Sunshine Coast Secondary Schools rugby union highlights from grand finals at Bokarina

Grammar’s dominant dynasty and special recognition for a union stalwart were just some of the highlights from an epic afternoon of schoolboy rugby finals.

A dominant dynasty and an esteemed honour for a union stalwart were just some of the major talking points to come out of another epic year of schoolboy rugby finals.

A total of eight Sunshine Coast Secondary Schools rugby union deciders were played at Bokarina on Wednesday.

Students hit the field in teams from U13 to U18 age groups.

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The Daily was on hand for the finals extravaganza.

Here are some of the day's highlights.

Grammar dominance

Sunshine Coast Grammar's stranglehold on the school rugby competition continued with an impressive cohort of students in action.

The school fielded teams in five of the eight grand finals, winning four of them.

Grammar took out the U14 division one, U16 division one, U18 second XV and U18 first XV titles.

The first XV title was particularly special, with Grammar claiming their fourth straight and 10th overall title to be the most successful school in the competition's 33-year history.

Grammar mentor Nigel Grevett said it was "unreal" to see the school maintain their dominance in the first XV division.

"We've been working hard to build a program and we're so proud of the boys efforts across the whole academy," he said.

"I think we've built something really special and the boys have bought into it and they should be extremely proud of their efforts from throughout the whole season."

 

Creek talent

One of the more surprising and boisterous matches of the night was the battle between Mountain Creek and St Teresa's Catholic College.

Despite entering for "fun" and boasting barely any actual union players, Mountain Creek charged towards a strong 35-17 win.

The team was mostly comprised of rugby league players.

Coach Stuart Currington was proud of how his charges thrived in the new code.

"The boy's hit me up at the start of the year and said we want to play as much sport as we can this year for our final year of school and I was hoping to get one or two wins but then we ended up winning the whole thing," he said.

"They don't know the game very well, they're all rugby league players, but the (ball) skills they have and aggression in defence sort of won it for us."

The Creek students boasted one of the more lively support crews, with fans and players vocal throughout.

 

Good Samaritan's big season

One of the newcomers to the school rugby competition this year was Good Samaritan College.

The Bli Bli school, which opened in 2019, progressed all the way to the U13 Ryan Constable Cup grand final.

Despite their best efforts, Good Samaritan fell to Siena in the decider 27-14.

Coach's praised the students efforts, with many having never played union before.

While not new to the competition, Mountain Creek also made a return to the first XV competition following several years away.

 

Life membership

One of the more special off-field moments of the day came with the presentation of life membership for Steve Chapman into the Sunshine Coast Secondary Schools Rugby.

Chapman was awarded the honour at halftime of the division one first XV match between Grammar and Flinders.

He earned the honour after a rich history of involvement at all levels of rugby.

He was the initial coach at St Teresa's Catholic College and finished up in 2016 as the head of rugby at Meridan State College in 2016.

During that time he was a dedicated volunteer on the school rugby scene locally and at representative levels.

He's also been heavily involved with the Noosa Dolphins over the years as a coach and committee member.

Away from school Chapman had also embraced the role of president of the Sunshine Coast Rugby Union's junior division.

He became only the seventh person to receive the life membership award in the 33 year history of the coast school rugby.

"It was absolutely fantastic," he said.

"You don't do jobs like that to get awards like that you do it because you like it and rugby is something that I love."

He wasn't surprised by how popular the school rugby scene had become over the years.

"We always had high hopes and it wouldn't have gotten this big without the stadium and something like that," he said.

"It's just gone bigger and better than ever and rugby is very strong on the coast here."

Huge support

Regardless of age division, the rugby deciders garnered plenty of boisterous support on Wednesday revealing just how popular the code is at school level.

Parents, teachers, students and friends were all cheering loudly with even school mascots among the action.

The first XV deciders were especially well supported, with crowds filing into the stadium and hills surrounding the field.

Such was the game's popularity that human tunnels formed for players to run through prior to kick off and stretched almost to the other side of the field for both teams.

It was clear that not just silverware was on the line but bragging rights and school pride too.

 

Originally published as 5 things we learned about school rugby finals