Stars of 2024 Australian schools rugby championship: Representative teams, results, award winners
Try-scoring freaks, big hits, raw pace, head-turners and upsets headlined the 2024 Australian schools rugby championships. See the full representative team lists, final day results and individual award winners here.
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There were try-scoring freaks, big hits, raw pace, head-turners and upsets at the Australian schools rugby championships on the Sunshine Coast, with the best players revealed at the end of the four-day contest.
More than 330 of the very best young athletes from across the country were given a stage to strut their stuff as they battled it out for national selection.
The next generation of Super Rugby, Wallabies, Wallaroos and Olympians produced some scintillating performances with selectors announcing their standout players for the respective under-16 and open female merit 7s squads as well as a 23/26-man Australian team.
The Australian Schoolboys side will take on the Australian under-18s academy team in Canberra before travelling to Fiji later in the year.
See below for a complete wrap of representative selection, match results and team award winners.
AUSTRALIAN SCHOOLBOYS TEAM
1 Nate Hepi QLD 1
2 Cyrus Suniula QLD 2
3 Keegan Daly NSW 1
4 Edward Baxter NSW 2
5 Phoenix Graham NSW 2
6 Oscar Cleary NSW 2
7 Charlie Blank NSW 2
8 Nat Gallagher NSW 1
9 Grady Woolley ACT
10 Jackson Drury VIC
11 Max Roach NSW 1
12 Zac Nichol QLD 1
13 Cooper Watters NSW 2
14 Blake Miller QLD 1
15 Jye Callaghan NSW 1
16 Charles Ghattas NSW 2
17 Cameron Paull NSW 2
18 Felix Harvison NSW Juniors
19 Saxon Thompson QLD 1
20 Charles Ulcoq NSW 1
21 William Graham QLD 1
22 Troy Patea NSW 1
23 Nat Thompson QLD 1
AUSTRALIAN SCHOOLGIRLS U18 MERIT SQUAD
1 Lloydies #5 Aaliyah Sheppard Canterbury College
2 QLD 1 #2 Anna Park The Glennie School
3 QLD 1 #6 Shalom Sauaso Ipswich State High School
4 NSW 1 #9 Pyper Marchant Castle Hill High School
5 NSW 1 #7 Ruby Anderson Central Coast Sports College
6 QLD 1 #4 Madison Pomerenke James Nash State High School
7 NSW 1 #14 Logan Lemusu Goal College
8 NSW 1 #10 Chanel Williams Matraville Sports High School
9 QLD 1 #11 Tekainga Enkera-Raveora Stretton State School
10 NSW 1 #8 Manua Moleka The Hills Sport High School
11 QLD 1 #7 Nikeisha Ngaru Marsden State High School
12 NSW 1 #13 Maia Madden Khan Central Coast Sports College
AUSTRALIAN SCHOOLGIRLS 16S MERIT SQUAD
1 QLD 1 #5 Aaliya Lama Kings Christian College
2 Lloydies #3 Aamira Renouf Caloundra State High School
3 NSW 1 #10 Annika Mcarthy Hunter Sports High School
4 Lloydies #12 EllaZae Elers Hunter Sports High School
5 NSW 1 #15 Georgia Wansey St Andrews Cathedral School
6 ACT #7 Georgina Hayes Mater Dei
7 QLD 1 #6 Kaia Skeen Wavell State High School
8 NSW 1 # 16 Lusiana Vesicula Kingsgrove High School
9 QLD 2 #2 Poppy Gibbons The Glennie School
10 NSW 1 # 13 Shekinah Bainivalu Westfields Sports High School
11 NSW 1 - #3 Sienna Sullivan Dubbo College South Campus
12 Lloydies #6 Taliah Anderson Keebra Park State High School
RESULT WRAP
U16 Girls Fifth Place Playoff – LMRDT 36 def VIC 5
U16 Girls Third Place Playoff – QLD Maroon 12 def NSW 2 5
Open Boys Seventh Place Playoff – Combined States 17 drew ACT 17
U16 Girls Grand Final – NSW 1 25 def QLD White 5
Open Boys Fifth Place Playoff – QLD Maroon 31 def VIC 10
Open Girls Fifth Place Playoff – LMRDT 24 def ACT 10
Open Girls Third Place Playoff – QLD White 19 def NSW 2 12
Open Boys Third Place Playoff – NSW 1 52 def QLD White 19
Open Girls Grand Final – NSW 1 19 def QLD Maroon 10
It was an electrifying match in the open girls final with both teams scoring in their opening touches of the footy.
