St Patrick’s College pull AIC First XV rugby match out of the fire
St Patrick’s College pulled the AIC First XV rugby clash with Iona College out of the fire, while the other Saints, St Edmund’s, earned high praise in defeat after round 2 today.
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Jacob Prlja pulled the game out of the fire for St Patrick’s College in a monumental struggle with Iona College at Curlew Park this afternoon.
Somehow Paddies hit the front for the only time in the game 60 seconds from the end when Prlja emerged from behind a retreating scrum to scurry a wide blindside to score. The score was 19-17.
In other matches, St Laurence’s College constructed a 16-5 win over Padua College while Marist College Ashgrove returned to its home turf with a win over St Edmund’s College.
And Nick Tucker reports Lachie Reardon helped Villanova College to a 21-18 win over St peters Lutheran College.
But the boilover of the round came at Curlew Park, Shorncliffe, where the beating drums of the cheer squad echoed loudly across the beautiful bayside parklands which St Patrick’s call home.
The turning point in the game was an intercept try plucked out of thin air by winger Liam Carter who raced 70m to score at a time when Iona were up by 10-nil and looking to move in for the kill.
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But there was plenty which happened before that.
After blunting St Patrick’s considerable forays for what seemed like the first quarter of the game with an all embracing defence, Iona College always appeared to be half a step ahead of their rivals.
Off the back of a powerful scrum, Iona No. 8 Aiden Sutherland captured the lead for his side on the stroke of halftime with a thrust from behind his set piece which lifted Iona to a 5-nil advantage.
Then, after the break, Iona produced a winning lineout and a perfectly scripted rolling maul that ended with hooker Darcy Leo scoring.
So full of adrenaline was Leo, that he got to his feet, he hurled the ball into the air and then jogged all the way back to halfway before bending over, hands on knees, to catch his breath.
Iona seemingly had control, but Carter’s unexpected intercept put them in danger, cutting the lead to 10-7.
However, Iona were back on track when centre Callum Stoker responded soon after, and Iona had a 17-7 lead again. But it was obvious St Pat’s were not going away.
Although Iona seemed in control, Paddies were pesky rivals whose belief must have risen when No. 8 Ellis Lloyd produced an inspiring, rampaging run to the line from 15m out.
That try, and Jackson Dows’ conversion, cut Iona’s lead to 17-14 and St Patrick’s were close enough if good enough.
“We had a theme during the week that we wanted to be 70 minute men, because last week we went in patches’’ said St Patrick’s coach Joshua Neilsen.
“So we were really looking for a 70 minute effort this week and I thought the boys did that very well.
“’But for all the hero individual surges for tries from the matchwinning replacement Prlja and No. 8 Lloyd, it was the defence which won it for St Patrick’s, according to Neilsen.
“Our defence this week really stood up. That is what we pride ourselves on,’’ he said. Iona also hit hard and often.
Indeed when possession favoured St Patrick’s early, Jeremy Trappett, Jordan Plath, Stoker found their marks, zeroing in on St Pat’s.
The defensive struggle was highlighted by an invigorating midfield battle where respective centres Tim Ryan, Josh Smith (both St Pat’s), Callum Stoker and Callum Pereira (both Iona) went at each other in a ding-dong battle.
Both Neilsen and Iona director of sport Keith Harron said it was a fine schoolboy spectacle.
Harron said it was very close and either team could have won which was a credit to both teams.
St Patrick’s College 19 (E Lloyd, L Carter, J Prlja tries; J Dows 2 convs) defeated Iona College 17 (A Sutherland, D Leo, C Stoker tries, J Trappett conv).
At Banyo, Laurie’s slogged it out with a typically proud Padua who defend their home ground soil with zest.
After the euphoria of round 1s hoodoo breaking win over Marist, St Laurence’s coach Wilmar de Plessis said the players were on high alert for a let down.
“The field was heavy, wet and both teams tried to play their territory and I think we just executed a bit better than them,’’ de Plessis said.
