The skills and try-power of Queensland’s new breed in women’s rugby sevens made a dynamic visit to Toowoomba today for the Next Gen 7s.
The Reds sevens team shared their four games 2-all with the NSW Waratahs but won the day on the tie-breaker in play for this three-tournament series.
Just as the Waratahs girls claimed Round One in Sydney with a superior for-and-against when the teams were locked 2-all for wins, the Reds did the same in Toowoomba.
The Reds had a dominant 32-point edge on for-and-against and a 13-to-seven edge in tries scored after big wins 31-7 and 29-7 were balanced by narrower losses 19-7 and 14-12.
Best of all, the highlights of the day at Toowoomba Sports Ground were shared among the 12-strong squad to highlight the depth of talent.
Side-by-side with the stepping, jinking cleverness of the elusive Amahli Hala was the finishing power of Fa’agase Tupuola-Palale, who crossed for four tries in all.
Beside the aggressive hustle of Fleur Ginn in defence and her popping perfectly-timed offloads was speedster Rhani Hagan dashing 70m to score like a track sprinter.
When you wanted to see extra efforts, up popped Caitlin Urwin. She was wrongfooted and beaten in defence, turned and chased 30m to make a try-saving tackle in Game One.
Wallaroo Carys Dallinger kept throwing pinpoint passes and showed that a flyhalf in the 15-a-side game could still happily pack in the three-person front-row in sevens.
The Reds also needed to show they had learnt from the Sydney stop.
The Waratahs scored first in all four games in Sydney.
In Game One in Toowoomba, Ginn fed a pass to Sophie Duff, who posted a quick opening try after a fend and dash. Tick.
Fa’agase Tupuola-Palale is still just a 17-year-old schoolgirl relatively new to the game. In Sydney, she could have tried to veer closer to the posts when she scored her final try with the match on the line.
In Toowoomba, you could see the conscious effort to arc closer to the posts to give her goalkickers better chances to add the extras. Tick.
Hala and her pink headgear were everywhere. There’s always a touch of class in how she plays.
For the second try of the day, Hagan’s succession of left-foot sidesteps jackrabbited her to the right until she linked with Hala coming back on the angle with her own step.
Hala shows her versatility in every game. She got her hands free and sent Tupuola-Palale on a 60m run to the tryline in Game One.
At another moment, she’s running 75m to the tryline herself or making a try-saving tackle in the corner.
When local girl Taleah Ackland ran on, she was given the royal “Go Toowoomba” treatment from a fan in the crowd.
The Next Gen series sits at 4-all for games played between these adversaries in all footy codes.
It’s off to Byron Bay on Sunday, October 20 for the final tournament and a winner if there’s a tiebreaker that can separate these two teams.
