Young rugby stars shine at state championships

Rain fails to dampen spirits at Queensland rugby championships

BIG RUN: Darling Downs under-12 player Oliver Dunk takes on the Brisbane Red line during the Queensland Rugby Union Junior State Championships. Picture: Nev Madsen

RUGBY: The best teen players Queensland and the Northern Territory has to offer stood out amongst the fog and rain at the weekend.

More than 700 players laced up their boots for the Queensland Rugby Junior State Championships with Brisbane sides dominating the titles.

"Brisbane teams won all of the trophies on offer," Downs Rugby general manager Matt Hammond said.

"They had a lot of talented players in their teams.

"Our teams were also very competitive over the whole competition.

Qld Rugby Union junior championships

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"The 16s were particularly impressive but unfortunately a little bit unlucky. They lost two games by two points which meant they just missed out on making finals.

"Overall the quality of play was very high - there was a lot of attacking rugby on show."

The efforts of Darling Downs teams at the titles was rewarded with several players earning Country selection.

"We had four or five players from each of our under-13, 14 and 16 teams named in the Country teams," Hammond said.

"They'll head down to the City versus Country titles in Brisbane this weekend."

Moving forward Hammond said Downs and Queensland Rugby are looking forward to the event returning to Downlands next year.

"The weather wasn't ideal but the fields held up really well," Hammond said.

"The Northern Territory and north Queensland teams told us their players enjoyed playing in the fog and rain because it was different to what they're use to.

"We received a lot of positive feedback and we're really happy with how everything went.

"I don't think there is anything we'd really change and we're really looking forward to hosting the tournament again."

Originally published as Young rugby stars shine at state championships