The South-East (Brisbane) U13 went through five games undefeated to take out the State Championship held in Warwick from July 3 to July 7. Northern finished second, Wide Bay third on for and against from Central, with Southern just pipping South West for fifth.
Day 1 opened with the three pre-tournament favourites Southern, Northern and Brisbane defeating South West, Central and Wide Bay respectively. Under the points system in use at the carnival both Southern (30-12) and Northern (36-12) picked up 5 points (3 points for a win, 1 point for the winner of each half) with Brisbane dropping half a point when they let Wide Bay score 2 late tries to tie the second half after Brisbane had led 12-0 at half time, then 24-0 shortly after half time. Man of the Match for Brisbane was fullback Jeremy Fuller with Mase Laulu and Matt Sepelini also prominent, the latter with some barnstorming runs. The team had to be reshuffled early with Mitchell Carr suffering a leg injury, with Al Tallon moving to centre and Matt Smith coming in to the five-eight roll. This was to remain the combination for the remainder of the carnival with Mitchell being used mainly in the 2nd row once his injury recovered. The combination between halfback Ben Edwards and Matt (both from Redlands) worked well, with Al getting more room to move out wider. Ben and Al shared the kicking roll in general play. The team was a little disappointed to have dropped the half a point and nothing on day one had led us to believe anything but Southern and Northern would be the teams to beat. Of more concern was an eye injury to 2nd rower Brian Paterson which would rule him out of the next day's game with Central. Jay Aston also received a black eye, so it was a rough start for the team!
Day 2 began with a real surprise with Wide Bay defeating Southern 16-4 having led 10-0 at half-time. This was to be a pointer to Southern's form for the rest of the carnival in fact. Brisbane were on next and the jitters that hit Southern seemed to also impact Brisbane with Central jumping away to a 14-0 lead after 20 mins, through a combination of Brisbane mistakes, and a 5-0 penalty count. Fortunately Jared Morgan managed to wriggle over for a try just before half time. Coach Phil Weightman's half-time talk must have been a beauty with Brisbane scoring 2 converted tries in the first 5 minutes of the 2nd half to take the lead. Unfortunately they then switched off again allowing Central to score and take the lead 18-16 with ten minutes remaining. It took late tries from Al Tallon and captain Jay Aston to finally get Brisbane up 24-18. Al Tallon was awarded the official Man-of-the-Match (with the highlight for him getting to pack in a scrum at one stage due to injury to other players) and once again Matt Sepelini was prominent in attack and Jeremy Fuller very safe at fullback. The team received a one hour post-match talking to from the management as it was clear a similar performance would see certain defeat against Northern the next day. Also of concern was the further bonus point dropped. The final game of the day saw Northern overcome a spirited South West 26-12 after leading only 10-6 at half time. Maximum points from this game saw Northern leading the comp on 10 points followed by Brisbane 8.5, Wide Bay 5.5, Southern 5, Central on 1 and South West on 0 after Day 2.
Day 3 opened with "the big one" - Brisbane v Northern and buoyed by tremendous support throughout the match from the Brisbane U14 and U16 teams the Brisbane boys put on a performance to remember. Following the lead of man-of-the-match "little Gordie" Brian Paterson, Brisbane tore into the Northeners in a tremendous first half display, making only 2 errors in the first half on the way to a 22-0 lead at the break. There was not a bad player in the squad from Brisbane with the Arana connection Alex Fresta, Mitchell Carr (now a centre/2nd rower) and Al Tallon prominent. The Redlands connection all played well too, with the combination of Nathan Strudwick at dummy half, Jay Aston at lock, Ben Edwards at halfback and Matt Smith at five-eighth all playing superbly. Unfortunately the match was marred in the 2nd half by a couple of nasty incidents, the last resulting in a lengthy delay while captain Jay Aston was treated following a dangerous tackle. Jeremy Fuller who kicked beautifully all week (18 from 25 - 72%) calmly knocked over the goal from the resulting penalty to give Brisbane a 2-0 2nd half win and a 24-0 overall result. Brisbane was now the only undefeated team. The next game saw Wide Bay grind out a hard fought win over South West 20-16 after leading 12-10 at half time. Southern's disappointing tournament continued with them going down 12-16 to Central after trailing 8-10 at half time in the last game of the day. So after day 3, Brisbane led on 13.5 pts followed by Wide Bay on 10.5, Northern on 10, Central on 6, Southern on 5 and South West yet to register a point.
