Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³» of Queensland has named a squad of 24 players to defend its Aon Uni 7s Series title.
The second instalment of the series, which starts in August, has expanded to five rounds and 10 teams, with Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³» of Sydney and Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³» of Melbourne joining the competition.
Team Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»’s squad features six Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³» students, including Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³» Sports Achievement Scholarship recipients Marioulla Belessis and Meg Gemmell.
Fifteen new players have joined the team, which also includes Holland internationals Jannicke lJdens, Bodil van Wijnbergen and Plevni Kievit.
Bachelor of Education (Primary) student Marioulla Belessis said the team expects fierce competition as it defends its Uni 7s title.
“The Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³» girls last year did a really good job.
“They won every tournament and obviously that is our main goal again to try and back that up,” Belessis said.
“A couple of new teams have come into the competition this year and I think that’s really good.
“They will definitely provide a big challenge for us as will all the other teams that are coming back.”
An additional eight-player development squad, featuring three Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³» students, will train alongside the main squad and compete at selected domestic 7s tournaments.
Coaching, training and player development will be overseen by the and .
Team Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³» coach Reg Tayler said it was crucial to build playing depth amongst the squad.
“We’re getting a lot of students engage with the program and come and trial with the team, and they might not feature this year, but definitely it’s a two-year project,” Tayler said.
“We want this program to be successful for a long time, and we’ve got to think about that every year.
“At the same time we are focusing on this 2018 season and making sure that we can put our best foot forward and hopefully repeat what we did last year.”
Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³» will again host Round 3 of the competition at the from 22-23 September.
Every match of the Aon Uni 7s Series will be broadcast live via .
from on .
2018 Aon Uni 7s Series – Team Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³» Squad
Annie Arnott (Master of Environmental Management)
Marioulla Belessis (Bachelor of Education – Primary)
Taylor Burke
Arnika Cave
Shenae Ciesiolka
Phoebe Cuskelly (Bachelor of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences)
Terri-Anne Egan
Erica Fowler (Bachelor of Exercise and Sport Sciences – Honours)
Tash Flynn
Meg Gemmell (Bachelor of Engineering – Honours)
Georgia Hannaway
Sam Hopkin
Grace Kaihau
Plevni Kievit
Lucy Lockhart
Haj Mosby
Kate Muscat (Bachelor of Physiotherapy – Honours)
Kobe Nona
Mackenzie Sadler
Morgan Te Oka
Bodil Van Wijnbergen
Sarafina Vosuqa
Rachel Walsh
Development Squad
Lisa Burgess
Paige Edwards
Melita Hicks
Gemma Huck
Hannah Jakins (Bachelor of Agribusiness)
Tess Littleton (Bachelor of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences)
Miranda Scroope (Bachelor of Arts)
Grace Studwick
2018 Aon Uni 7s Series – Fixtures
Round 1 – University of Tasmania, Hobart (August 25-26)
Round 2 – University of Canberra, Canberra (September 8-9)
Round 3 – Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³» of Queensland, Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³» Sport Athletics Centre (September 22-23)
Round 4 – Bond University, Gold Coast (October 6-7)
Round 5 – Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³» of Adelaide, Adelaide (October 20-21)
2018 Aon Uni 7s Series – Teams
Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³» of Queensland, QLD
Griffith University, QLD
Bond University, QLD
University of New England, NSW
Macquarie University, NSW
Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³» of Sydney, NSW
Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³» of Melbourne, VIC
University of Canberra, ACT
Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³» of Adelaide, SA
University of Tasmania, TAS
Media: Jamie Mitchell, Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³» Sport, JamieM@uqsport.com.au, 0423 785 752; Reg Tayler, Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³» Rugby Football Club, regtayler@uqrugbyclub.com, 0407 302 911.