Overseas Lions beat Hong Kong Dragons in U19 Boys clash at NYD Youth Tournament

Junior boys and girls are declared the winners after spectacular day of age-grade 15s unveils more stars of tomorrow

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Hong Kong Dragons’ Zak Baldwin (left, in red) goes in to tackle Sam Walsh of the Overseas Lions during Friday's U19 Boys match in the New Year's Day Youth Tournament. Photo: KY Cheng/SCMP

Published: 11:45pm, 1 Jan 2016Updated: 10:21pm, 3 Jan 2016

The Hong Kong Dragons breathed fire but it wasn’t enough to beat the Overseas Lions in the U19 Boys age-grade finale at the HKRU’s 2016 New Year’s Day Youth Tournament sponsored by Prudential at Hong Kong Football Club on Friday.

Both teams played extremely well. We showed great strength in the last few minutes

Matt Worley, Overseas Lions captain

The overseas 15 triumphed 28-22 with captain Matt Worley saying it was a tough match as his scratch side had only four training sessions before of the tournament kicked off.

“Both teams played extremely well. We showed great strength in the last few minutes. Great perseverance and luckily we won the game,” said Worley.

Gracie Hood (left) – best-and-fairest in the U19 Girls category – gets airborne for Hong Kong Dragons against Overseas Lions. Photo: HKRU

Mark Coebergh shows off the Larry Abel Trophy after he is named the tournament's overall best-and-fairest player. Photo: HKRU

Despite the defeat, Dragons scrum-half Mark Coebergh received the Larry Abel Trophy for overall best-and-fairest player.

The 17-year-old was excited to see his name carved into the much-coveted cup which bears an inscription identifying Coebergh's favourite Hong Kong player – former NYD Youth Tournament best and fairest stand-out Keith Robertson.

Coebergh and Worley were both in Singapore last week as part of the Hong Kong U19s who became Asian champions for a third straight year and qualified for the next World Rugby Under 20 Trophy in Zimbabwe from 19 April to 1 May 2016.

In the U19 Girls age-grade division on Friday, the Hong Kong Dragons won the Lassies Qaich by beating the Overseas Lions 19-10 as stand-out Gracie Hood of the Dragons took best-and-fairest honours (full results below).