Palmerston, Casuarina come out trumps in 2025 Rugby Union junior grand finals
An overtime thriller and an interclub decider highlighted a thrilling set of Darwin junior rugby union grand finals as the senior knockouts near their climax. Read who starred.
An overtime thriller and an interclub decider highlighted a thrilling set of Darwin junior rugby union grand finals as the senior knockouts near their climax.
Palmerston Crocs were strong across the age and fielded both under-13s girl’s sides as well as teams in both the under-13s boys and under-15s boys finals.
The Crocs Blues side dominated early in a tough encounter against their club mates building a strong score throughout the opening two thirds of the match.
Halle Tilley and Rochelle Criddle each scored a brace while Tilly Cogil crossed the white paint herself with Maddison Pulman converting strongly.
However, they were made to work for it to see it out as the Crocs Red side fought back courtesy of two tries each from Izabelle Orrell-Ainslie and Valentina Taisali.
Ella Sayle and Matilda Hewitt got through for tries as well, however the Blues were able to hold on to see out the match 31-30.
Palmerston had another win in the under-13’s boys final beating the Barbarians, a combined side of players from South Darwin, Casuarina and the University Pirates, 31-21.
The new concept side were the surprise package of the season developing quickly under the coaching of South Darwin coach Jay Withers and finishing fourth overall on the ladder.
Tremaine Cole starred with multiple tries and was aided by Lachlan Fryer on that scoring front to push the side into contention.
However, the well-drilled Palmerston Crocs were consistent all season with the try-scoring Oskar Shaw named player of the match.
Quincy Carter and Andrew Mutanda crossed the line well while accuracy before the posts from Thomas Dalton and Nathaniel Burke was the winning touch.
The under-15’s girls match was a tight one between favourites Swampdogs coached by Brenton Marschke and a confident Ayesha Kay Darwin Dragons outfit.
But the Dragons with tries to April Payne, Mariah Franey and Patricia Watts won the day to the tune of 17-12.
Swampdogs turned up for the occasion with Tannah Crockett and Emily Tuckwell both scoring while best on ground Alana Finn took on the playmaking duties.
Finally, the under-15’s boys match between Palmerston and Casuarina well and truly went down to the wire with the Cougars winning 32-29 in extra time.
By this stage of the night the rain and strong winds had set in with players not only battling each other but the conditions to give themselves the best chances.
This tested coaches Steve Buba and Drew Bell on their ability to adapt their players and pushed both sides to their competitive limits.
Casuarina had braces for both Ricky Mummery-Henda and Manahi Oakley, the latter having been named the player of the match.
Palmerston had four tries themselves with Jake Park crossing the lines twice while Judd Boulton and Jonty Klaas had tries too, but weren’t quite able to clinch it in extra time.
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Originally published as Palmerston, Casuarina come out trumps in 2025 Rugby Union junior grand finals
