This week Jack Hughes, Daniel Wall and De Wet Brits from the Broulee Moruya Dolphins Under 12's represented our area in the South Coast Under 12's PSSA Rugby Union team. They trained in Nowra leading up to the three-day NSW PSSA Championships in Salamander Bay. The South Coast team were going in as underdogs, as in previous years they had finished in the bottom three places of the 13 teams attending, making their overall sixth place this year, even more significant.
Above:Left to right Jack Hughes, Daniel Wall and De Wet Brits
South Coast were put in a pool with 2 teams that last year came 3rd and 5th so they were expecting some tough competition from the start. The first game was against Hunter and South Coast defeated them 19-7. They then backed up to play an hour later against a fresh Polding team and lost 19-0.
The following day South Coast took on Sydney West. Our boys played a strong defensive game, going down 5-0, impressing all by keeping them to the lowest score over the entire tournament. The boys then played Sydney South West, a team that was twice their size, coming away winners 7-0. The final day saw South Coast play again against Polding for 5th/6th positions and sadly were again defeated by Polding 21-0. Our Dolphins played strong defensive games and we were so very proud of them on and off the field.
The boys in the team nominated their Players Player after every match. That honour and team signed ball was awarded to Brits for his “no holding back even with black eyes” team spirit. The Coach’s award was then presented to Wall, another one of our proud Dolphins. Hughes took a massive blind hit in the second game, but was not deterred. He continued to perform at his very best in every game. The selectors for the State team took a great interest in the South Coast players and it was clear from the first game that they valued Wall’s strength and determination in every game he played. He was offered a position in the NSW PSSA team to play in the Under 12's National Championships in Darwin in October. Congratulations to all three Dolphins on making the championships and huge congratulations to Daniel Wall for making the State team. We are very proud of our Dolphins!
