Replay: U15 Combined High Schools v Combined Catholic Colleges, NSW Schoolboy rugby league

The Combined Catholic Colleges have downed the Combined High Schools after a second half blitz in the U15 NSW Schoolboy competition. Watch the replay here.

A pair of inspiring displays from lock Finau Latu and five-eighth Matthew Humphries has inspired Combined High Schools Under 15s to a 30-14 comeback victory over Combined Catholic Colleges in the opening match of the NSW Schoolboy Championship.

CHS led 14-6 after a dominant first half before Humphries, a St Edwards College, East Gosford product turned the game on its head by scoring one try and setting up another in quick succession.

Humphries class, combined with Latu’s tireless efforts in the middle of the field, proved to be too much for CHS with CCC putting together a 26-0 second-half blitkreig.

“We went in at halftime and spoke about how they’d been tackled 26 more times in that first half and we were only down eight points - I’d be annoyed with our boys if we had that much possesion,” said CCC coach Kyle Churchill.

Looking for the U18 clash between the Combined High Schools and Combined Catholic Colleges? CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE FULL REPLAY

Lachlan Dooner celebrates a try for CCC during the NSW U15 Combined High Schools v Combined Catholic Colleges, State Rugby League Tri-Series held at St Mary's Leagues Stadium. Picture: Jonathan Ng

“We spoke about getting rid of the errors and taking care of the ball, and we did that in the second half. We knew we had a tough team.

“The way Matt controlled the game and got us around the park was great and Finau’s effort on effort led the way for the rest of the middles. They laid the platform for us to build on the second half.

“They’re 15 years old and none of them were in a Harold Matthews system this year after the ages went up this year. There was a lot of coaching in our camp this year, normally it’s about refinement, and it was good to see them take that onto the field.”

Lance Tevi celebrating his try with teammates during the NSW U15 Combined High Schools v Combined Catholic Colleges, State Rugby League Tri-Series held at St Mary's Leagues Stadium. Picture: Jonathan Ng

After St Gregory’s centre Lachlan Dooner scored just after the break to get the fightback underway, Humphries put in a kick to the corner and chased hard, forcing a CCC error in the in-goal before pouncing on the loose ball to level the scores.

Moments later he fired a sharp cut-out pass to centre Sam Carr, who gave winger Riley Oitmann an easy passage to the line as CCC took the lead for the first time.

Latu, a Patrician Brothers Blacktown product, was awarded the official man of the match award for his industrious display.

Hokafonu Lemoto goes in for a try during the NSW U15 Combined High Schools v Combined Catholic Colleges, State Rugby League Tri-Series held at St Mary's Leagues Stadium. Picture: Jonathan Ng

“Kyle just said we were going good and to stick to our rules, to keep them down inside their 20 for the first few tackles,” Latu said.

“We stuck to that the whole game and we lifted. I’ve played a bit of rep footy but this is one of my biggest experiences.”

Tough hooker Aaron Keppie was the pick of the CHS players with his ferocious defense a highlight throughout.

CHS tried to match pace with their rejuvenated opposition but couldn’t conjour the magic of the first half, when they looked to be streaking away with the match - damaging centre Lancelot Tovio was in fine touch early, crossing for a quickfire double.

Luke Laulalii during the NSW U15 Combined High Schools v Combined Catholic Colleges, State Rugby League Tri-Series held at St Mary's Leagues Stadium. Picture: Jonathan Ng

First he jumped on a grubber from halfback Kane Reed after CCC fullback Jaxon Edgar failed to secure the ball in the in-goal.

Reed was again involved for Tovio’s second, this time finding his centre with a short ball off a midfield scrum - the Westfields Sports High School product broke through cleanly and raced 40 metres to score next to the posts.

A try to halfback Toby Rodwell helped stem the bleeding for CCC before CHS struck again just before halftime with Reed and Tovio combining once more to put winger Yasin Kuscu over in the corner.

