Local Rugby Stars Make NQ

For both Year 6 St Catherine’s Catholic College boys, rugby union is in their blood, and making the North Queensland team for rugby union is a dream come true.

Jamar Tabua has been playing rugby, both league and union, since he was 10-years-old, following in the footsteps of his dad.

“My dad just signed me up because he played footy and wanted me to play footy,” Jamar said.

“And I just turned out to be gunfire!”

Cooper Robinson has been playing the sport since he was six, with both his parents avid fans of the sport.

“My dad says, ‘play your own game, don’t worry about anyone else’,” Cooper said.

The boys have been playing together for years, with Cooper getting Jamar into the game initially.

“I started when I was 10,” Jamar said.

“Because he got me into it. We played this carnival together and I was a gun. I got the MVP of the game.”

Both boys have aspirations of making it big in the sport and playing professionally.

Cooper has the short-term goal of making the Far North Queensland Rugby team when he is 14, and Jamar is looking into his future, hoping to make it into the Junior Cowboys.

“I’m going to play my hardest at Ipswich and look out for scouts,” Jamar said.

The boys, with three other boys from St Catherine’s, travelled to Townsville to compete in the trials.

Of the 80 boys at the Townsville NQ trials, Jamar and Cooper are two of 23 who made the team, and will travel to Ipswich later in the year, to compete in the state trials.

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Cooper Robinson and Jamar Tabua qualify for North Queensland Rugby Union. Photo credit: Bronte Hodge