NRL SCHOOLBOYS CUP: Semi-final game breakers
NRL Schoolboys Cup game breakers: Marsden SHS v Ipswich SHS, Keebra Park SHS v Palm Beach Currumbin SHS (Langer Trophy) finals.
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Elite schoolboy rugby league reaches a flashpoint today, with the NRL Schoolboys Cup knockout semi-finals at Langlands Park.
Langer Trophy winners Marsden SHS take on fast improving Ipswich SHS (3.30pm), ahead of the battle of the coastal giants - Palm Beach Currumbin SHS and Keebra Park SHS (5pm).
Both games will be livestreamed by www.couriermail.com.au, the Gold Coast Bulletin and News Corp affiliates.
WATCH PBC SHS v KEEBRA PARK LIVE HERE
WATCH MARSDEN SHS v IPSWICH SHS LIVE HERE
DAVID LEMS IPSWICH PREVIEW HERE
The teams are stocked full of rich game breaking talent who, when the match is on the line, can change a game in the blink of an eye.
RELATED LINKS
WHICH NRL CLUBS HAVE SIGNED LANGER PLAYERS?
IPSWICH LANGER PLAYERS ANXIOUS TO RETURN
Today we reveal four of the best game breakers, all NRL contracted players who are locked and loaded for sudden death schoolboy rugby league.
Kulikefu Finefeuiaki (Ipswich SHS), Chris Faagutu (Marsden SHS)
It will be captain versus captain, and these two could tilt the match one or the other.
While forwards Kulikefu Finefeuiaki (Ipswich SHS) and Chris Faagutu (Marsden SHS) will not always directly oppose each other, the bottom line is they are both damaging ball runners who inspire their side.
Finefeuiaki runs on an edge while Faagutu plays largely in the middle, but not as an extra prop, rather as a running No.13 with the pace to also drift wider when attack ball is on offer.
Signed by the Wests Tigers, Faagutu was a member of the 2020 Langer Trophy Team of the Year last season, but he has taken his game to another level in 2021.
Off the field in his school uniform, Faagutu is an unremarkable figure.
He is a little like superman before he walks into his phone booth - but put him in a Marsden SHS jersey and he transforms into a buff up beast who gives the impression he could run through a break wall.
Finefeuiaki is a bit special. Don’t take our word for it, just ask the North Queensland Cowboys talent scouts who at the start of this year signed him to a three-year contract.
“He truly enjoys the physicality of rugby league,” said Ipswich SHS coach Joshua Bretherton said.
“On the field he brings absolute intensity and commitment.”
His secret to success was no secret at all. “It comes back to hard work,’’ Kuli said.
RELATED LINKS
ARMCHAIR GUIDE TO QLD’S BEST SCHOOLBOYS
QLD UNDER 15, UNDER 18 STATE TEAMS NAMED
Tom Weaver (Palm Beach Currumbin), Blake Mozer (Keebra Park SHS)
Weaver is the PBC SHS halfback and captain is the puppeteer of his side.
Signed by the Gold Coast Titans, Weaver is a classic No.7 who has all the skills - including pace over a short distance.
Old timers will remember an Easts Tigers champion Wayne Lindenberg who played for Queensland.
Well Weaver is a little like the premiership winning Lindenberg after he lost his explosive speed - crafty, quick on his feet with a deadly passing and short kicking game.
In Weaver and his hooker Oskar Bryant, PBC SHS have the best No.9-No.7 combination in the competition.
PBC SHS have heaps of talent across the board. They are a champion team. But pulling the strings is the team’s wonderful play making halfback.
Blake Mozer, the Keebra Park SHS, is a young gun.
While the side has multiple game breakers, the No.1 player on the PBC SHS game plan sheet will feature the name Blake Mozer.
The Brisbane Broncos signed dummy half is the best No.9 in the competition.
That is no disrespect to his opponent today, Osker Bryant, who is a game breaker all on his own.
But Mozer is the man who runs the speed of the game when Keebra Park players have the ball.
Of course he is only as good as the team mates allow, and their responsibility will be to win the ruck and stand to their feet quickly to service Mozer.
If that is achieved, it is game on.
LIVESTREAM SCHEDULE
Wednesday 25 August
Mackay Jnr Rugby League
11am - Kirwan SHS v The Cathedral College (Aaron Payne)
12.15pm - Ignatius Park v St Brendan’s (Aaron Payne)
1.30pm - Ignatius Park v Mercy (Cowboys Challenge)
Webb Oval Yeppoon
5.30pm - St Brendan’s v Emmaus (Cowboys Challenge)
Langlands Park
3.30pm - Marsden SHS v Ipswich
5.00pm - Palm Beach Currumbin SHS v Keebra SHS
Marsden SHS
3.00pm - Marsden v Forest Lake (Walters Cup)
Slack Creek RLFC
4.00pm - Mabel Park v Ipswich (Langer Res)
Thursday 26 August
Palm Beach Currumbin SHS
3.00pm - PBC v Wavell (Walters Cup)
4.00pm - PBC v Wavell (Langer Res)
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