Who won in today’s round 2 of AIC First XV rugby?
AIC First XV rugby schoolboy giant killers have emerged after thrilling round 2 action. Full report here.
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St Edmund’s College and St Peters Lutheran College have emerged as AIC First XV rugby giant-killers after a memorable round 2 of action today.
Eddies scored only their third victory ever over Marist College Ashgrove, winning 8-5, while St Peters snared an away win against Villanova College, 26-19, after a narrow first round loss.
Within the space of two seasons, St Edmund’s College has turned a 98-nil loss to Ashgrove into a win - the second on the trot after Eddies toppled St Patrick’s in round 1.
“We defended our hearts out,’’ said Eddies coach Andrew Kirk.
“We probably did not execute to the level we wanted to, but across the park, anytime you beat Ashgrove is outstanding.
“I think we defended at least 20 minutes straight on our line in the first half and probably did that again in the second half.’’
He stressed Ashgrove did lose three key players, but nothing should be taken away from his side which rose to the challenge again.
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Eddies had last beaten Ashgrove in 2014 - after a win in 2011.
Locks Logan Costello and Larry Siala were immense, and halfback Tafito Falaniko Ah-Ki again outstanding.
“But across the park everyone kept showing up in our defensive line,’’ Kirk said.
Ashgrove coach Anthony Matheson said his team was unable to convert “a lot of field position early’’.
“We weren’t able to get the ball across the line and convert pressure.’’
“We made a lot of handling errors and that made it more difficult, but for credit to them (St Edmund’s) for sticking at it.’’
At Runcorn, not even a storming rumble over the southern suburbs this afternoon could slow St Laurence’s College in its victory march against Padua College in AIC First XV rugby.
Laurie’s won 38-10, going right on with the job after coming to rest at halftime leading 19-3.
With halves Callum Reidy (halfback) and Darcy Rowan (No.10), steering the ship, and captain Jake Kurbatoff and his No.8 Joe Nadenic leading another front eight forward blackout, the boys wearing Black and Gold stampeded toward success again after a round 1 win over Marist College Ashgrove.
Importantly there was no sign of complacency after the euphoria of last Saturday’s 34-15 triumph at Ashgrove as St Laurence’s well oiled machine worked their way clear of their opponents.
St Laurence’s coach Welmar du Plessis said his team maintaining high standards after the big round 1 win was a focus.
“I said last week’s victory would not mean much if you can’t back it up,’’ du Plessis said.
“I thought we handled wet conditions pretty good, played in right areas of the field and that was good to see.’’
He also had special praise for his halves. “Our game management was really good from No.9 (Reidy) and No.10 (Rowan), and our set pieces were pretty good and disrupted their line out as well.’’
Not even the loss of ace inside centre Mikael Ibrahim disrupted the flow of the Laurie’s machine.
Padua started well but never got going at all in the second half.
When they dropped the kick-off from the resumption of play after the break, typically new Laurie’s lock Tom Jago threw himself on the loose ball and Laurie’s were on the attack – again.
Padua tried to run themselves out of trouble and back into the match, but their handling let them down as the ball became greasy and the relentless St Laurence’s defensive line loomed as a wall ahead of them.
Padua fullback and captain Oskar Weinert looked classy, and Padua showed heart after sliding to a 38-3 deficit with 10 minutes to play.
But the 2021 premiers won and won very well.
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Laurie’s No.8 Nadenic was enormous. At one stage he even had his father put back in a dislocated finger, only to resume his place and offer a lovely around the corner pass just ahead of Michael Brewster scoring in the corner.
The Padua defence had been drawn by a forthright pick and drive effort from the Laurie’s pack, which enabled the backs space on the edge.
Nadenic then found a hole down the middle of the paddock, enabling Joe Woods to burst into the backfield and score.
Captain Kurbatoff’s strength carrying the ball and leadership was again noteworthy, while prop Hugh Smith had another grand match around an excellent forward pack.
Padua coach Kelevi Turcolo said Lauries made their tactics known early and stayed on track.
“After some early pressure we failed to execute our plan of attack,’’ he said.
“It was a very physical game with some great defensive pressure by the teams.’’
