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X-Rats stun Uprising at Byron

Monday 19 October 2009 (UR7s & Northern Star)

Southern Cross University alumni, the X-Rats, managed to take down Fiji's Uprising Beach Resort 38-21 in the final of the Byron Sevens at the weekend.

In front of a large SCU contingent on sidelines, they added the men's saucer title to the main cup title, capping off a hugely successful weekend reunion.

The Uprising Beach Resort side did make the star-studded X-Rats work for the $4500 prize money, scoring the first try of the match and then locking it up at 14-all at half-time.

But with the benefit of a cooling breeze in the second half, the X-Rats simply ran the Fijians ragged, with two quick tries after the break, breaking the back of the Pacific Islanders.

X-Rats captain Willie Bishop, a star of the Australian Sevens team on the IRB circuit, was one of their leading lights over the weekend.

“It is the first Byron Bay Sevens tournament for a few of our boys but we have come together over the past few days,” he said.

“The boys have played sevens before, obviously, but it is good to come together in three or four days and get this result.”

Bishop, who also played for Samurai International at the Middlesex Sevens, was not surprised by the quality of the Uprising Beach Resort, who were the 2008 Byron Bay Sevens champions, and have performed well in various overseas tournaments in the past year.

“Any Fijian side is tough to beat. They are always top three or four on the IRB circuit.”

“We knew that we had 10 minutes in that second half to come back and with the talent in the side we always backed ourselves and we were lucky to come away with the win.”

Bishop, who plays for the Warringah Rats in Sydney, said his elevation to the captaincy was a bit of a lottery.

“A few of the boys got offered the leadership role but I was glad I got the job and it was an honour really,” he said.

“I've played on the IRB circuit with the Australian side for the past two years and I've been lucky enough to see the world and play some sevens, it is amazing.”

Meanwhile, the Brisbane-based Eastsyde beat the Papua New Guinea Defence Force team 36-0 in the final of the women's competition.

Although the scoreline was lopsided it was a feisty encounter with the PNG players getting hammered by the Kiwi-dominated Brisbanites, and vice versa.

“We knew they were going to be physical, and it definitely was, as you can see by my nose,” said Eastsyde captain Moana Virtue.

“It was a good game, they fought hard, but I'm just stoked for the girls; we have slowly built for this.

“It is good to see some teams running around having a good time.”

It was the second successive year Eastsyde has won the tournament and it provided the ideal preparation for the sevens season ahead which includes the Queensland titles.

“We will stay together now because the tournaments that we have coming up are going to be even tougher than this,” she said.

In other results, Brisbane Fiji just scraped past Sunnybank 29-26 in the men's plate final; Decepticons beat Eltham 21-5 in the Pool C men's cup final; and the Nerang Bulls proved too strong for Napier Pirates 32-21 in the Pool B women's final.

 

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