Record season to kick-off
The 2018 South West Sevens is set to be the biggest yet, when it kicks off on Tuesday night at Gold Park.
The schools-based rugby sevens competition has experienced large growth since it began in 2016 and that’s expected to continue when the girls’ under-14 and U16 season begins on Tuesday.
The U18 girls, and boys’ U14 and U16 competitions begin Thursday evening.
The South West Sevens began with 12 girls’ sides across two age groups which grew to 35 teams across U14, 16 and 18 girls, and U14 boys’ age groups last year.
A mammoth 47 teams from will take part in the 2018 season, with U14, U16 and U18 girls and U14 and U16 boys.
This year we will see the addition of Highfields State Secondary College and St Mary’s as the competitions’ two newest schools.
Fifteen schools from across the region will be represented, including those from the Lockyer Valley, Warwick, Dalby, Highfields and Toowoomba,
Downs Rugby general manager Mitchell Simpson said more than 250 games of sevens will be played across the sevenweek competition, making it one of the biggest sevens competitions in the state.
“The continual growth in sevens is having great flow-on effects to the wider rugby community,” Simpson said.
“And it is great to see an additional 10 boys’ teams this year competing who are largely from non traditional rugby backgrounds.
“Sevens rugby is a great way for people who haven’t played rugby to get into the sport, and with nearly 550 kids expected to participate this year, from only around 120 in year one, this is a huge success for us”.