Turcolo said centre Mitchell Ross in defence played strongly and lock Andrew de Jager was big hearted, while Isaac Boal at hooker also did well.
At Iona College, winger Kyan Muir scored twice on debut as Iona claimed a 31-12 win after a strong first half effort when they led 24-nil.
“The side played well in attack off the back of a strong lineout, with winger Kyan Muir scoring two tries,’’ said Iona head of sport Keith Harron.
The Iona effort was spearheaded by hooker Alex Manteit, while No.8 Jack Leo had a big match.
St Patrick’s coach Joshua Neilsen lamanted a “tail of two halves’’ after his side won the second half 12-7.
He said Paddies could not maintain possession against a clinical, fast starting side.
“Then in the second half we wanted to keep things simple, maintain possession. And in defence we shoot up.’’
For St Patrick’s, Sam Condon at No.10 controlled the game well in the second half, while Nick Hastie, who moved from wing to outside centre, shone.
At Andrew Slack Oval, St Peters have bounced back with a fabulous 26-19 victory over Villanova College in round 2 of the AIC First XV schoolboy rugby competition.
In a rainy affair at Andrew Slack Oval, the Saints were able to redeem themselves after a heartbreaking loss at the hands of Padua College in round 1.
In what looked to be a fullback showdown between St Peters’ Kadin Pritchard, and Villanova’s Joe Wilson, tensions were high in Tingalpa as Peters looked to avenge themselves, and Villa looked to back up their thrilling round 1 win over Iona.
St Peters fullback and Captain Kadin Pritchard said, “I’m stoked to bounce back from last week. We were really down, but to come back like this is really good. Especially for the St Peters community, because when we lose we tend to keep losing so it’s good to pick back up straight away.”
Pritchard darted through the line to link up with centre Jirra Twist bursting through on his left to give Peters a 7-0 lead to start.
Following a great start by Villa flanker Jackson Moloney, the gutsy flanker hit back with a textbook five-pointer at the back of a rolling maul to equalise the scores at 7-all.
It’s not every day you see a schoolboy decide to take a kick and nail it from over 40m out. Third-year First XV veteran Pritchard extended Peters lead at 13-7 with two penalty goals.
Villanova centre Jackson Connor got the Villanova supporters cheering when diving on the ball to finish off a perfect grubber kick dabbled into the in goal by winger Aiden Jackson to draw closer at 13-12.
Villanova fullback Joe Wilson showcased his book of tricks with plenty of sneaky offloads and tricky passes throughout the game. His teammate Ben Addley at flanker was monumental, charging up the ball past the advantage line all afternoon.
After consistent tryline pressure by Villanova resulting in ill-discipline by St Peters, Villa were awarded a penalty try to push them in front 19-16.
Pritchard didn’t take long to regain St Peters the lead at 23-19, with fly half Wallace Charlie passing and Pritchard running 40m to score a magnificent try. Pritchard went on to slot the conversion from the sideline.
Pritchard’s kicking confidence was on show when taking a kick similar to Kurtley Beale’s penalty attempt against the British and Irish Lions back in 2013.
With rain pouring down, Pritchard, unlike Beale, slotted the penalty goal from 46m out to settle the score at 26-19.
Pritchard said, ““It didn’t look that far because I’m tall so I just thought I’ll have a crack. I practise with my brother who came in at No.23. We’re always pushing each other. He’s actually the reason I’m pushing myself to kick better because he’s a better kicker than me.”
St Peters head coach Russell Todd said, “I had most of these boys in grade 11, and we made a cultural shift in the college in terms of rewarding the right behaviours rather than year 12 being a rite of passage playing Firsts. So a lot of these boys played last year and were a really good group. Really close. They worked exceptionally hard.”
“We know what we are capable of and we were very unlucky not to come away with it last week but we fixed up the decision making and got the result we deserved today. I thought our No.8 Barney Radel had a really good game. He led the forward pack and gave us some good go forward, and our skipper Kadin Pritchard was a deadeye with the boot” Todd said.
Scores: St Peters 26 (J Twist, K Pritchard tries, K Pritchard 2 conv, 4 pen) def Villanova 19 (J Moloney, A Jackson tries, D Taylor 1 conv).
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