Finals Fever: QSST Make Statement on Hunt for Consecutive Titles

Tournament favourites came to the fore on day three of the 2023 DoorDash National Youth Championships (NYC) with Queensland Secondary Schools Touch (QSST) and NSW Combined High Schools (NSWCHS) recording confidence boosting scorelines on the eve of the finals.

In the 18 Girls division, NSWCHS are looking to avenge last year’s grand final loss and the young team have done exceptionally well to put themselves in a solid position. Standing in their way however is a very professional QSST outfit who are aiming for back-to-back titles – conceding only ten tries in the pool phase.

In the 18s Boys, the finals intensity arrived early in what could have been an early preview of what’s to come with QSST coming away victors in a tight contest against old foe NSWCHS on Friday afternoon. A seesawing first half applied real pressure on the Queenslanders before their class shone through in the second half as they ran away victors.

The Sydney Scorpions (Scorpions) took top spot in their pool in the 16s Boys division following a dramatic draw with the Southwest Queensland Swans. The result shaking up the division with the Sharks claiming the top spot in the other pool to set up some interesting finals in the morning.

In the 16s Girls, local team the Sunshine Coast Pineapples came home with a wet sail with three victories on Friday to clinch third spot in their pool to take their spot in the quarter-finals much to the delight of the local crowd.

A finals warm-up took place in the 14s Girls with the Scorpions defeating the North Queensland Tropical Cyclones with both teams set to take their place in the semi-finals. The Scorpions are looking to go back-to-back in both the 14s Girls and 14s Boys divisions but will be looking over their shoulder at the Hunter Western Hornets (Hornets) who took top spot in the pool phase.

There will be a new champion in the 12s Girls with new faces in the semi-finals – headlined by the South Queensland Sharks who defeated the Hornets in a potential grand final preview. The Scorpions continued their strong performance throughout all divisions by going flawless in their pool in the 12s Boys.

Will we see back-to-back champions crowned on Saturday or will a new name be etched into the history books?

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