Brisbane Boys’ College secure a historic outright GPS First XV rugby premiership
Brisbane Boys’ College coach Shane Drahm’s poignant words closed out the greatest chapter in the history of First XV rugby at the school after a big win over State High.
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“This moment can never be beaten.’’ And with those words Brisbane Boys’ College coach Shane Drahm closed the greatest chapter on the most historic moment in the history of First XV rugby at the college.
BBC were now outright premiership winners after a 39-19 win over an enterprising Brisbane State High School this afternoon.
The achievement surpasses the joint premiership effort of the 1954 BBC First XV which shared the spoils with two other schools.
“It (a premiership) can be matched, but never beaten as the first BBC team in GPS history to win an outright premiership,’’ Drahm said, addressing his players before they dispersed to be greeted by family.
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The Brisbane Boys College side rebounded from the euphoria of last Saturday’s victory over challengers Nudgee College to get enough of its game going to win, with crack centre Jack Howarth scoring four tries, including a 35m individual effort which iced the win.
“It had been 66 years and everyone talked about getting the monkey off the back because it was a shared premiership in a washed out season (in 1954),’’ Drahm said.
“With that comes a lot of pressure and I think we learned last year that there is a lot of pressure.
“And this year we choice to face it head on and talk about it and make sure it does not linger in the background, sneak up and bite us because I think that is what happened a bit last year.’’
“We knew it was going to be hard (against BSHS), but by the same time we knew we had enough quality in the team,’’ he said.
BSHS, with the blinding pace of winger Riley Bierton helping, jumped the gun early to lead 5-nil and 10-7 and were still pushing for points late in the second half, much to the team’s credit.
But throughout the game the BBC scrum and lineout did not desert the side, and patches of class backline play were always just around the corner.
When the wide passing game of Mason Gordon got going, BBC looked the class side they are as Howarth feasted with room on the fringes.
In tight hard working second rowers Ollie Milne and Hugo Perceval motored away all game long.
The pressure was on BBC leading up to halftime when Perceval dragged in a lineout win which instigated a rolling maul that freed Gordon and Taj Annan to give their backline space, resulting in Howarth scoring one of his tries.
That try lifted BBC to a 17-10 advantage, and immediately after the break Gordon scored an opportunist try to give his team a little breathing space.
The spirit of BBC was evident in the deeds of replacement winger Gauai Wallace when he saved a try and scored one himself, a nice milestone moment for a young man called into the squad late following a training injury to Harry McLaughin-Phillips.
Perhaps the last word should go to BBC old boy from the class of 1958, 80-year-old Graham Stehn who was at the ground to witness history.
“To be undefeated in any sport is a badge of honour,’’ said a beaming Stehn, who was in year 8 when BBC shared the 1954 title.
The First XV victory followed a shared First XI cricket premiership by BBC earlier in the year.
S cores: BBC 39 (J Howarth 4, M Gordon, T Wheen, G Wallace tries; M Gordon 2 conv) def BSHS 19 (R Bierton 2, D Duke; R Bierton 2 convs)
The winning squad was: Harvey Guest, Uhila Senituli, Henry Pettit, Hugo Perceval, Oliver Milne, Dimitrius Williams, Zac Hough, Tom Wheen, Peron Faimalo, Mason Gordon, Jarrod Homan, Harry McLaughlin-Phillips, Jack Howarth, Lachie Rubens, Taj Annan. Reserves (16-25) David Stevens, Dominic Thygesen, Zac Davies, Cadell Rees, Will McIntyre, James Kininmonth, Blake Davis, Ben Davies, Gauai Wallace, Noah Fielding