ACT Brumbies Juniors has swept all before them to complete a "special" transformation from also-rans to NSW Junior Rugby champions.
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The boys from the nation's capital beat Warringah Rats 19-5 in the under 13 state cup final at a cold and windy Pride Park on Monday, June 10.
The teams were evenly matched with the majority of the game fought in the middle of the park but two tearaway Brumbies tries as the first half wore on settled the clash.
Captain and flanker Will Patterson said he was delighted with how his team managed to hold their structure regardless of what opposing teams threw at them.
"It wasn't too bad in the oval but it's cold now," he said through chattering teeth.
"It was a great win, we had lots of training and it's great to deliver that level of footy.
"Definitely our structure, we worked a lot on our structure and definitely we executed it well.
"Just played to our structure and came out with the win."
The ACT was on fire from the get-go, running up massive scores against their country opponents.
They beat Central North 59-0, Central Coast 51-5, Mid-North Coast 66-0 and Illawarra 73-0.
They then defeated Southern Districts 50-7 and Randwick 33-0 to progress to the final.
Coach James Stevens said the group had grown so much in the past 12 months, having finished seventh in the 2023 under 12s carnival.
"It's huge. Just a really good weekend of rugby," he said.
"I think there's been some really high skills and just a really high standard of rugby played across the weekend and the boys have put a lot of work in over the last couple of months and it's just nice to have the reward.
"I think we finished seventh last year so to go all the way this weekend is pretty special. It's a pretty special group.
"I think the main thing was it was a whole of squad effort, one through 24, everyone did their job.
"It didn't matter if someone got injured, everyone did their job and made a contribution."