The Brissie boys enjoyed a sleep-in on day 4, playing the last game of the day. In the early game Northern were too strong for Southern getting away to a 16-4 half-time lead on the way to a 22-8 victory. Central and Wide Bay turned on a thriller with Central finally getting up 22-18 after the scores were locked 10 all at half time, this result effectively ending Wide Bay's chances of taking the title. Brisbane had to guard against complacency taking on South West, particularly without captain Jay Aston who started on the bench following the dangerous tackle on him against Northern. Al Tallon captained the side in Jay's Aston absence. Unfortunately the form of the previous day seemed a distant memory with Brisbane failing to complete their first seven sets. Fortunately South West's handling also let them down, as Brisbane managed to fumble their way to a 6-0 half time lead courtesy of a long distance try from Alex Tallon. Brisbane played better in the 2nd half with David Tyrell, who was solid throughout the tournament picking up a double and Mitchell Carr making a superb break to set up a second try for Al. Al picked up his second Man of the Match award in this game with Brian Paterson, Rohan Ahern and Adam Marr playing well in the forwards. With one day to go in the carnival, Brisbane were on 18.5 points, Northern 15, Wide Bay 11, Central 10.5, Southern 5 and South West 0. Sad note of the day for the Brisbane boys was the loss suffered by the Brisbane U16s to South West, which turned out to be the only loss by Brisbane in all 3 age groups and which ultimately cost them them a clean sweep of the titles.
The final day dawned cold and cloudy with Brisbane facing the prospect of a having to defeat a fired up Southern side, desperate to salvage something from the wreckage of their carnival. The 9am start did not faze the Brisbane side however and they turned in an even better first half than against Northern snuffing out the "Southerners" with a 100% completion rate on the way to a 20-0 half time lead. Brisbane went on with the job in the second half scoring 3 more converted tries to win 38-0. The last barnstorming effort by Matt Sepelini with a minute to go brought up his hat-trick of tries for the match, and took him to equal top try scorer for Brisbane for the tournament with Al Tallon with 6 apiece. Matt Smith played himself into the Queensland team turning on a blinder to pick up the Man of the Match award with Brian Paterson (11 tackles 14 hitups) and Jay Aston (11/13)outstanding in the forwards and Al Tallon (16/10), Mase Laulu (11/5) and Matt (13/9) all getting into tackling "double figures" in the backs. This win sealed the title for Brisbane and left the last 2 games of the day to sort out the minor placings. Northern confirmed their 2nd placing with an 18-8 win over Wide Bay after leading 8-0 at half time, and South West broke their duck in the last game defeating Central 16-4 after the scores were locked 4-4 at half time.
With the 2 bonus points awarded for winning all 5 games, Brisbane finished on 25.5 points, Northern on 20, Wide Bay pipped Central for 3rd on 11 points, Southern finished a disappointing tournament on 5 points with South West on 4.5.
The tournament wrapped up with the presentation of the Player of the Carnival which went to Kyle Gallagher from Central, and the naming of the 17 man Queensland merit team. Seven from Brisbane made the team - Jeremy Fuller (fullback), Al Tallon (centre); Mase Laulu (wing); Matthew Smith (5/8); Brian Paterson (2nd row); Jay Aston (reserve) and Nathan Strudwick (reserve). Wide Bay and Northern had 3 reps each, Southern 2 and Central and South West one apiece.
A great week was had by all!!
