Moree’s Percy Duncan has topped off a fantastic year of rugby union by representing New South Wales in the National Youth Sevens Championships in Perth less than two weeks ago.
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Duncan was one of 28 boys selected to represent the NSW Waratahs at the national titles which were held in Perth on December 9, 10 and 11.
NSW took two teams to the titles – NSW Blue and NSW white.
Duncan was part of the NSW white team which ended up finishing eighth in the competition.
“It was a really tough competition,” Duncan said.
“Out of the five teams in our pool, four of them made the finals, including us, however we lost the plate final to the National Indigenous team.”
Duncan said it was a great honour to represent NSW.
“It was awesome,” he said.
“It was the first state side I’ve made.”
To make it to the national finals, Duncan had to go through a vigorous selection process, involving lots of travel to Sydney.
It was awesome. It was the first state side I’ve made.
- Percy Duncan
Earlier this year he was selected for the Central North rugby 7s under 17s side which won the NSW competition held in Coffs Harbour over two days.
From that carnival he was one of 50 boys selected for the NSW Waratahs 7s side.
This required travel to Mittagong and Sydney for three weeks in November to trial for the nationals.
Final selections were made on November 22, two weeks out from the finals.
Duncan then had to travel to Sydney for those two weeks to train with the NSW white team.
The travel was all worth it in the end for the 17-year-old, who was “over the moon” to play for the NSW Waratahs.
Duncan has been playing rugby for the past five years, having started while he was at boarding school in Armidale.
When he moved back to Moree there was no juniors side, so he began playing for the Narrabri Blue Boars.
This year Duncan captained the Blue Boars under 18s side and stepped up to play first grade, being a part of the senior’s grand final team against Pirates.
He is the only 17-year-old in the Narrabri club’s history to play first grade.
“It’s a bit of an honour to play at such a young age,” he said.
“I absolutely love it; it's a passion.”
Duncan was also selected for the NSW Country under 17s squad in the 15-man game which saw him travel to Perth and various locations in NSW in May to July this year.
In September he was selected in the Lloyd McDermott NSW Indigenous side.
Next year Duncan plans to continue to develop his rugby as part of the Blue Boars first grade team.
His main goal now is to represent NSW in the under 20s.
