WA U15s win national title
The WA under-15 rugby union side won the National Junior Gold Cup title with a 29-24 grand final win over the ACT at UWA Sports Park on Sunday.
Fly-half Campbell Parata was a standout for the under-15 side, scoring 24 points including a second half try that kick-started a comeback from a 10-point deficit.
The WA under-17 side were not able to retain their title, going 17-15, also against the ACT, in their final.
Riley Winter and Hayden Anderson from the Wests Scarborough club have been selected in the extended Australian under-20 squad for the Federation of Oceania Rugby Unions Championship.
Australia will take on New Zealand, Japan and Samoa in the preparation tournament for the World Rugby Junior World Championship in June.
Newly promoted Joondalup opened their RugbyWA premier grade campaign with a 22-17 victory over Kalamunda on Saturday.
Playing with a strong wind in the first period Kalamunda turned down several early penalty opportunities but still headed into the break with a 17-7 lead before Joondalup scored 15 unanswered points.
Inside centre James Wepener bagged a hat-trick of tries for the home side.
Joondalup coach Dean Carlisle said he was pleased with the second half response.
“I’m absolutely stoked for the guys,” he said.
“We’ve worked really hard through the pre-season and have had a long time together, so today’s the icing on the cake for the boys.
“We talked about a few things at half-time as we didn’t have control of the tempo of the game and as soon as we managed to do that, we did well.
“He’s [Wepener] the kind of kid who, some of the stuff that he does, you just can’t coach. He’s a great ball carrier and runner. He’s one to watch in the team for sure.”
Kalamunda coach Josh Heke said it was a tough loss, particularly as his side had the upper hand for large periods of the match.
“We just didn’t carry on our hunger,” he said.
“We had plenty of opportunities in the first half, probably missing two or three tries, which we needed to capitalise on.”
“We’ve got three games at home after Easter and will be back at full strength, so we’ll pick it up and go from there.”
In other results last year’s minor premiers Nedlands were beaten 26-19 by Wests Scarborough, reigning premiers UWA went down 22-5 to Associates, Cottesloe were too strong for Perth Bayswater with a 55-12 bonus-point victory; and Palmyra had a convincing 53-17 win over Wanneroo.
