AIC First XV schoolboy rugby union round 1 match reports
The AIC First XV rugby opening round has featured an epic between Villanova College and Marist College Ashgrove, along with a northside derby and a battle of the west. See how the results panned out.
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Villanova College scraped their tags across the Andrew Slack Oval to mark their territory during a 19-15 round 1 epic against Marist College Ashgrove.
With a hard hitting, at times brutal defensive line at one end of the field, and precision forward play at the other, Villa mixed a potent first half cocktail that had the squad leading 19-nil during the first half.
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But Ashgrove won the possession battle in the return bout, winning the second half 12-nil before coming up marginally short of victory.
The full-time whistle sparked scenes of wild celebrations by the Villa faithful and players.
Indeed the scenes were a backhanded compliment to the Marist XV who ran their rivals close after Villa looked set to runaway with the match.
In other matches St Edmund’s College beat a young, enterprising St Peters 23-12, while St Laurence’s had a strong win over Iona College.
But at Andrew Slack Oval, it could not have been a better pipe opener to the season.
Villa started like a house on fire, with ferocious defence repelling an amped up Marist who were having a crack, don’t worry.
Then with red zone attacking ball, the Villa forwards engineered control before halfback Ben Addley released ball to his back division.
Five eight Larry Clark both ran with purpose and passed with precision while No. 8 Jackson Moloney was mighty with and without the ball.
“We have done a lot of work on our shape, no matter where we are on the field,” said Villa coach Eddie Harris.
“The boys started off extremely well and the work we did on our defence covering the inside man was apparent early.
“It was good to see some big hits in schoolboy footy. And then we used our width. We have a fantastic backline.’’
Harris said his defence held them together after Ashgrove “kept coming’’. “We were lucky to hold them out in the end,’’ Harris said.
Ashgrove coach Richard Graham said he felt his side were a bit awe struck to start and having put his team under pressure, Villanova took their opportunities.
“In the second half, we started to move the ball and play the way we wanted to and I thought we created a number of opportunities.
“But unfortunately we did not capitalize on a number of those opportunities.
“I don’t think there is a team that will go through this competition undefeated and the key for us is how well we rebound next week.’’
Coach Eddie Harris could not have asked for a better opening effort from his side.
But back Ashgrove came. Even without fullback Tom Howard who retired from the game at halftime (back), Ashgrove threatened to pull off a stunning upset.
Winger Jude Knapp was a mini sensation on the wing, and Ash pushed hard toward the winners post before they ran out of time.
Villa opened the scoring with a rolling maul try for prop Riki Taylor after a clean catch from his lock Callum Lamb.
Then another rolling maul effort – when hooker Daniel Taylor and No. 8 Jackson Moloney punched forward – laid foundations for a wide left side shift.
Villa used the width of the field, with a beautiful backs ball move ending in the hands of winger Ned Godwin who whizzed across.
Villa had been granted field position following two incursions from five eight Larry Clark whose running game was troubling Marist.
More forward domination followed, with a pick and drive attack bruising the Ashgrove line, and again there was a slither of space on the edge which Villa centre Jackson Connor took to score.
Villanova’s impregnable defence continued, including in cover defence when fullback Connor Moloney twice prevented tries on his line.
And still his last line of defence continued into the second half when winger Jude Knapp felt his full wrath.
Down 19-3 at the break Ashgrove rallied and pressed their rivals.
Time and again they asked questions and finally a crack appeared when Knapp’s pace threw replacement winger Jack Forrester a try.
Knapp comes from a family of forwards – his grandfather Bernie and his late father Marcus were stellar First XV performers in their day – but boy he was sharp on his feet and he very much looks the part.
With prop Bailey Caplick producing an exhaustive effort, and with the likes of workhorse locks, Ben Caughley and Pat Anderson working away, there was no lack of effort from the visitors.
Early on, Ashgrove flanker Riley Canavan produced a booming tackle, and then another, but somewhere in the combat injured himself and had to be assisted from the field.
Ashgrove suffered another scare when attacking trump Howard twisted his back after being collared by his opposite Connor Moloney who was trying to rip the ball off him.
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Howard later retired from the match at halftime, poor fellow, after bravely trying to battle through his discomfort.
There was anice moment for Ash prop Nick Gullo when he scored courtesy of a rolling maul.
And on Davine Oval in Wynnum, AIC First XV footy returned with a bang as St Laurence’s College defeated Iona College 31-5.
The visitors were inspired by their fullback Xavier Santos, whose kicking game at the back ensured Laurie’s were playing the game in Iona territory.
Thanks to his kick returns and exits, Laurie’s escaped from pressure situations and turned them into try scoring opportunities.
Indeed Laurie’s looked the part. As reigning premiers, the boys in black and gold showed why no team in the last two years could snare a result.
Wherever there was one player, another was joined by the hip in support so that when the chance came, they were ready to pounce.
And, on the stroke of half time their relentless pressure and pod connections resulted in a crowd-silencing charge down try by hooker Luka Smith.
Laurie’s head coach Welmar Du Plessis said his team came in with a clear plan, territory a big part of that.
“To put pressure on their set piece which I thought we did well with in the scrums and lineouts,” Du Plessis said about the game-plan.
