AIC rugby: First XV grand finalists decided with Marist College Ashgrove to play St Laurence’s College
The 2020 AIC First XV grand finalists have been decided, with Marist College Ashgrove to host St Laurence’s College in a clash between two traditional rivals.
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The AIC premiership decider next weekend will be between traditional rivals Marist College Ashgrove and St Laurence’s College after both blew off the cobwebs with big wins this afternoon.
Marist Ashgrove won 44-nil over Padua College while St Laurence’s won 38-7 against Iona
College.
“It will be a grand final against Ashgrove. It is an historic rivalry and is another important game in the proud history of the two colleges,’’ said St Laurence’s Chris Leadbetter.
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ROUND 2 – Laurie’s great escape
A dazzling second half performance by the Marist Ashgrove backline will send warning bells ringing at Lauries.
After Marist flanker Jack Condon scored the first try of the game, the Ash backs delivered a seven try blitz, transforming a clunky first half performance into a Rolls Royce effort in the second 25 minutes of play.
Outside Josh Billings recovered from a yellow card (spear tackle) to score three tries while dashing halfback Matthew Mitchell (2), inside centre Ky Rashleigh (2) and elegant fullback Floyd Aubrey (1) scored tries.
Aubrey glided to create another two tries while winger Dwayne Ludwick was at times electrifying in the second half.
Of course the backs could only be freed once the forwards had secured quality ball.
“We had a plan at halftime to get back to the basics in terms of getting nice and direct and earning the right to play wide,’’ said Marist co-coach Ty Casey.
At inside centre, Rashleigh was a spoke in a fast moving wheel, linking with his outside men while also pinning his ears back to scamper for two tries himself.
A border from rugby league heartland of Stanthorpe, Rashleigh ended up boarding at Marist after listening to two old boys, Stanthorpe legend Robert Reeves and his old front row partner Peter Anderson, tell tales of how good their time was at the college.
It was a big decision for him to move from his small country town to Brisbane, but with his mum Vanessa supporting him, Rashleigh took a deep breath and now finds himself 260km away, encircled by the Marist Ashgrove community.
“It has been so welcoming, has a good education and good footie’’ the year 11 student said.
“It is my first time playing rugby union and I love learning, switching up codes.
“It has been good fun and my team mates and coaches have all helped.’’
Padua College were physical and well in the match after 25 minutes.
Indeed that Marist were so slow to get rolling was a direct result of Padua’s commitment to the cause.
But simple errors at the breakdown cost them dearly in the second part of the first half and all of a sudden Padua were behind 22-nil at halftime.
“The first half was a bit of back and forth, and I thought there was some nice detail around the second half,’’ co-coach Casey said.
In other matches, St Patricks have ended their season on a high after beating a young St Edmunds team 78-0.
St Edmunds Andrew Kirk said it was disappointing but there were three grade 12s and four grade 10s were blooded off the bench as they prepare for next year.
“They didn’t turn up in the right frame of mind,” Mr Kirk said.
“The opposition turned up and were red hot, we tried hard but they just played lovely rugby.”
St Peter’s Lutheran won a thriller against Villanova with the lead changing four times before a late try in the 17-13 win.
Villanova were first on the board through a penalty but St Peter’s scored twice, one through an 80 metre intercept from Wayne Meredith.
The halftime score read 12-3 in St Peters’ favour but Villanova came back strong scoring two unanswered tries.
With just minutes left a huge overlap gave St Peters’ the final say through fullback Jimmy Savage winning it in a thriller.
Flanker Lopeti Faifua and fly half Kadin Pritchard were standouts for St Peters’ and Villanova’s number 8 Ollie Harris was great.