THE town of Longreach recently staged a successful 7s tournament and we received a number of reports from the weekend which are printed below:
Visiting Tigers take out Longreach 7s honours
By Tim Penrose (Thomson Tigers)
AFTER eight months of planning; it all came together on March 1, 2014, in the outback town of Longreach. The Longreach 7s carnival with teams from all over Queensland competing for 1st prize of $7000.
Of the 11 men’s teams that came, each were granted three games with the grand finalist playing six games.
Brisbane Eastern Suburbs Tigers were the favourites to take out the 1st prize and they didn't disappoint, beating CQ Rangers in the final.
Normanton Stingers lost in the Platt final to the Drew Ballard replacements team.
Some standout teams were the Central West local teams from Blackall and Winton, both of whom put in a good showing the boys from Quilpie / Windorah also stood tall on the day.
The host team the young Longreach Thomson Tigers lost in the first round, but were more than happy to have played Brisbane East Tigers.
Others teams that enjoyed the day were the colourful Rocky Ringworms, the Clermont Spuds and the Emerald Tigers.
The women started the day with the Central West Fillies taking on the favourites the Clermont Ladies and going down by 2 points.
In the second game, the Clermont Ladies took on the Emerald Tigers Ladies, getting their second win. In game three, the Central West Fillies drew with the Emerald Tigers Ladies; then Clermont met the Tigers in the final coming out the victors.
It was good to see a QRL present on the day with Mr Danny McGuire and Mr Rob Crow there; and a special thanks goes to Rob for doing a full day of reffing.
From the Longreach Thomson Tigers – thanks to all the teams for making this carnival a day to remember; to all the spectators we hope you enjoyed a day of some of the best rugby league Queensland has to offer; to Mr Des Morris and crew from Brisbane Eastern Suburbs Tigers for coming out and supporting outback rugby league and to all the other teams for also making this a day to remember and to the Central West fillies on your first game of rugby league.
You did us proud we also thank all the people who don’t get the recognition who worked tireless all day to make this day.
Thanks also to all the central highlands and our local refs thank you thank you to everybody involved see you all again in 2015.
The Clermont and the Emerald Tigers have already signed on!
Teams Display their Passion for the Game
By Carolyn Moriarty
THE welcome mat was well and truly rolled out on the weekend when the Central West town of Longreach hosted the Longreach Sevens.
Teams from as far north as Normanton, to as far south as Brisbane East inundated the town and put on a display of their talent and their passion for Rugby League.
Central Highlands were well represented with teams from Clermont (Spuds) and Emerald (Tigers), as well as for the very first time, two women’s teams – one from Emerald and one from Clermont.
The ladies competition was fiercely contested between the three competing teams – Clermont, Emerald Tigers and Central West Fillies. The first game between the Fillies and Clermont saw Clermont defeat the Fillies 16 – 8. In the next game, the Clermont girls went down narrowly to the Tigers 14 – 12.
The Emerald Tigers and the CW Fillies then played a draw leaving Clermont on top to take on the Tigers in the final. For the Clermont women, it definitely was a carnival to remember taking out first place after defeating the Emerald Tigers 18 - 10.
The men’s competition involved five teams in Pool A, and six in Pool B. Teams played each other team within their pool in games timetabled every 20 minutes starting from 8.20am.
The finals commenced at 4pm. Easts accounted for Winton in the first quarter final and went through to play the Rockhampton Ringworms who defeated the Replacements in their quarter final.
In the other quarter finals, Clermont defeated Emerald Tigers and had to face up to the CQ Rangers who defeated a very strong Blackall side.
The first semi-final was a one sided affair with East Tigers running over the top of the Rockhampton Ringworms 32-0. The second semi was a much closer affair with the CQ Rangers narrowly defeating the Spuds 16-10.
The Grand Final was the icing on the cake for the East Tigers who did not lose a game all day. They defeated the Rangers in a good tussle 18-6. It was a fitting end to a wonderful day of rugby league.
Congratulations to the members of the Longreach junior and senior leagues for their incredible organisation of the day and thank you Longreach for your hospitality.
Photo by Carolyn Moriarty
