Harbour against teams from the Central West, Mid North Coast, Illawarra and Hunter regions.
Mason Hurst, Matthew Lynch and Charlie Macahado have been selected to play for the under 17’s Illawarriors team, which will be coached by Adam Dubois and the Bowral Blacks’ David Loiterton.
Dubois said the under-17s have a strong team lined up for the competition, even though many of the boys have previously played rugby league.
“Mason has been playing Harold Matts with Wests and trailing for SG Ball. At one stage or another, alot of the boys have played at Group 6 or trialed for high level rugby league. Now they are swinging themselves over to rugby union and they seem to love it and want to stay,”
Charlie Machado comes from a long rugby background with the Bowral Blacks.
“Charlie is a really talented young player. We also have four boys who have just travelled to New Zealand with the NSW under-16 country side, as well as 2 boys who have been trialing and training with the Waratahs 7s development squad,” Dubois said.
Kody Tozer, Angus Dillon, Windsor Akrigg and Chris Court were selected from more than 40 players to play for the under-15s side this weekend.
“Kody has been playing with the Canberra Raiders development side this year and has taken to rugby union well. Angus has played most of his footy career up a couple of age groups because he’s a big lad and a strong ball carrier,” Dubois said.
Ellie Fleming, Molly Parkes, Lily Mauger, Tessa and Molly Good have also been selected to play for the Illawarriors in the under-15s side.
The girls were selected from a trial program held on September 25.
Coach of the side, Michelle Rodwell said the Bowral girls stood out.
“They played a smart game and played well together on the field. They had all played 7s before and weren’t afraid to get into a tackle,” she said.
Although the team is still learning about rugby 7s, Rodwell said the girls had a lot of potential to do well in the competition.
