by Shane Branch - Port Douglas Rugby

Like the morning of any sporting tournament you wake up, look out the window, and get a feel for how your day is going to start. Yes it was going to be a hectic morning.

The rain we haven’t seen all summer was here and it was in abundance - in fact we couldn’t see the scoreboard at the Port Douglas Sports Complex from 70 metres away!

The organisers of the Port Douglas Rugby Sevens competition met early, having to make the decision to abandon use of the second field as the Port Douglas Muddies had a cricket semi-final scheduled for the following day.

The rain dissipated and the day moved on as intended.



Three rounds of fast and skilful rugby was on display for a large crowd of players and supporters moving towards the cup final as the sun was setting.

Last year’s champion, Southside, showed their intent to give the title defence a serious nudge defeating JCU 31-0 in the first fixture of the day.

Blackwater defeated the Cairn’s Thunder 15-0 and visiting international team PNG showed the class that had everyone’s attention in their first game, defeating the Innisfail Vikings 22–0. Our own Port Douglas Reef Raiders kicked of the day with a 17–5 win over the second Innisfail side.



The day progressed with the cream rising to the top. In the second round PNG, Brothers Barbarians, Port, Wanderers and Cairns Peninsula Sports maintained their winning ways and the picture of the finals started to reveal itself.

With the culmination of the third and final round, only two teams remained undefeated - PNG and Cairns Peninsula Sports. The PNG side was the standout, and with a points' differential of +80 they confirmed their favouritism for the event.

They were improving each round and in this last round the Raiders were outclassed 41-5 by a now rampant PNG who seem to grow in pace with each game.



The top eight were now set to play off in the plate and cup semi-finals. In the plate, Port and Innisfail were eliminated leaving Southside and Blackwater to play off for the honours.

Last year’s champions prevailed over the visitors who had travelled by bus overnight from Blackwater (that’s 180 km west of Rockhampton) 32 – 10. Blackwater were a very classy outfit so congratulations to Southside on their win.

So to the big one. Three Cairns sides and PNG played their respective semi-finals for the right to play off in the cup final. PNG put an end to Wanderers' day with an impressive 41–12 win which showed what the Brothers Barbarians faced after defeating Cairns Peninsula Sports 12–5.

The final was, as you'd expect, and end to end affair eventually won by PNG 15-5. Having scored 95 points in the rounds and 41 in the semi-final, a total for the day after the final of 151 points conceding only 32 points highlighted the all-round class of our visitors from PNG.

PNG took the $2,000 first prize with Brothers barbarians the $500 second prize. The Kenya Constructions $500 charity prize also went to Brothers Barbarians.

See full results here

It was a great day and very successful for the future of the event. Port Douglas Rugby INC would like to thank our many sponsors:

Major Sponsor
QT Port Douglas, Rattle and Hum, Sheraton Mirage Port Douglas Resort, Quicksilver, Kenmac Constructions, MPPT.

Accommodation Partners
Hibiscus Resort and Spa, Lychee Tree, Rattle and Hum, Parrotfish Lodge.

Event Sponsors
Malones Butcher’s, Uptown Rentals and Party Hire, Hibiscus Resort and Spa, Matai Sports.

Whilst the tournament has come from humble beginnings it has grown substantially each year and it is our intention to grow it to become the significant Rugby event in the North of Queensland.