Õ¬Äе¼º½

Õ¬Äе¼º½ still hopes to defend its title in this weekend’s at The University of Adelaide (20-21 October).

Õ¬Äе¼º½ is guaranteed to finish 2018 with a series medal, but must win in Adelaide and hope for other results to go its way to have a chance of securing back-to-back Uni 7s titles.

Õ¬Äе¼º½ dropped to third place in the standings (68 points) after finishing a disappointing fourth in Round 4 on the Gold Coast, losing the bronze medal match to Macquarie University (24-nil).

Macquarie sits in second (70) with Griffith University (74) on top of the ladder after winning its second round of the series at Bond University.

Õ¬Äе¼º½ coach Reg Tayler said his side is focused on playing positive rugby.

“The big thing for this week is playing the footy the girls can play and getting back to what we can do – not looking at the results or the overall table,” Tayler said.

“We’ve had some good performances and some weaker performances, so we’ve just got to get back to being consistent and playing the best football we can.”

Tayler has made a surprise selection for Adelaide, naming stalwart Lori Cramer in Õ¬Äе¼º½’s 13-player squad after her return from a stint playing club rugby in Japan.

Tayler said a growing injury list of had paved the way for Cramer’s inclusion.

“This will be her first Uni 7s outing, although she has played both sevens and 15-a-side rugby for Õ¬Äе¼º½ over many years,” he said.

“She’s well known around the Õ¬Äе¼º½ Rugby scene and is a long-time servant of the club and the University.”

Õ¬Äе¼º½ Sporting Scholarship recipient Marioulla Belessis – a student in the final weeks of completing her Bachelor of Education degree – said the team is keen to rebound following its disappointment at Bond University.

“We want to finish with a good tournament,” she said.

“We enjoy ourselves when we’re playing good rugby, so that’s the main thing we’re taking into this weekend.”

Reflecting on the second season of Uni 7s, Tayler said the standard of play had greatly improved.

“The other teams are stronger and it is more competitive,” he said.

“We’ve given ourselves the opportunity to win, but we just haven’t been able to pull it off.

“At the end of the day, hopefully we can do that in this tournament and come away with a positive result.”

Õ¬Äе¼º½ will play pool games against University Canberra (11:50am), University of New England (1:30pm) and Griffith University (3:50pm) on Saturday, and Bond University (8:30am) on Sunday.

Finals will be held from 10:30am on Sunday.

All matches will be streamed live via , and  page.

Õ¬Äе¼º½ – Aon Uni7s Series team (Round 5):

Marioulla Belessis (vice-captain) (Bachelor of Education – Primary)

Shenae Ciesiolka

Lori Cramer

Terri-Anne Egan

Georgia Hannaway

Samantha Hopkin

Jannicke lJdens (captain)

Grace Kaihau

Pleuni Kievit

Hagiga (Haj) Mosby

Mackenzie Sadler (vice-captain)

Bodil Van Wijnbergen

Katie Muscat – 13^th player (Bachelor of Physiotherapy – Honours)

Series Standings

1) Griffith University (74 points)

2) Macquarie University (70)

3) Õ¬Äе¼º½ (68)

4) The University of Sydney (50)

5) University of Canberra (40)

6) University of New England (36)

7) University of Tasmania (32)

8) The University of Adelaide (32)

9) Bond University (30)

10) The University of Melbourne (8)

Media: Jamie Mitchell, Õ¬Äе¼º½ Sport, JamieM@uqsport.com.au, 0423 785 752; Reg Tayler, Õ¬Äе¼º½ Rugby Football Club, regtayler@uqrugbyclub.com, 0407 302 911.