New South Wales has defeated Queensland in both the Men's and Women's Cup Finals at the National Sevens Championships to make it a clean sweep of titles across the seniors and youth events over the past two weekends.
At the Australian home of Rugby Sevens, the Sydney Academy of Sport, the New South Wales Blue Men's team continued their fine form from the pool stages on Day One as they saw off a brave Victorian side (12-0) and New South Wales White (35-7) and then defeated Queensland Red (29-21) in a see-saw Cup Final.
Queensland Red's player Brad Wilkin was named Player of the Tournament by Australian Men's Sevens Head Coach Geraint John after a series of stirring performances from the 19-year-old.
Brad Wilkin said: "It wasn't quite the result we were after as a team but individually I was quite happy with how I went. It was good to blow out some cobwebs and get over that hurdle. Overall, I'm prett happy. It was a great opportunity to put everything I have been working on in training into practice."
In the Women's tournament, New South Wales Blue re-claimed the title they lost to Queensland Red in 2014, beating their rivals north of the border 22-0 in the Cup Final. Earlier, New South Wales Blue saw off Australian Universities (36-0) in the first Quarter-Final of the day before beating Australian Services by the same scoreline in the Cup Semi-Finals.
New South Wales lynchpin Illiseva Batibasaga was named Player of the Tournament by Australian Women's Head Coach Tim Walsh in the post-tournament presentation.
Selected results for National Rugby Sevens Senior Championships at the Sydney Academy of Sport, Narrabeen, 8 March 2015
MEN:
Cup Quarter-Finals: NSW Blue 12-0 Victoria, Australian Universities 14-22 NSW White, ACT 17-12 Queensland White, Queensland Red 24-7 National Indigenous; Cup Semi-Finals: New South Wales Blue 35-7 New South Wales White, ACT 14-22 Queensland Red; 3rd/4th Place Play-Off: New South Wales White 12-26 ACT; Cup Final: New South Wales Blue 29-21 Queensland Red
Final Positions: 1. New South Wales Blue, 2. Queensland Red, 3. ACT, 4. New South Wales White, 5. Australian Universities, 6. Queensland White, 7. National Indigenous, 8. Victoria, 9. Western Australia, 10. Northern Territory, 11. Tasmania, 12. South Australia
WOMEN:
Cup Quarter-Finals: NSW Blue 36-0 Australian Universities, Australian Services *12-12 NSW White, ACT 12-7 Western Australia, Queensland Red 20-0 National Indigenous; Cup Semi-Finals: New South Wales Blue 36-0 Australian Services, ACT 5-19 Queensland Red; 3rd/4th Place Play-Off: Australian Services 0-31 ACT; Cup Final: New South Wales Blue 22-0 Queensland Red
Final Positions: New South Wales Blue, 2. Queensland Red, 3. ACT, 4. Australian Services, 5. Western Australia, 6. Australian Universities, 7. National Indigenous, 8. New South Wales White, 9. Victoria, 10. Northern Territory, 11. Queensland White, 12. South Australia
