Obst & McTaggart selected in Aussie Youth 7s Teams

​Rising Rugby stars Claudia Obst and Matt McTaggart will leave for New Zealand today to compete on the world stage.

Obst and McTaggart were both selected in the Australian under 18 boys and girls teams after standout performances at last weekend’s National Youth Sevens Championships in Perth.

The Wagga duo will compete in the World School Sevens Tournament at Auckland’s Sacred Heart College.

The Australian youth boys team will go up against New Zealand, Samoa, NZ Fijians, Cook Islands and NZ Barbarians, while the youth girls will play New Zealand Condors, New Zealand Wasps and Samoa. ........

The New Zealand trip will also include practice matches at Rifles Rugby Club, and will offer Australia’s stars of the future a chance to impress coaches before next year's Commonwealth Youth Games in the Bahamas.

Obst is a student at The Riverina Anglican College (TRAC), while McTaggart is from Wagga and has just completed his schooling in Sydney.

Australian Rugby Union pathway services manager of rugby sevens, Dale Roberson, believes the pair  will get a great deal out of the trip.

“We were really impressed with the standard of competition at the recent National Youth Sevens Championships in Perth, and the boys and girls selected for this tour should be immensely proud of their achievements already,” Roberson said.

“We are going away with a plan to expose younger players to international competition. This tournament will be an important milestone for many of them as they work towards representing Australia at the Youth Commonwealth Games, Youth Olympics and then potentially progressing to higher honours with the national teams.”