Brumbies under-17s coach Paul Simonsson has backed some of his star players to rise through the ranks to earn Australian representative honours after their drought-breaking national title triumph on Sunday.
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The ACT side won Canberra's first junior rugby union national title in almost a decade when five-eighth Mack Hansen booted a 45-metre penalty with four minutes left to lift them to a 17-15 win against Western Australia in Perth.
The Gold Cup win was the biggest prize for Canberra's junior rugby ranks since the early 2000s and Simonsson has no doubt a host of the players can take the next step in their careers.
Sixteen-year-old hooker Lachlan Lonergan was named man of the match despite being one of the youngest players on the field.
"I don't want to be a mocker on any of the boys, but I've got every confidence they will knock on the door of Australian schoolboys selection this year and next year," Simonsson said.
"It's a real blessing for the Brumbies going forward that a few of these boys can play their way into junior sides and then into Super Rugby down the track.
"Lachie is one of them. It goes without saying he's an absolutely outstanding kid and so is his brother [halfback Ryan Lonergan]. I think four or five of the boys will easily push for ACT schoolboys side and then higher, even though they're young."
The junior Brumbies, who have been training since October, had to win seven games to lift the trophy in a 24-team knockout competition.
Both the ACT and Western Australia scored two tries each, but Hansen's penalty with time running out proved the difference in a tense battle.
The ACT under-15 team almost made it a perfect trip west, but fell at the final hurdle to lose 29-22 to Western Australia.
There was more good news for Canberra junior rugby on Monday, when duo Connal McInerney and Tyrell Lomax, the son of former Canberra Raider John Lomax, were named in the Australian under-20s squad.
"We're not drawing a very big pool of players in Canberra so often you're trying to find players to fill gaps," Simonsson said.
"But it was a headache to pick these boys, which was a good position to be in, and the last game was the hardest game by far."
The Brumbies under-17s coaches have also converted former junior Raiders prop Sam Dobb into a rugby front-rower.
The 100-kilogram teenager has touted as a future NRL player and won the Australian under-18 judo title less than a year ago.
He trialled as an inside centre before coaches got together to use his size as a prop to hold up the scrum.
"We took Sam Dobb and he'd never played front row ... and the forwards did a wonderful job of teaching him the art," Simonsson said.
"He played really well for us and made a huge impact. He was running around at inside centre, but we just looked at him and told him he was front-row material because of his size and strength."
JUNIOR GOLD CUP
Under-17s: Brumbies 17 bt Western Australia 15
Under-15s: Western Australia 29 bt Brumbies 22