FULL SQUADS

Combined High Schools Under 15’s

1 Luke Laulalii, Westfields Sports High School

2 Breathan Bilich, Sydney SC Leichhardt

3 Jayze Tuigamala, Endeavour Sports High School

4 Lance Tevio, Westfields Sports High School

5 Yasin Kuscu, Randwick Boys High School

6 Bronson Emery, Endeavour Sports High School

7 Kade Reed, Illawarra Sports High School

8 Jett Woodward, Hunter Sports High School

9 Aaron Keppie, Picton High School

10 Somione Laiafi, The Hills Sports High School

11 Bailey Sigsworth, Brisbane Waters SC

12 Bailey Peschka, Molong SC

13 Hayden Buchanan, Kiama High School

14 Alex Isdale, Westfields Sports High School

15 Connor Votano, Hunter Sports High School

16 Blake Wardrobe, Engadine High School

17 Jerome Goddard, Bass High School

18 Cyrus Stanley-Traill, Endeavour Sports High School

19 Samual Vandermade, Ashcroft High School

20 Cooper Black, Nyngan High School

Combined Catholic Colleges Under 15’s

1 Riley Allen, Patrician Brothers College

2 Sam Carr, St Joseph’s College

3 Lachlan Coinakis, Patrician Brothers’ College

4 Lachlan Dooner, St Gregory’s College

5 Jaxon Edgar, St Dominic’s College

6 Junior Fagalele, Patrician Brothers’ College

7 Jezaiah Funa-luta, Patrician Brothers’ College

8 Jack Hilliar, St Joseph’s High School

9 Cody Hopwood, All Saints College

10 Matthew Humphries, St Edwards College

11 Tom Kirk, Edmund Rice College

12 Finau Latu, Patrician Brothers College

13 Hokafonu Lemoto, Patrician Brothers’ College

14 Kenneth McKeever-King, Patrician Brothers’ College

15 Riley Oitmann John, Therry Catholic College

16 Toby Rodwell, Edmund Rice College

17 Mikayel Tito, Parramatta Marist High School

18 Carson T’malii, Patrician Brothers College

19 Latrell Toby, Smith Emmaus Catholic College

20 Sam Watts, St Joseph’s Regional

Black’s call up the talk of the town

When Nyngan’s Cooper Black spotted his name on the Combined High Schools’ 15s squad list, he wasn’t the only one celebrating.

In fact, the youngster’s call up was the talk of the town.

“The club’s excited, the school’s excited, the whole town’s excited,” Nyngan Tigers secretary Brendan Smith said.

“It’s a great achievement to get that far and it shows the hard work he’s done playing football and training.”

Cooper Black playing for the Nyngan Tigers. Picture: Nyngan Tigers Junior Rugby League Football Club

Black, a versatile and tough five-eighth, has been playing two games every weekend for the Tigers - with and above his age group.

This week, the Nyngan High School student will travel over 1000km with his family to fulfil his NSW Combined Schools Championship duties.

“It’s well deserved, good things happen to good people. Not being a sook, but you don’t get given nothing out here, you’ve got to work for it,” Smith said.

“It’s good to know the bush kids have a chance to get down there. A lot of time, when you go to these rep things, people have it in their heads that the team’s already picked. This is recognition that he’s a stand out, if he’s been picked from out at Nyngan.”

Orange’s Jack Cole, Tumut’s Ethan Gilchrist and Molong’s Bailey Pechka will also represent country NSW for CHS.

Cole impressed with Penrith’s SG Ball side this year - the five-eighth drove down to Sydney every Friday for training and played most Saturdays.

“He’s probably exceeded his expectations this year. He travelled once a week, as a year young fella. He made the SG Ball side and played pretty much every week when available,” Panthers Elite Pathways manager Ben Harden said.

Jack Cole has impressed for the Panthers’ SG Ball side. Picture: Bryden Sharp.

“Then made the City side and didn’t look out of place in that game out at Bankwest. Then makes the CHS side ... if he lived in Sydney he’d be in our Flegg squad.”

Harden expects Cole to add spark to the CHS opens side.

“He might have exceeded his own expectations, but he definitely hasn’t exceeded ours. We think very highly of him, he’s part of a couple of our elite programs here as well,” Harden said.

“He’s a good young half who runs the ball well, very good defender, has good maturity and patience in his game.”

For the Combined Independent Schools Opens side, big Billy Statham from Cowra will be hard to stop.

The country prop earned his stripes coming through the Western Rams system - he made the Rams’ under 16s and 1s sides and his year was part of Penrith’s SG Ball train on squad.

For the Combined Catholic Colleges, Cody Hopwood, Taj Ridley, Travis Petersen, Jack Hilliar and Sam Carr hail from the Hunter Region.

Originally published as Replay: U15 Combined High Schools v Combined Catholic Colleges, NSW Schoolboy rugby league