Captain Dalton Dominates Rugby National Championships

It's hard to say that it wasn't a dream come true, playing against the best in the country for my state. A long journey led to this tournament, which began in early February from the first Hinterland district selections to the grand final of the Australian Schoolboy Championships.

Countless weeks of training had led to this national tournament where the best schoolboys from around the country battled for the title. It was big step up from normal school rugby; the bodies were bigger, the skills were slicker, and the intensity was as high as ever. The championships were held at St Ignatius Riverview College down in Sydney where it only reached a high of 14 degrees each day. We put on a dominant display in our first pool game against a somewhat shocked NSW 2 team, 36 to 21. Leading into the tournament, both Queensland teams were underestimated due to the absence of our GPS schools, said to be the strongest in Queensland. However, after day one, we had announced that we were a legitimate threat to this competition.

Later in the week, we came across the dangerous Combined States team in the semi-final, which had a variety of players from around all of Australia who had just missed out on their state teams. Another dominant performance by the Queensland boys saw us move into the grand final with a score of 39 to 14. A nervous Saturday morning led to the final against the reigning champions NSW 1. A cloudless blue sky, with a very strong breeze made conditions very icy. Unfortunately, it was NSW that put on a dominant display and convincingly took out the championship. However, runners up in a national tournament is something I will cherish for most of my life as well as the memories that were made during this competition. It was an awesome experience starting as left wing and also playing valuable minutes at full back and right wing.