Double celebration put on ice despite spirited late charges

The hoped for double celebration will have to wait at least another year after both Ipswich State High’s teams were bundled out of the semi-finals. See what was needed to make grand finals.

The Ipswich State High School Langer Reserves team that finished first in this year’s competition before gaining valuable experience in their semi-final loss.

The hoped for double celebration will have to wait at least another year after both Ipswich State High’s teams were bundled out of this year’s NRL Schoolboys rugby league semi-finals.

As head coach Josh Bretherton accurately reflected: “In both games, we weren’t good enough. We made too many errors in the first half and wear the consequences of that and learn from it’’.

However, that is not to say the school’s Langer Reserves and Walters Cup (year 10) sides were without plenty of commitment.

Both Ipswich teams were still pressing to level the scores in the final minutes playing on adjacent fields at Wynnum.

The Langer Reserves finally went down 30-18 after Wavell scored a final minute runaway try with Ipswich threatening a late rally.

That was a spirited fightback after Ipswich trailed 24-6 at halftime.

Ipswich’s try scorers were Saifu Savage, Jacobi Shaw and Anton Naiyep.

When winger Naiyep finished a terrific team try, Ipswich were back within six points of Wavell before they produced some magic against the run of play.

The Ipswich Walters Cup boys also made a last-gasp surge before going down 16-10 to Keebra Park.

They were only behind 8-6 at the break.

In South East Queensland’s premier schoolboy competition, the focus is on doing the little things right for extended periods, especially in big games.

“The effort probably wasn’t there in the first game,’’ the head coach said.

“We were a little bit too sloppy around the play the ball.

“Once they got control in the second half, they were able to play some much better football.’’

While disappointed both sides were unable to advance to grand finals, Bretherton said his students had plenty to reflect on.

A major positive was the Langer Reserves combination finishing top of the table in the qualifying rounds.

“We put together a really excellent season. First past the post is something they should be proud of,’’ Bretherton said.

It was only Wavell - Wednesday afternoon’s victors - that had beaten Ipswich by two points in an early clash.

Wavell will play Marsden in the grand final after defeating Keebra Park 28-16.

In the Walters Cup semi, fourth-placed Ipswich had enough chances to complete an upset over Keebra Park.

However, a slow start proved decisive.

Keebra will play Palm Beach Currumbin in the grand final after PBC came from 6-0 down at halftime to beat Wavell in the first Walters Cup semi-final.

As the Ipswich State High entourage boarded the bus for the trip home from Wynnum, Bretherton praised the work of his support staff, including coaches Jonathan Dore (Langer Reserves) and Shane Harris (Walters Cup).

“Jono has done a fantastic job in the last few years with the Reserve Grade boys,’’ he said.

“His main job - and he’ll tell you this - is to help boys come through our system and became first graders.

“The last three years we’ve had constant boys getting promotion from Reserve Grade into first grade, which is really exciting and he’s done a fantastic job preparing them for that.

“On top of that, the bonus is we’ve won a whole lot of football games in the last few games as well.’’

Bretherton said Harris remained a dependable ally.

“We’ve had some ups and downs in our junior program over the years and he’s ridden them all out,’’ Bretherton said.

“He has been working very, very hard to make sure that his team is successful this year and all the hard work paid off. He got them to that final spot and pushed the opposition right to the edge.’’

The next collective Ipswich State High mission - after this year’s break and reflection - is how many students can progress up the ranks in 2022.

Bretherton hopes the latest finals experience in all three senior grades ensures the returning footballers represent Ipswich with even more hunger next year.

“For most of these kids, it was probably a brand new taste of finals football at this level,’’ he said.

“Once you’re in those semis, it proves you’ve done a good job week-to-week and in knockout footy, anything can happen.

“We’ll take some lessons from it but if I’m looking at all groups (from Broncos Cup into the NRL Schoolboys series), I’m super proud of them.’’