Plenty of promise in rugby results at age-group nationals

The

future of Newfoundland rugby looks pretty good despite results at the recent youth nationals.

Neither the Statoil Newfoundland under-18 or under-16 boys rugby teams picked up a medal at the national youth championships, held last week in Sherbrooke, Que., but coach Pat Parfrey says both teams showed promise.

The province’s U-18s had an overall 5-3 record, but Parfrey noted, “We started 15 under-17 players against Ontario and managed to be competitive until the last 10 minutes.

“We had a very young team, with two-thirds of the squad being underagers, so I feel optimistic about next year’s group challenging British Columbia and Ontario.”

Parfrey noted the Statoil team’s player of the tournament was Kieran Lacey, who was captain despite being an underager “and literally played himself to a standstill against Ontario. He had to be carried from the field with exhaustion during the second half.”

Statoil’s U16 team won just one game, that in the consolation round, but were within one score in their games against Alberta, Quebec and New Brunswick.

Parfrey said the team “played good rugby despite the fact that a month ago we were quite concerned about their capacity to play in a tournament where the seven other teams were more experienced.”

Daniel Aylward, who coach Pat Parfrey said “played skillfully despite a lot of pressure at the scrum half,” was chosen the Statoil team’s player of the U-16 tournament.

I don’t know if Newfoundland will beat B.C. and Ontario in age-group competition next year, but by the time our young men turn 20 or 21, most of them will be equal to anyone in the country.

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