The University of Queensland have won the opening round of the Aon University Sevens Series, defeating Macquarie University in the Final 19-5.
In windy and wet conditions at the University of Tasmania Rugby Fields, UQ took an early lead against Macquarie and was able to grind out a difficult win against the Sydney team.
The win comes off the back of Macquarie defeating the champions yesterday in a pool match, ending their unbeaten run from 2017.
In the other matches, Griffith University took the bronze medal, with tournament newcomers the University of Sydney who finished in fourth place.
Home town favourites, the University of Tasmania finished the opening round in sixth place, after falling to the University of Canberra in the battle for Fifth.
University of Queensland Head Coach, Reg Taylor said: “It’s awesome to win, we fell to Macquarie in our pool rounds and we learnt a lot from that.
It was great to come back in the Final and really step it up. “We looked at a few things defensively, we weren’t happy with a few aspects.
We have high standards in our program, we fixed that, and it was great to peak in the Final.
“We work on a whole squad effort each tournament, but I thought Pleuni Kievit and Hagiga Mosby really stepped it up this weekend and they got us some breakaway tries.
“We’ll look at our preparation and combinations, so we can be more effective in those pool rounds and get ready for round two in Canberra.”
The series heads to Canberra for round two of the five round Series on September 8-9 with every match to be broadcast LIVE on rugby.com.au.
2018 Aon University Sevens Series Ladder
University of Queensland 20 points
Macquarie University 18 points
Griffith University 16 points
University of Sydney 14 points
University of Canberra 12 points
University of Tasmania 10 points
University of Adelaide 8 points
Bond University 6 points
University of New England 4 points
University of Melbourne 2 points
