Brothers Heath and Darby Lancaster showcased their talents at the National Rugby Sevens Championships held in Brisbane on the weekend.
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17-year-old Heath represented the NSW 2s Under-17s side while 15-year-old Darby was brought into the Northern Territory Under-17s side on late notice as they were short in numbers and knew the young outside back had plenty of talent.
Heath, who plays as a five-eighth in the 15-man game, helped lead the NSW 2s to semi-final berth.
Heath was one of only three kids from the country to be selected into the 24-man NSW squad.
The NSW 2s side earned wins against the Northern Territory and the ACT to advance through to the quarterfinals.
The NSW 2s faced off with the ACT team in the knockout round and Heath’s side produced their best performance of the tournament in a rout of the ACT side.
They advanced to face off with the Queensland 1s side, a team they suffered a narrow loss to in the pool stage, and took an early 12-0 lead in the match.
However, the NSW 2s weren’t able to hold on for victory as Qld scored their second try of the match on the buzzer and converted to advance to the final.
The NSW 1s were by far the most talented team in their age group and they won the final 45-0.
Meanwhile Darby played well for Northern Territory and held his own against players two-years his senior.
The Kempsey Cannonballs juniors gained plenty of knowledge at the championships.
“The sevens structure makes for a totally different game to the 15-man game and both boys are backs and had plenty of space to roam and make an impact,” Father James Lancaster said.
“Heath enjoyed the professionalism that came with being involved in the NSW side.
“There was quite a lot of hard work that went into preparing for the championships, we travelled to Sydney every weekend for seven weeks for training.”
The two brothers, who have a long list of representative honours, are hoping to continue their path towards a potential professional career.
“They are both keen to push on and expand on their development,” James said.
“They have competed at the highest level and they know they are up to it, they will continue to push for selections into representative teams.”
Heath will travel to Sydney this weekend as he has been picked for the Waratahs Gen Blue Under-18s squad.
Heath will spend time meeting current Waratahs players and receive high level coaching as part of the development program which continues until April next year.
Heath recently finished his first season of wearing the number 10 for the Cannonballs first grade side. The junior excelled despite playing against senior players.
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