AIC rugby: How round 2 unfolded
For the second successive week St Laurence’s utility Joshua Steele withstood a pressure-cooker atmosphere to clinch a late win for his side against St Peters in AIC rugby, while Villanova won another derby over Iona College.
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For the second successive week St Laurence’s utility Joshua Steele withstood a pressure cooker atmosphere to clinch a late win for his side against St Peters Lutheran College in an AIC thriller this afternoon.
St Laurence’s College came from the back blocks to win 23-22, with flanker Beau Millen scoring with one minute remaining and inside centre Steele chipping over the winning conversion.
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Seven days early it was Steele who also guided home the winning penalty kick against Villanova College.
Today his goal after the siren gave Laurie’s the lead for the first time in the game.
“We like to leave it late,’’ joked St Laurence’s coach Welmar de Plessis.
“We know we are an extremely fit team and we knew it was going to be tough.
“We told the boys at halftime to forget about the scoreboard, they will tire out, stick to your guns and hang onto the ball.’’
St Peters director of sport Shaun Nodwell rued the red carding of winger Clayton Gadd-Weazel with 17 minutes to go which left St Peters short one man.
“They were two good teams and there were huge momentum shifts throughout the game,’’ Nodwell said.
“I think the clincher was poor discipline from St Peters getting a send off. Being a man down meant that St Laurence’s came back and got the win.’’
St Laurence’s almost seemed beaten at halftime trailing 22-6 against an enterprising St Peters who were effectively recycling possession and creatively using it.
But just like a summer storm building on an horizon that inevitably arrives, one sensed Lauries were always going to arrive on the right side of the win-loss ledger.
It was a thriller.
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St Peters were the better side in the first half, with halfback Ben Robertson, flanker Dan Dyer and backrower Lopati Faifua rewarding teammates with tries.
The damage could have been greater had Oscar Hawes not produced a try-saving tackle on S Peters’ winger Clayton Gadd-Weazel.
Just as he did the previous week against Villa, Laurie’s fullback Harry Farimbella also saved his team’s bacon in the last line just before halftime as well.
Trailing 22-6, Laurie’s ball control was outstanding which gave the side every chance of recovery.
Outstanding No.8 John Bryant inspired his team with a rampaging try from 15m out, cutting back on the angle and barrelling over to score to reduce the deficit to 22-11 with 23 minutes remaining.
Eight minutes later Lauries’ forwards then engineered another try, this time for hooker Josh Scott after fly-half Connor McNeven had worked the blindside.
St Laurence’s College halfback Thomas Parker-Ryan almost scored a brilliant individual chip-and-chase try in the dying stages, but he put his foot on the touchline just as he dived toward the corner.
But it mattered little, with Millen scoring after a 10 phase lead-up with 60 seconds remaining.
VILLANOVA vs. IONA
Villanova have won their first game of 2020 beating Iona 19-7 in a game where they controlled possession.
The Villanova side came agonisingly close in a two-point loss to St Laurences last week so were sure to put in a strong performance.
They kept the ball and controlled the field position using their forwards well, Iona struggled with a few errors but defended hard.
MARIST COLLEGE ASHGROVE vs ST PATRICK’S COLLEGE
Marist Ashgrove scored some scintillating tries in the second half against St. Patrick’s to run away with a 43-12 win.
The start of the second half proved damaging to St. Patrick’s hopes of beating Marist with the winning side finding some form with the ball and scoring from all parts of the field.
After a close 12-5 first half, Marist piled on 31 points a short time after the second half kick-off. By the time St. Patricks commendably found themselves back in the arm wrestle, the game was gone.
Both sides proved to be competitive, however, Marist was able to play their best footy for the full 70 minutes.
PADUA vs ST EDMUND’S
Padua have notched their first win of the season against an improved St Edmunds side winning 20-5.
Padua were just to good against St Edmunds, but the side improved a lot from their loss against Marist last week and full credit must go to Eddies
They defended better and showed more heart.
Padua were coming off a draw last week and are happy to get the monkey off their back and get on the board with a win which gives them momentum heading into next week.
Additional reporting from Clancy Nugent