University of New England assistant coach Dale Beattie said the inaugural Uni 7’s series has been a real learning opportunity for the Lions.
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The only regional-based side in the competition, the Lions finished eighth overall after beating the University of Canberra 24-15 to place seventh in the final leg at the Gold Coast on the weekend.
“We can’t wait to start the campaign for next year.
“We now know what to expect,” Beattie said.
The physical rigors was one thing he noted.
“Having four tournaments in seven weeks was very taxing. And the travel and the barriers that are faced by having a regional team is something we have to overcome,” he said.
After a strong start in Tasmania the Lions had a few hiccups in Sydney. Injuries and unavailabilities then caught up with them for the third round but after a couple of weeks off to rebuild they finished off with “a really good tournament”.
“We actually were very competitive,” Beattie said.
Pallamallawa’s Rhiannon Byers played in all four rounds while Warialda’s Kearni Churchland figured in the last three. Both had strong series’, Beattie said.
“Kearni as the tournament progressed got stronger and stronger,” he said.
She was unavailable for first round.
“She scored two tries for us on the weekend and had by far her strongest tournament,” Beattie said.
Byers was strong all series.
“The exciting thing is Rhiannon is only 18,” he said.
“In her first full year in women’s competition she made the transition very well.”
EARLIER:
The UNE Lions have secured seventh place in the Gold Coast leg of the Women’s Uni 7s with a 24-15 win over the University of Canberra in their play-off game on Saturday.
The Lions scored four tries in a bright performance that featured some great tries and good defence.
The pick of these was probably the nicely constructed five pointer from Warialda’s Kearni Churchland after a great offload from Alicia Quirk.
Quirk was a great organiser and laid on at least two of the winner’s tries.
Darcy Read opened the scoring for UC in this game in the first minute but from then on it was pretty much all Uni of New England.
The win avenged the Lions’ 17-5 loss to the Canberra side in their opening game of the weekend.
It was a tough first day for the side also containing Pallamallawa’s Rhiannon Byers going down to a ruthless University of Queensland outfit 38-5 before suffering a 14-12 loss to the University of Tasmania in their final game.
In their first game on Saturday to determine whether they played off for fifth and sixth or seventh and eighth they were beaten by Griffith University 27-nil.
The Lions had their chances and were creative but the weight of possession told in the end.
Their seventh placing put them eighth overall for the inaugural series on 34 points.
UQ went on to defeat Macquarie University 14-12 in the gold medal match to ensure they claimed a Uni 7s Grand Slam of winning all four of the series legs and finishing on 80 points.
Australian University Sport CEO Don Knapp said: “The significant advances the Series has experienced in its inaugural year are greatly encouraging – not only in the quality of sport on display, but in the level of media and commercial interest generated.
"The Series is a great example of multiple partners working together to achieve shared, organisational aims. The foundation of a formal pathway for elite female student-athletes in rugby 7s has certainly been forged this year.
“Australian University Sport looks forward to growing the Series in 2018 in partnership with the Australian Rugby Union and competing universities.”
