A handful of new additions to their line up for the coming season helped the St Albert's College women take out the 7s division at Saturday's Armidale Blues knockout carnival.
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The men's final was contested between St Pat's and Hastings Valley Vikings with the Sydney-based team taking home the trophy.
Last year was a tough one for the Albies girls in New England Rugby Union's women's 7s competition.
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Just one player - skipper Georgia O'Neill - had rugby experience.
The rest were just trying the sport for the first time after playing various other sports and were on the receiving end of some big scorelines.
Fast forward to the start of 2021 and signs are looking promising with the squad winning four out of five games, including the final against the Barbets.
O'Neill is back for another stint at the college and said a handful of new faces have bolstered their squad.
"The only real difference would be the new freshers on the team have had more experience playing rugby," she said of the comparison to last year.
"It was very exciting to start the season with a strong competitive team, with the potential to be a serious opposition to the other teams this year."
The most exciting part is they are still a relatively new unit which means they still have improvement left in them.
"It was our first game playing as a team together with new coaches but I feel that we gelled really well throughout the day which helped us come out with the win," O'Neill said.
"We are really excited for the year ahead to see how we progress and grow as a team.
"We have a strong and talented group of girls looking forward to making an impact come game one."
The knockout saw eight men's teams and five women's teams vying for the trophies at Moran Oval.
The men's tournament included the Armidale Blues, the Vikings, Barbarians, St Pat's, Albies, Tamworth, Walcha Rams and Singleton.
The women's title was fought out by Albies, Barbets, Coffs, Tamworth and Blues.
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