Teen-star Blacker puts Blues in the finals

DANE BLACKER had to pinch himself after scoring the try that not only ended Newport Gwent Dragons’ reign as the Singha Premiership Sevens champions, but sent Cardiff Blues through to the finals next month.

The Ynysybwl product, who turned 18 only this month, snapped up the first and last tries in the final game of the tournament to send the Blues to Coventry on Sunday, August 7.

But having lit up the Arms Park on his senior Blues debut, Blacker is unlikely to be able to test himself against the stars of the Aviva Premiership because he is due to fly to South Africa with the Wales Under 18 team for their summer tour the next day.

“I can’t get over it. Just to represent the Blues at this level at such a young age is a great honour, but to win the tournament is amazing,” he said.

“It’s going to be a massive challenge for us going to Coventry and I’m backing the boys to do well up there.

“It’s an awesome feeling to win the tournament, especially beating the Dragons. It was a bit of a lucky bounce for my first try and then for the last one I saw the gap, squeezed through and scored the winner – a massive honour.”

The Blues opened with a 17-15 win over an Ospreys side in a game was decided after the final whistle.The scoreboard gave the result as 17-17, but officials it was determined that Will Jones’ first-half conversion hadn’t gone over and Ospreys had to make do with a losing bonus-point.

The Dragons launched their defence with a 26-12 win over the Scarlets, but were then beaten 21-19 by the Ospreys

Dragons coach Nik Wakely was unhappy that his team had had to play back-to-back matches and that first-half display probably cost them their title. The Blues, meanwhile, made light of losing Owen Jenkins to a yellow card for the second match to beat Scarlets 22-12 and set up a winner-takes-all clash with Dragons.

The final game couldn’t have been more dramatic. Blacker scored from the kick-off, the champions responded with three tries to lead 15-5 at the break, but then the Dragons were reduced to five men for a period after Jonny Lewis and Ethan Davies both picked up yellows.

The Blues came back to lead 17-15, but GB Students international Chris Levesley raced 60 metres for the try of the night that gave the Dragons a 22-17 lead with less than a minute to play. It seemed all over for the Blues, but Blacker came up with the try of his life to win the title after the hooter had blown.

RESULTS Cardiff 17-15 Ospreys Scarlets 12 - 26 NG Dragons Ospreys 21 - 19 NG Dragons Cardiff 22 - 12 Scarlets Ospreys 24 - 5 Scarlets Cardiff 24 - 22 NG Dragons