By JOE JURISEVIC
NOOSA was well represented in the Sunshine Coast Under 15 school boys team, emerging runners-up in the State Carnival on the Gold Coast last week.
The team were undefeated going into the final and went down in a close encounter 17 – 11.
The championships were the start of a big week in junior rugby which culminated in the round of matches at the weekend.
Glorious weather locally made for fast flowing junior rugby for the Noosa Dolphins Rugby Union teams.
With the end of the season approaching, the Noosa Fins Under 7s are coming together as a team all running, passing and tagging with great spirit.
They were in great form to defeat Caloundra 45-40 in a high-scoring match.
Player of the Match went to Rory McIntyre, for great tagging and back up support for his team mates.
The Under-eight Reds also had a good win in a tough game against Grammar – running out victors 20-15.
As usual the Reds expected a tough game against Grammar but Atticus, captain and Player of the Match led from the front and harassed Grammar into errors, scoring three tries along the way.
The team followed his lead and mostly magnificent in defence, driving over some great ball and never allowing Grammar any space.
Jamie tackled blokes three times his size and took one for the team.
Clay and Clancy played the fringes and did more than their part to hold the fort. Will tried to play to his usual standard often held the centre.
Tom fulfilled his duties admirably. Hamish played a solid game and carried the ball into the danger zone and backed up his work rate with plenty of tackles. Charlie put fear into the Grammar backline and was ready to tackle any Grammar player who dared to run.
Oscar lit the early fire and got the Reds on the board with the first try.
The coaches 360 report states that only lapses in concentration kept Grammar so close. A really hard fought and deserved win.
Fins Under Nines came away with a good win over Uni 40 to 30 despite a disastrous start which saw USC score just 20 seconds in.
However, Tyler stepped up, straight away receiving a great ball from the re-start and side stepped his way through to equal the score with a great try, and go again late in the first half to a second.
Connor, Kaleb and Jack combined well together to push forward in attack, all with impressive individual runs, tackled hard in defence and were disciplined in the scrum.
Saatchan ran straight and hard to score and showed impressive foresight to come through the gate, form up on the blind side of the drive to secure the ball.
This allowed Mack to shoot in and pass the ball to Zac who bolted through to score a great team try that had the side going into half time two tries up.
The second half saw Zac score another to tally three tries for the day. Finn and Odette had great games, making good metres. Louie and Hunter scored for the team with Hunter showing skill to rip the ball driving forward and power through the gap.
Louie sizzled in attack cutting across the field to run down and tackle any break.
Joch had a blinder to find gaps all game, showing impressive fends pushing off boys twice his size.
Remy showed great courage with another strong game providing power in the drive forward and tackled really well. Player of the Match was Jaxon, who showed skill in the tap forward, threw great passes and received many to dart forward making great ground to offload. In the Under 11s, the Fins went down 38 to Nil despite a tight first half that saw them come close to taking the lead but ended up on the wrong end of two cheap tries.
Top-of-the-ladder Caloundra were too solid to break down in the 2nd half, and found an extra gear.
Player of the Match: Josh Whitehi.
