2025 QLD Schoolgirls Cup live stream: Holy Spirit College v St Margaret Mary’s College, Round 1
Ignatius Park College maintained its perfect start to the Payne Cup on Thursday, heaping further pain on Holy Cross. Watch the REPLAY.
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Ignatius Park College was far too strong for Holy Spirit, scoring 11 unanswered tries in a 62-0 demolition.
Playing on home turf at their school field in Townsville, Iggy Park earnt the right to spread the ball after a tough first half where the visitors fought valiantly to keep it to 24-0 at the break.
But two tries from dummy half Cooper Reinders in the minutes after halftime set the tone for the whitewash.
Ryan Fletcher opened the scoring early with a simple crash ball and things didn’t get easier for Holy Spirit as the home team piled on the points.
A late offload from Chase Sheppard to Solomon Terare allowed the tough centre to score in the right corner. Terare returned the favour just two minutes later with a sweet chip-kick back on the inside to his halfback.
Fullback Tamiana Fatiaki scored a great individual try from a kick return in the dying stages of the first half to give Ignatius Park a 24-0 lead at the break.
Cooper Reinders burrowed over from dummy half two minutes into the second half before bagging his second try minutes later, opening the floodgates for what would end up as a second consecutive thumping for the Holy Spirit boys.
Ignatius Park was able to rotate its squad with a number of fresh players getting a run, including talented cross-code rugby union talent Indygo Keir, who came on and slotted four goals.
Holy Spirit face an even tougher assignment next week when they take on reigning champions Kirwan, while Ignatius Park has a bye.
IGNATIUS PARK: 62 (Ryan Fletcher, Solomon Terare (2), Chase Sheppard, Tamiana Fatiaki, Cooper Reinders (2), Hayden Griffin, Kye Connell, Byron Piggott, Noah Solomon tries; Chase Sheppard (6), Indygo Keir (4) goals)
HOLY SPIRIT: 0
REPLAY
St Margaret Mary’s College finished ahead 14-12 on the scoreboard but Holy Spirit was awarded the points in Thursday’s NQ Schoolgirls Cup game after the Townsville school had to forfeit just before the match.
Due to “player unavailabilities” the team failed to provide an “eligible line-up” for the contest, meaning the result will officially be recorded as a 40-0 win for Holy Spirit College.
The NRL said it allowed the match to proceed “in the interests of the wider development of both schools girls rugby league programs”.
The seesawing battle was soured by a brutal hair-pull late in the second half which saw St Margaret Mary’s middle forward Taylar Viero sent to the sin bin, opening the door for Holy Spirit to take the lead – which they ultimately couldn’t hold onto.
St Margaret Mary’s College struck early when fullback Narzaliah Doolah crossed just two minutes into the contest.
The home side bravely kept the ball in their hands on the final play and caught Holy Spirit napping with a spread to the left, opening just enough space for Doolah to slip between two defenders and score.
Captain and hooker Olivia Fletcher toyed with the markers, double-pumping a feigned pass and reaching out as she was tackled to slam the ball down over the try-line.
Holy Spirit hit back just before halftime when fullback Abby Callander kicked for backrower Tahlia Tindall. Tindall had plenty of work still to do, but powered to the line, dragging defenders with her as she crashed over.
Neither team could score for almost 20 minutes until Holy Spirit were revved up by a brutal hair-pull on their captain and hooker Jade Geiger.
The No. 9 darted out from dummy half and was pulled down from behind by the ponytail, resulting in a sin bin to Viero.
Holy Spirit scored on the next play, when Kiah Apps took a mighty charge from long range and burst through the defenders to score.
But St Margaret Mary’s got the last laugh as Doolah scored her second try of the game in the dying stages to give her team an unlikely late lead with a full-field effort from a 20m restart.
ST MARGARET MARY’S 14 (Narzaliah Doolah (2), Olivia Fletcher tries; Sarah Dawson goal)
HOLY SPIRIT 12 (Tahlia Tindall, Kiah Apps tries; Caitlin Diepeveen (2) goals)
PREVIEW
Holy Spirit College is intent on starting the season with a bang on Thursday when the school plays its inaugural North Queensland Schoolgirls Cup match against St Margaret Mary’s College in Townsville.
The school’s first appearance in the girls’ competition marks a monumental milestone for the region after more than 12 months of preparation.
Watch Holy Spirit take on St Margaret Mary’s College LIVE and EXCLUSIVE on KommunityTV.
The match will be part of a massive live stream double header, with the Aaron Payne Cup clash between Ignatius Park College and Holy Spirit following it at 12.30pm. See the full schedule of this week’s games below.
Holy Spirit coach Richard Apps said his team’s introduction to the Schoolgirls Cup would give players from Mackay another pathway to the NRLW.
“This is our first year. We’ve never really had that strong a girls’ program at HSC so we’ve been working on that pretty heavily in the background to get it up and running,” Apps said.
“Last year was a bit of a test to see how much interest we’d get from the girls and it was pretty overwhelming how many came out of the woodwork and wanted to play.
“We played in the local comp here and then we had a couple of games against Mareeba up there in Townsville before finishing our season locally here.
“We’re in the Confraternity Shield this year as well, we’ve been accepted into that. We met all the credentials so it’s onwards and upward for the girls’ competition in Mackay and it just strengthens the whole competition.
“Predominantly we’ve had St Pat’s dominating the competition here, but it’ll be good now with HSC in the mix offering another pathway for girls in rugby league.”
Holy Spirit’s side includes six Mackay Cutters junior representatives, which Apps said had bolstered the side ahead of the competition kicking off.
“We’re shaping up really well. We’ve got some good, mobile second rowers and we’ve been strengthened up by all of our Cutters girls coming back into the squad,” Apps said.
“We’ve got a good nucleus of year 11 girls which stands us in good stead for next year, and we’ve got some strong forwards in year 12.
“We’ve got six Cutters girls in our team, which is good. We struggled a little bit without them in the team during some trials, but now they’re back in the side, their experience has strengthened us right up.”
Ignatius Park College will be determined to maintain its fine early season form in the Payne Cup clash against a Holy Spirit side smarting from a tough first round outing.
Impressive playmaker Chase Sheppard pulled all the right strings in Ignatius Park’s opening round win over Trinity Bay, and will be crucial to their success on Thursday.
Originally published as 2025 QLD Schoolgirls Cup live stream: Holy Spirit College v St Margaret Mary’s College, Round 1
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