“We took our opportunities.
“The big message this week was last week was last week, that we had won one game (against Ashgrove) and even though it was a big win for us, it was in the past.
“We knew it was always going to be tough to mentally get the boys up.’’
He praised his replacement tight-head Hugh Smith and No. 10 Lachlan Marchant.
Padua coach Shane Buckley said his flanker Tom Studley and Leighton Whippy led Padua by example.
“I think St Laurence’s deserved their victory. Our guys tried really hard and we cannot fault their effort, but we probably came u with two many errors and gave them too much possession,’’Buckley said, while also praising the defensive effort of Laurie’s.
At Ashgrove, St Edmunds coach Andrew Kirk said his team was moving in the right direction despite the loss by 34-5.
“We did not give up. We are progressing well.
“We are ticking the boxes we need to tick, but if we make a comparison to last year, we were in this game.’’
Kaedan Hockings, No. 8, was excellent for Eddies along with Jed Lacey (No. 12).
Marist assistant coach John Fitzgerald said his team played well in patches around dropped ball. “But when we got our phases together, we put some points on the board.’’
He praised Eddies for their improvement and “they will certainly cause an upset between here and end of the season.’’
Ashgrove flanker Jack Condon and Patrick Tierney, who played No. 15, did the job nicely. “He drove the attack well,’’ Fitzgerald said in praise of Tierney.
Nick Tucker reports a 45 metre solo try by centre Lachie Reardon has put Villanova College in the winners’ column for the 2021 AIC First XV schoolboy rugby competition.
Reardon’s heroic play was decisive in Villanova’s seesawing 21-18 victory over a valiant St Peters Lutheran College team.
It was a hard-fought battle on Saturday afternoon between two teams chasing their first win of the season, a game that “could have gone either way,” according to St Peters coach Gary Munday.
St Peters led 13-7 with nine minutes to play and with all the momentum after a 13-0 run of points to start the second half in front of their roaring fans at Mayer Oval.
A flashy tap-on pass by Villanova’s inside centre Josh Bellinger to Reardon broke a 53-minute scoring drought to spark their late comeback. Reardon veered infield and ran over untouched.
Prop Charlie MacDonald barged over in the 66th minute to seal the game in similar fashion to how lock Ben Craig opened the scoring from close range.
St Peters will rue not finishing this game off.
Fly half Oscar Wright scored a lovely try following a kick ahead by winger Wayne Meredith and fullback Clayton Gadd-Weazel scored a better one gathering a grubber kick ahead by the creative Kadin Pritchard.
The tanklike Meredith charged over in the final minutes to show the St Peters’ spirit was strong to the end.
Villanova College coach Paul Davey said, “we fluffed a couple of scoring opportunities in the first 15 minutes that could’ve changed the momentum of the game. You can’t do that against any AIC team let alone Peters at home.”
Davey was pleased with his aggressive prop Harry Grant-Smith, fly half Cameron Bukowski and the centre pairing of Bellinger and Reardon.
“Second-year prop Harry Grant-Smith was brilliant. He’s a tough kid, he scrums well, lifts the most weight in the gym and works hard,” Davey said.
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St Peters captain Pritchard was a mixed bag with two try assists and some exhilarating footwork, however he couldn’t get his goal kicking radar to work, kicking only one-from-six.
St Peters coach Gary Munday said: “Both teams gave themselves an opportunity to win. But the best part of the game was the standard of football.”
“From our perspective we’re just regrouping. We have a young forward pack. Only one boy in the forward pack is in Year 12 and we have three or four major injuries,” Munday said.
Villanova College bounced back after a narrow 20-18 loss to Iona College in their first match of the season.
St Peters have now started the season 0-2, losing to Padua College last week despite a gutsy effort, and now to Villanova in a close one at home.
Villanova 21 (C MacDonald, B Craig, L Reardon tries; J Wilson 3 con) beat St Peters
18 (O Wright, C Gadd-Weazel, W Meredith tries; K Pritchard pen goal)
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