Congratulations to Australia who have won the 2017 Youth Trans Tasman Series, winning 16 out of 18 games. Their performances were precise, consistent, disciplined and at times creative ensuring the ultimate outcome was achieved which was to win all six grades.  

Despite the black and white results, it can’t be denied that New Zealand pushed the Aussies to the line with 2 wins, 3 drop-offs and a narrow margin on 3 of the other games (2 tries or less). This is a significant improvement on our last Youth series.

All teams displayed moments of brilliance, determination, resilience and strength but it just wasn’t enough to turn the Aussie tide.

The Under 18 Mixed game under the leadership of Captain James Te Pairi and Vice Captain Courtney Lott on day 3 was a Touch viewers delight after a see-saw of 21 Touchdowns in total – the decider determined by a 4v4 drop-off that swung Aussies way in the end. With Keegan Harris unexceptionally ripping the Australian defence to bits scoring 3 of the 10 tries and having a hand in at least another 2, NZ watched on with bated breath to see if we could pin back a win. With an injury prompting some positional changes, Deija Gray lifted another notch to play the full 40 minutes, score twice and save touchdown after touchdown. Kaleb Talamahina also had a blinder with his excellence on strike attack, on point with his long ball on the backend of set plays.

This wasn’t the only outstanding performance by far. There was nothing in it for U18 Girls match and with NZ down by one try with minutes to spare, despite the heartiest of efforts the girls just couldn’t cross the line.

The results on paper certainly don’t do justice to the contingent performance. It’s cold comfort to narrowly miss out on two titles by just one touchdown and come close in most others. You can be sure the series has created the desire to come back stronger, better, faster & swing that balance in the kiwis favour.  

From a management perspective and the sport of Touch, the series was a success. Testament to both countries for the effort, organisation and commitment of the players, referees, coaches, managers and high performance team plus event management. With the grandstand virtually full every day and over 60,000 viewers on livestream (despite the hiccup with the power outage), Mountfort Park created a great vibe for a weekend of Touch.

Click here for full results

Click here to view photos

Click here to view Day 1 and 2 Trylights