Queensland vice-captain Shalom Sauaso darted away for a 60m try before NSW’s Chanel Williams and Manua Moleka hit back to take a 14-5 lead.
The Maroon’s withstood plenty of defensive pressure from the girls in blue before some lovely link up play from Nikeisha Ngaru and Tekainga Enkera-Raveora saw Queensland close the gap to just four points with less than three minutes remaining.
The crowd remained on the edge of their seats before Amelia Whitaker crossed the chalk to put the game out of reach.
Post NSW captain Chanel Williams said
“I’m beyond proud, words can’t even describe the feeling,” she said.
“Coming in we didn’t have much time together but the bond we created over those four days was really special and I couldn’t have asked for a better group.”
The Matraville Sports High School student said it was a gritty contest against a tough Queensland side.
“We were calm and trusted ourselves all game which I was proud of,” she said.
“We weren't thinking of the score, our focus was on the next process and our next job until that final whistle went.”
Open Boys Grand Final – NSW 2 25 def NSW Juniors 24
As the rain and wind covered the Sunshine Coast stadium for the final match of the carnival, both sides charged out of the gates to produce a 12-12 scoreline in the first 20 minutes.
Forward duo Will Picken and James Finegan crossed for the NSW Juniors while outside backs Cooper Watters and Tallis McEwen-Welsh put together points of their own.
NSW 2 outside centre Watters stepped up to convert a penalty goal which broke the deadlock before NSW Juniors rolled down their end of the field for fly half Oscar Godwin to burrow his way over.
On the stroke of halftime NSW 2 narrowed the gap to just one point thanks to a second penalty kick by Cooper Watters.
The conditions worsened for the final 30 minutes of play with neither team being able to make any real progression into their opponents 22m.
NSW Juniors fullback Sebastien Elizondo came alive in the second half as he swooped on a loose ball before running all the way to score under the posts.
With NSW holding a 24-18 lead they were happy to play possession footy, pinning NSW 2 into their own half with calm running and pinpoint kicking.
NSW 2 continued to battle for every inch as they eventually broke into some attacking field position before going over in the left corner through winger Oliver Metcalf, putting them ahead by one point.
NSW Juniors had a chance to claw back the lead but narrowly missed their penalty attempt from 25m out, keeping the scores at 25-24 with 15 minutes remaining.
It was heart in mouth stuff from both sides in the dying minutes with each side having their fair share of ball and field position but NSW 2 were able to stick tight and come away with a slim one point victory to be crowned 2024 Australian schoolboy champions.
Captain Ed Baxter said he was overwhelmed to come away with the victory.
“It was tough but so good,” he said.
“All week we’ve talked about family and sticking together as a unit and that’s definitely something we showed in the final which is awesome.
“It was very scary in those final few minutes but I was just so happy when the ref blew the whistle so I wouldn’t trade this group or this feeling for anything.”
The Shore School student said it was a joy to come up against a series of strong opposition teams.
“All the teams we played were awesome matches,” he said.
“This scoreline in the final shows how close it was and I think that’s awesome to have such good competition in grassroots rugby in Australia.”
INDIVIDUAL SCHOOL BOY AWARD WINNERS
To be added.
INDIVIDUAL SCHOOL GIRL AWARD WINNERS
To be added.
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