2006 WAJRU Under 15's Canterbury Gold Coast Carnival
The Canterbury Gold Coast Rugby Carnival departed July 4 and returned July 10, 2006. The Carnival, hosted by Southport School, consisted of 4 pool matches held during the week with finals played on the Sunday.
Results
Wednesday 5 July 2006
Game 1
Western Australia Under 15’s 41 Cranbrook School 0
Game 2
Western Australia Under 15’s 6 Lindfield Districts (NSW) 0
Friday 7 July 2006
Game 3
Western Australia Under 15’s 12 Towoomba Grammar School 6
Game 4
Western Australia Under 15’s 12 St Paul’s Grammar School New South Wales 0
Sunday July 9 2006
Game 5
Western Australia Under 15’s 9 Qld South Coast Combined Schools 18
Game 6
Western Australia Under 15’s 6 Lindfield Districts New South Wales 11
Barbarian Jersey
It is traditional in this carnival for the organisers to present a jersey to a player from every team at the closing ceremony. As in previous years the WA coaches and Manager after each game award points to the players they feel played the best. After six games were completed there were a number of players in contention.
They were:
- Philip Slabber (12 pts);
- Michael Pollastri (15pts);
- Daryl Mitchell (16pts);
- Caleb Lamatoa (17 pts); and the winner
- Umar Munshi who secured a total of 18 points.
Unfortunately, Umar could not receive the jersey at the closing ceremony as family commitments required him to leave for Perth on Sunday afternoon but the organiser of the tournament, Barry Honan, kindly made the presentation to Umar in front of his team mates just before Umar left the ground.
Conclusion
It is no secret that the tour management were hoping for something better than our eventual result of fourth place. Despite the fact that results were not what we would have wanted it was still an enjoyable week for the boys with most of them leaving the Gold Coast better players than they were when they arrived. It goes without saying that the off field activities were also appreciated by the tour party.
On the field the highlights of the tour was the excellent come from behind win against a strong Towoomba Grammar School side and the good account the boys gave of themselves when going down in the semi final.
Playing 6 games of rugby over 5 days is a hard ask for the boys and it is fair to say some in the party underestimated just how physically and mentally demanding the week would be.
Accordingly, the tour was a valuable experience for all the players and will give them all an idea of what to expect should they be good enough to be selected for the Under 16’s next year.
