Dragons SG Ball finalists

The U19 boys will now have two weeks off before playing the winner of one of the winning teams from April 13's first week of finals - where the bottom four from the top six play off to face the top two.

Coach Willie Talau said in the pre season that "our season's goal is that we play semis".

With that goal sorted it's now onto finals glory for the young team.

The Dragons SG Ball squad left New Zealand having pulled off a two comprehensive over 50 point victories in a row to cap off an outstanding regular season.

Coming into the Warriors game, Willie Talau's men required a 35-point win to leapfrog the Knights on the competition ladder and secure a top-two finish. Two tries in the final four minutes saw them reach the magical mark and earn them a rest come the opening round of the postseason in a week's time.

A quick opening saw the hosts cross first before skipper Shadi Hammoud found his way over to answer for the Red V.

No.1 Tyler Peckham-Harris sped his way over to give the visitors an early lead only for Warriors prop Francis Tuimauga to power his way over the line but Peckham-Harris grabbed his second try just shy of the break to put the Dragons up by a half-dozen.

The Warriors grabbed a second to kick-off the second half and tie proceedings at 18. From that point on, however, it was all the Dragons with Talau's squad pouring on six tries in the final 29 minutes - including four in 12 minutes - to run away with a major victory.

Angus Clark sparked the scoring before halfback Brandon Tikinau backed up his effort minutes later, Jacob Halangahu joined the action with a try in the 49th minute before nabbing a second moments later to extend the Dragons lead to 24.

With the seconds ticking away, hooker Isaiah Fagalilo nudged his way over to keep the Red V's top-two hopes alive. Then Jesse Williams with his 15th try of the season in the final minute capped off a memorable win and sent the Dragons into the postseason in style.

With Willie Talau at the helm, the Dragons under-19s unit have built on their 2023 campaign and Talau believed that 2024 would be a big one for his side after having learnt a lot over the course of last year and through the preseason.

"I believe this is the most balanced junior reps side I've ever been involved with and that's a massive credit to Ian Millward and Kyle Stanley," Talau said. "This group is benefitting from the foundations established by our 2023 playing group."