In the club’s second Sevens tournament for the 2015 season, SUFC fielded a team at Kiama 7s last Saturday February 28th, held at the Kiama Showgrounds.
Utilising the competition as an opportunity for some of the SUFC’s younger players (interspersed with a few ‘older’ heads!) to get some solid game time before the start of the 15s season, the club sent a side with some slight changes from the team who travelled to Crescent Head a couple of weeks earlier.
SUFC 7s Team – Kiama 7s
Oliver Gresham
Matthew Hood
Cillian Burke
Christian Kagiassis
Jaydon Fa’avae-Eli
Hugh Summerhayes
Rohan O’Regan
Jack Macklin
Tom Koerstz
Jake Wainwright
Sam Quinn
Banjo Travers
Justin Fourie (injured)
Known as one of the more competitive tournaments on the Sevens circuit, and with a prize pool totalling $25,000, the boys knew the competition was going to be fierce, but were keen use the tournament to develop their skills and give it everything they had.
Their first game was against Wests ACT (which after the game were found out to actually be the ‘Ozboks’), kicking off at 10.15am. A strong start saw the boys take a healthy 17-0 lead at halftime, and despite a valiant second half by Wests, SUFC eventually walked away with a 17-12 victory.
Next up, and after the famous Ross Ryan Kiama lunch, SUFC took on Southern Districts B. In similar fashion, the boys started very strong with a 24-0 scoreline at halftime and held on to win 29-7.
However, the last pool round was always going to be the team’s toughest opponent, against a Manly A side featuring many of the club’s senior players. Down 17-7 at halftime, the boys put in a strong effort, ensuring Manly would need to play at the top of their game to come out on top. Yet, the experience of Manly overcame the SUFC in the second half, finally defeated 34-12 on the final whistle.
The loss signalled the end of the day for the boys, but all involved were happy with the progress the boys made throughout the pre-season.
A huge thank you must go to Julian Huxley for all the work he has done with coaching the boys over this year so far. Thank you also to all those who helped both at Kiama and Crescent Heads to make both tournaments happen.