J7 Black was nothing short of a team of little All Blacks with parental support rivalling the Beige Brigade.

We started the season focusing on our defence which paid us back throughout the year giving us many turnovers and an advantage in the game.

In the backs, we had the speed and brilliance of Noah ‘Ben Smith’ Williams with offence, defence and vision on the field.

On our wing we had the runner Fletcher, ‘Cory Jane’ Ryan with a fleet of foot.

Ethan ‘Aaron Smith’ Chapman confounded the opposition with his fast tricky feet.

Bianca, ‘Conrad Smith’ Adelinger- Smith was a sneaky lynchpin in defence and offence, the pivot of our cunning moves, taking rips and finding gaps to the try line.

Cade ‘Dan Carter’ Ravenhall, the clam man with the ball and quick on the pass.

Finally, Hunter ‘Beauden Barrett’ Robertson, the workhorse of the rip and deceptive on the run.

In the forwards we had Luca, ‘Brad Thorne’ South - an intimidating powerhouse of a runner and devastating ripper if you were a fool to get too close to him.

Our Dlyz and Dyls combo of William ‘Sam Whitelock’ Morrison and William ‘Luke Whitelock’ McIntyre teamed together to chase rips and cause havoc.

Carlos ‘Dane Coles’ Matthews, the surpriser.  Running left, running right, and running straight.  Leaving our opponents wondering where he went.

And Henry ‘Jerome Kano’ Jago, our solid runner, hit up man and an all-round great guy.

The J7 Black team were a team of players and supporters. Great to coach but I am not looking forward to being used as a tackle bag next year.