The Santos All Schools 7s is the premier schools 7s tournament in Queensland, allowing players from across the state to showcase their talent and be provided with a pathway for selection in the QAS training squads and Queensland Youth 7s teams.
This year's tournament will be held from the 22nd to 23rd October at the South Pine Sports Complex (Albany Creek GPS Rugby Club) with 80 teams of girls and boys competing across U13, U15 and U18 age groups with over 225 games to be played over the two days.
The tournament has grown significantly over the past few years with only 60 teams competing four years ago, with 1040 players alone expected to compete at this year’s event across all age groups.
Schools competing in the All Schools 7s have come from the pathway of regional tournaments including the Sunshine Coast 7s and the Western 7s, which is the largest regional Q7s event outside the Brisbane metropolitan region.
With eyes on the 2032 Olympics in Brisbane, this tournament is a major talent identification event for Rugby 7s, with hopes that these players will one day be playing for Australia in front of family, friends, and a vocal home Australian crowd.
Both the girls 15s and 18s divisions have had their pools pushed out to 16 teams from the initial eight teams to help support the growth of the Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS) Women’s 7s programs and Super W programs.
Some of the tournament's past players include current Aussie Women’s 7s players Maddison and Teagan Levi and Wallaby Tate Mcdermott.
The Levi sisters' old team Miami State High School return to the tournament after winning two of the last three U18 girls competitions.
Miami State High School Rugby Coordinator Matt Chapman is quietly confident in the team this year.
“We have had a few girls graduate out of the system as is the nature of school rugby but the girls have surprised in a couple of tournaments this year” he said.
“We had a couple of girls represent Queensland in the inaugural Girls 7s tournament at the Aus Schools Championships this year as well”.
Bella Thompson and Jasmine Single both competed for Queensland earlier this year, with Thompson only being 16 years old playing up in the Under 18s competition.
Matt Chapman also had praise for captain Paige Dunstan, who is also a strong AFL player, saying she epitomises a strong hard running forward in 7s and leads by example.
“Keebra Park beat us in the Grand Final last year to stop us winning the three-peat, so we definitely see them as one of the biggest competitions this year” Chapman said.
Keebra Park will return a talented team to the tournament this year.
A player to keep an eye on in the Keebra Park team will be Jaida Faleono who is a player in the Queensland 7s Elite Pathway system.
Brisbane State High School also return to the tournament in the girls divisions after being absent for the previous three tournaments. Former Brisbane State high School student and now Australian Women’s 7s captain Charlotte Caslick was a star performer for State High an also adds to the long list of former Q7s and All Schools 7s graduates from this exciting and competitive event.
They return as one of the most dominant teams in the girls divisions, winning multiple tournaments across all age groups including four straight Under 18s tournaments from 2015 to 2018.
Leilani Hills and Sinead Swartz will be two players to watch for in the Brisbane State High team with both girls in the Queensland 7s Academy.
Downlands College, Fairholme College, Glenne, Kings Christian College, Marsden SHS and Redcliffe SHS will all also be strong teams to watch for in the girls division this year.
In the boys Under 18 division Sunshine Coast Grammar School return to this year's tournament after having last won the competition in 2020.
Sunshine Coast Grammar Director of Rugby Troy Atkins has said that the Under 18 and Under 15 boys squads are both tracking well and have been challenged by the coaching staff throughout this term.
“The players are super excited to compete and for many this is the highlight tournament for the year.” He said.
SCGS may have one of the most talented squads in the U18 boys division this year with three Reds Academy players in their side including Finn Prass, Luke Aiken and Joe Wikaira as well as Queensland Schools Rep Finn Harris.
Anglican Church Grammar School will be a strong competitor in this competition returning to this year's tournament fresh-off winning the GPS Premiership.
Having a haul of All Schools 7s trophies from 2013 to 2015, they have not competed in the tournament since but will immediately be a strong competitor.
Miami State High will be trying to win their first U18 boys division title year with the majority of their winning 2020 U15s boys team making most of their Under 18s team this year.
Front runners for the boys U18 competition include St Patricks Shorncliffe, Churchie, Kings Christian College, Sunshine Coast Grammar, St Peters and Miami SHS.
