Carys Dallinger felt like she’d be been parachuted into a game of rugby at fast-forward pace when she made her debut for the Reds in the Next Gen 7s.
The rapid-fire pace of four games of sevens on Saturday in Sydney was a jolt to the system yet the 2023 Wallaroo loved it.
Playing against the NSW Waratahs also guaranteed highly-competitive tussles as it proved to be with the matches split 2-all.
“My body is feeling it today but I really enjoyed it and trying to keep up with a new group of girls, all fit and fast,” Dallinger said.
“It’s probably three years or more since I played sevens back in New Zealand.”
There’s no easing into sevens. While she is a flyhalf in the 15-a-side game, Dallinger found herself in multiple roles in sevens.
There were playmaker duties at times but they were mixed with packing into three-person scrums and even lifting in lineouts.
“The biggest shock was being chucked into scrums and I was pretty happy my lifts were OK in the lineouts,” Dallinger said with a grin as well as satisfaction.
“I really enjoyed using my feet and having more of a crack at the line than I might do in XVs.
“It was fun and the Reds have some seriously good sevens players. It was hard to keep up with Amahli Hala. She’s got some skills.
“Rhani Hagan is so fast and nippy and a real go-getter. Faythe (Manera) captained well and I can’t believe Gase (Tupuola-Palale) is the wrecking ball she is at just 17.”
Dallinger had to wait until the fourth and final game for her first try of the day when another 17-year-old, Madison Pomerenke, took a quick tap, drew into defenders and offloaded to Dallinger.
A fend and a 20m dash to the tryline delivered a five-pointer in the Reds’ 26-17 win. It followed a 26-10 success in Game One and losses, 12-10 and 34-0, in Games Two and Three.
Dallinger’s experience did make a difference.
“We were a bit flat after that loss in Game Three. Carys helped us all get the energy up for the last game and made a point of saying how proud she was to be with us as part of the Reds sevens,” teammate Taleah Ackland said.
Tupuola-Palale (three), Hagan (two) and Hala (two) were the top Reds tryscorers on the day.
Few tries showed off better skills than a Tupuola-Palale try in the opening game.
Ackland burst through on a switch play off Caitlin Urwin before passing to Pomerenke, who got away a superb offload as she hit the ground. Tupuola-Palale was the ideal finisher in close support to take the ball and score.
“There were definite positives and our bounce-backs were good because the Waratahs scored first in every game,” co-coach Mari Belessis said.
“Our eyes-up vision in attack was quite good and we made some corrections in structure through the day.
“It was our first time together in the series. We can take a lot of things into this next week to work on.”
The Next Gen 7s series continues at Toowoomba’s Clive Berghofer Stadium on Saturday with four more games between Queensland and NSW plus a Darling Downs Girls Sevens comp.