“Ben Davis was really good in the lineouts stealing their ball. Set piece is where we felt we could get them. We didn’t want to give them any ball and we wanted to have good line speed on defence to shut them down. We missed too many tackles today but it’s only round 1.”
Du Plessis also had high praise for prop Luka Smith, saying “he’s stepped up big time this year. His collision, work rate around the field was great but every single forward played their part today. In terms of physicality, our guys brought it.”
“Xavier Santos’ tactical awareness and kicking out of hand was really good.
“We will take the win. We don’t win anything in round 1 so there’s a lot of stuff to improve on like our discipline. We need to clean that up.
“It was a good way to start, away,” he said.
Laurie’s still had eight players from the unbeaten outfit of 2022, the winning recipe evident as ever.
In the forwards, Rylan Lock, Byron Murphy, Cooper Buckley, Bailey Cotelli, Ben Davis, Sam Benjamin at No. 9, Tuite and McLaren in the centres.
Head gear wearing No. 8 Ben Davis, one of the AIC’s best Aussie Rules players of last term, ruled the lineout, turning over ball thanks to his height and wingspan.
The visitors were led in the forward pack by lineout thrower Bailey Cotelli at blindside flanker and Byron Murphy at prop, who on almost every occasion outdid himself with post contract metres.
And in the centres they didn’t have arguably the competitions best player of the last two years in Mikael Ibrahim, but they weren’t far off with powerful Jack Tuite.
Outside Tuite was goalkicking ace Brody McLaren, who injected himself into the line very well while kicking five-from-five off the tee.
Fly half Finn Mackay started the scoring, twisting out of a tackle after a fierce Tuite carry complemented a Santos touch finder.
The home side was next to score with reserve winger Adrian Burrows finishing off Iona’s best attacking play of the game. Fly half Topaz Mohi took the line on, popped it on his inside to fullback Lewi Hawea who found Burrows in support down the right edge.
At this stage, Iona were in the fight down 5-7 but Laurie’s would go on to score 24 unanswered points to capture their first victory of the year.
Prop Murphy burrowed his way over for one, Smith another with a terrific charge down effort, before quick thinking from scrum half Sam Benham sealed the deal with a blindside scoot from the back of the scrum.
Iona head coach Paul Davey said he was happy with the effort but giving up an attacking penalty on the stroke of half halted momentum and swung the game.
“From there we were chasing the game and after getting a yellow in the second half it was tough.”
It’s worth noting Iona had a number of debutants, with injuries shuffling the team around during the week.
No. 8 Ned Dore and lock Tommy Nicholson, who “had a wow of a game,” deserve praise while skipper Manteit “had a really good game despite the yellow card.”
“Fullback Levi Hawea had some good touches. He did some good things,” Davey said about the positives.
“We will learn from this. We will probably get Hopo Leota and Will Lane back for Ashgrove so they’ll be big ins.
“We’ve got a 130kg prop (Leota) in the garage we’d love to have out there. That makes a massive difference against teams like Laurie’s who thrive on pick drives.”
Davey noted lineout execution was lacking in what was a good learning experience for his Year-11-heavy group.
In Ipswich, St Edmund’s College had a winning start 23-12 over St Peters College.
“We played very composed rugby, executed our skills and the stuff we asked them to do during the week they did,’’ said Eddies’ coach Andrew Kirk.
He praised a young St Peters side for its enterprise, saying they were “dangerous on the counter attack’’ but was pleased to get the job done in round 1.
On debut winger Brock Taylor scored a try for St Edmund’s, Jack Chandler at No.7 was immense and “had a cracking game’’ while halfback Tafito Falaniko Ah-Ki was the best on the ground.
St Peters coach Cameron Wright said it was a good effort from his outfit who will be wiser for the experience next week.
“I liked our forwards ,the way they dominated in the scrums and we had good shape in general play.”
He said five-eight Dayton Bowman did splendidly on debut given he is only in year 10. “He took it all in hs stride,’’ Wright said.
He said flanker Johnny Nona was awesome. “His defensive efforts were fantastic. He was a workhorse’’ and fullback Dom Morton also had good touches.
At Curlew Park, the visiting Padua College were too strong in a convincing 35-0 victory over St Patrick’s despite the best efforts of Paddies’ pair Manaaki Bateman (hooker) and fullback Riley Horn.
Padua head coach Andrew Clyne said it was a great stepping stone to start the year for his side.
“It was very pleasing, keeping them scoreless but we know we can do better.
“Paddies’ had some scoring opportunities but we took away a lot of them by maintaining possession and playing in the right areas.
“We reduced their entries in our 22,” he said.
“We forced mistakes through good line speed and defense...Pressured them into making errors and we made them pay.
“Strategic kicking and a good structure allowed the boys to play with what they saw in front of them,” Clyne said as Padua kickstarted their season.
“We had a few debutants in what is a pretty young team.”
Front row newcomers Callum rooney, George Noone and Aidan Rooney were excellent according to Clyne, with “solid scrummaging and work around the field.”
“Brock Powell our skipper and flanker was great.”
Winger Kyan Mitchell shone with a double thanks to his support play and pace.
Footnote: Replays and live coverage of match will be available courtesy of the QRU and available via the website: https://qld.rugby/aic
ROUND 2
Villanova v St Patrick’s College
St Edmond’s College v Iona
Padua v Marist
St Laurence’s v St Peters
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