The Parramatta Two Blues took out the Positive Rugby Foundation NSW Junior Under 13 State Championships at Apex Oval on Monday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Two Blues faced a tricky match-up against Gordon in the final but a strong second half performance led to a 22-7 win.
Two Blues co-coach Tim Shand could not have had more praise for his young squad.
"I'm just relieved, I'm really proud of them," he said.
"They've done a great job, we set a goal when we came together in early May and just wanted to come to this and set ourselves seven steps.
"When we arrived on Saturday, we had seven steps to achieve our goal so we just ticked them off one by one."
READ ALSO:
Shand admitted the side played exactly how they had planned to, especially in the first half.
"Tournament rugby is different to your normal week in, week out rugby and when you get the opportunity you've got start fast, start hard and score first," he said.
"Those are the things we worked on but big games are also won up front so numbers one to eight make a big difference in rugby, then your backs can control everything so I thought we did that really well today."
Shand was also full of praise for Apex Oval, one of the premier sporting complexes in the western region, and Dubbo as a whole.
"It's tremendous, as I was saying the speech there who doesn't love a rugby tour," he said.
"One of my mates I played rugby with owns a pub out here so we spent a bit of time there and did all the bits and pieces.
"We had a few beers with the parents, not the kids.
"It's a great town, this facility is unreal to play at for the boys, it's not very often they get to play in front of crowds or stadiums like this so it's been fantastic.
The Two Blues thought they opened the scoring just minutes into Monday's decider when winger Leroy Petelo pounced on a clever cross-field kick from fly-half Callum Spooner but the try was disallowed.
However, they would not have to wait long when Hasani Bloomfield skipped out wide before putting Cooper Matia into space for the opening points of the match.
Gordon hit back through a try to Sam Ive which was converted to give them a 7-5 lead but the Two Blues forwards began to dominant their opposing pack turning over the ball in a consistent basis.
Two Blues hooker Johann Ah-Colt was the next to cross, muscling his way over after a maul to regain the lead for his side as half-time blew with the score 10-7.
Early in the second half, the Two Blues began to flex their muscles when winger Darcy Feltham made a 60 metre break down the sideline before stepping the full-back to score under the posts which was converted.
Tilali Junior Sagaga was the beneficiary of another Two Blues maul when he crossed midway through the second half to extend the score to 22-7.
It was Bloomfield's turn to score when he finished a strong run bulldozing several Gordon defenders on his way to a try in the corner.
Full time blew after Spooner kicked the ball into the Apex Oval hill as the celebrations began with the entire squad storming the field in joy.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News