St Laurence’s College, Eddies and Iona in stunning wins
There were sensations aplenty with three dramatic results in the opening round of the AIC First XV schoolboy rugby competition. Full wrap up here.
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Reigning premiers St Laurence’s College took just 70 minutes to sound a warning as loud as a fog horn that they intend to go back-to-back in AIC First XV rugby this season.
Deep in enemy territory at the foothills of the Taylor Range, Laurie’s hit and run mission was a raging success as an inspired forward pack paved the way for a 34-15.
St Laurence’s pick-and-drive and flawless lineout must have driven Ashgrove to the brink of despair, so relentless were the black and gold army across the opening hour of the match.
Behind his forwards, Laurie’s halfback Callum Reidy, also a First XI cricket representative, must have thought Christmas and Easter had come at once.
On the fringe of the forwards inside centre Mikael Ibrahim was a powerhouse performer, wrecking the Ash defence late and early with driving runs.
Outside centre Joe Woods also punched hard in the direction of his rivals as St Laurence’s steamed onto the front foot.
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By gee it was a good forward performance from a motivated and focused forward eight who were in the zone.
“We wanted to take it to the trenches,’’ said St Laurence’s coach Welmar du Plessis.
“We knew Ashgrove would want to take it wide and play an expansive game, but we wanted to do the opposite. So we had to be good at first phase, the scrum and lineout and really dig in deep.
“It opened up a little bit at the end, but we said in the first half keep it tight and if the opportunity presented itself to spread it, then do that.’’
Ashgrove coach Anthony Matheson praised the opposition.
“They really controlled things, won the field position, had possession and maintained it,’’ he said.
“They put us under pressure and were good enough to capitalise.
“And we made a few too many errors.’’
No. 12 Ibrahim started like a house on fire with a try and another break, and despite Munroe Wood crossing for a brilliant Ashgrove team try after Tom Howard had made the extra man, Laurie’s remained focused.
Woods break led to winger McLaren crossing, then prop Hugh Smith borrowed over and it was 15-5.
Another tremendous pick and drive assault presented Cooper Buckley with his try, then replacement Euan Lynch crossed and there was no way back for Ash.
Scores: St Laurences 34 (M Ibrahim, B McLaren, C Buckley, E Lynch, H Smith tries, B McLaren 3 conv, pen) def Ashgrove 15 (M Wood, T Barry, C Lyons tries)
In other matches, Padua College had a last minute win over St Peters Lutheran College, 22-21, while St Edmund’s College had a shock victory over St Patrick’s College.
At St Peters, Padua finished with a wet sail after trailing 21-5 at halftime.
Three second half sin binnings reduced St Peters to 14 men for 30 minutes in the second half, and Padua took advantage with rapid ball movement.
Taylor Rohl scored the winner for Padua.
“He came on as a forward reserve coming back form injury,’’ coach Kelevi Tuicolo said.
Halfback Mitch Rogers and flankers Nick Hinchey and Brock Powell were outstanding for Padua, while the Saints also had some stars.
“Rogers in the second half came into his own when we started to speed the game up,’’ Kelevi said.
“I think the season will be pretty exciting to see how it unfolds.
James Roberts at flanker was outstanding for St Peters while young debutant, year 10 student and fly half Wallace Charlie. “He was great,’’ praised St Peters coach Russell Todd.
“Full credit to Padua who played fast, running rugby to have a go at us,’’ Todd added.
The story of the round was St Edmund’s College beating Paddies 27-13 after trailing at halftime.
“St Pat’s were very clinical and we were rattled, but we went back to playing traditional rugby (for the second half),’’ explained Eddies coach Andrew Kirk.
St Edmund’s kicked well, put pressure on and when they got into a scoring position, they came away with points to win the second half 20-nil.
“Now we want to build on that next week,’’ Kirk said, eyeing off a clash with Ashgrove in Ipswich.
St Patrick’s coach Joshua Neilsen said it was a “tail of two halves. We led 13-8 and they over ran us,’’ he said.
“In the second half, they played well around their kicking game,’’ he said, saying they were able to generate momentum.
St Edmund’s halfback Tafito Falaniko Ah-Ki controlled the game, while his fly half Zane Kaatz guided the side around.
Eddies’ locks Larry Siala and Logan Costello were also mighty for the Saints.
For St Patrick’s College fullback Noel James had a massive work rate covering plenty of territory, while prop Tristen Storey lead the pack and lock Eli Avci played strongly.
Meanwhile, Nick Tucker reports round 1 of the AIC schoolboy rugby union competition did not disappoint with Villanova College upsetting Iona College in a one point thriller at Iona.
The men in green never stopped fighting in their 26-25 victory away from home. In a game where there were five lead changes, the Villanova boys did their crest proud with a gritty 70 minute display of physical footy.
In his first game as head coach, Villanova’s Eddie Harris said: “We’ve worked really hard on fitness and it really paid of today.
“The boys just kept going and going and going. And you can’t beat heart can you.”
Villanova flyhalf Larry Clark made a heroic tackle in the dying moments of the game to seal the deal, and award his team a hard earned victory.
Coach Harris added: “I thought our flyhalf Larry Clark played really well. He controlled the game, had some nice kicks and kept pressing those corners. I think our two centres, Connor Moloney who scored a couple tries and Jackson Connor, a year 10 boy. were just fantastic.
“They pushed up hard. We had a game plan of pushing hard up the middle and taking the ball off them and they worked hard all day.
“And our forwards in the middle just kept tackling and tackling. It’s a good reward for lots of effort.”
Villanova fullback Joseph Wilson scored a heroic 85m intercept try to begin the proceedings, reading the Iona attack and reaching out his hand to snag a cut-out ball.
Iona flanker Jack Leo created something very special out of thin air moments later, running across the field then darting through a gap to then link up with support through First XV veteran fullback Jeremy Trappett.
Villanova centre Jackson Connor struck next with a great run to take the lead at 12-5.
Iona centre Ayden Hoad got his team back into the contest, drawing in his defender and passing the ball to his Meninga cup teammate on the wing, Will Lane, to equal the scores at 12-all on the stroke of half time.
Villanova prop Dante Febo showcased his superb ball running skills, whilst Iona flanker Angus Davison proved his valuable defensive presence with crunching tackles.
Trappett showed why he is one of the best fullbacks in the competition, spearing away in the 45th minute to score a dazzling 40m try to give Iona a 17-12 lead.
However, Villanova lock James Sullivan, who had an amazing game, scored with a pick and drive with to regain the lead at 19-17.
With five minutes to play, Lane scored a fantastic try to push Iona in front 25-19, and get the 4178 spectators roaring in support.
Moloney, Villanova’s savior, had different ideas when scoring a crowd silencer with three minutes to go.
The outside centre delivering the final score of 26-25.
ROUND 2
Villanova v St Peters
Iona v St Patrick’s
St Laurence’s v Padua
St Edmund’s v Ashgrove
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