THE Inverell Highlanders rugby girls flew high at the recent Gold Coast City v Surf carnival.
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The Dale Beattie-coached side finished runners-up after going down to the Tribe 7s 12-7 in the final.
Beattie was sent an invitation to enter a side following the Warialda High U16s and U18s’ strong performance at the NSW schools titles.
The 16s were second and the 18s fourth.
The two-day tournament on the Gold Coast saw the side, which was supported by the Inverell Highlanders, compete against the premier sides from Queensland for the Rebecca Tavo Shield.
Other sides from NSW were also invited to play but the Highlanders ended up the sole NSW representatives.
Warialda’s Carly Rose, Jessica Andrews, Molly Kennedy, Rachel Barwick, Sarah Hamilton, Tiarna Molly, Gemma Hawkins and Rhiannon Byers were joined by Inverell’s Chokita Brown and Moree’s Ashleigh Walker to make up the side.
“It was the biggest tournament that we have ever been to,” Beattie said.
“There were 1700 rugby players there across the boys and girls’ divisions and was one of the most professionally-run carnivals I have ever attended.”
The Highlanders in their pool games defeated the Siena Stingrays 28-0, the Fraser Coast Dingos 17-5, Merremac SHS in a nailbiter 19-17 and Ipswich 28-5 before losing to the Tribe 7s 32-0 in a one-sided affair that saw the Tribe side get too much ball against a tired Highlanders side.
It put them second at the end of the pool games and set up a rematch with Tribe in the grand final later in the day.
“The Tribe is an invitational side which has produced multiple Australian reps and was coached by current Australian player Charlotte Caslick,” Beattie said.
“They pick their side from across Australia and included Australian, Queensland, and even a couple of NSW state representatives.”
“Still stinging from the pool defeat, our girls were determined to give a better display of what they can do.”
“This they did, scoring first to lead the Tribe 7-5 at half -time.”
They led until a couple of minutes to go, with the Tribe scoring to snatch it from them.
Beattie said it was an amazing effort from his side and one of his highlights was overhearing one of the Tribe coaching staff asking organisers “where the hell did this team come from?”.
Australian captain Tavo and Caslick also both commended Beattie and the girls on their skill level, tenacity and knowledge of the game.
The accolades didn’t stop there, with Molloy being offered a chance to train at a development camp with the Australian team by Caslick and The Lloyd McDermott program showing a huge interest in the quality of the Highlanders players.