GPS rugby: How your school went in round 3
The third round of GPS Rugby delivered one of the upsets of the year so far with Gregory Terrace beating ACGSÂ for their first win of 2020.
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TWO red cards, two yellow cards and a brilliant showing from David Vaihu set up one of the year’s biggest upsets with Gregory Terrace beating Churchie 38-24.
It was the dream start for the visitors with No. 7 Henry Wilson breaking through the middle of the ground before a brilliant offload to Sam Farrar.
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The scrum half then popped it up beautifully for lock Jock Macpherson to finish a great team try.
Shortly after a red card was given to James Hanham early in the first half after the touch judge saw a headbutt in a maul.
It was followed by a yellow card to flanker Henry Wilson who was given 10 minutes for a dangerous tackle.
Churchie fought hard with the two missing players but it was just a matter of time with Captain David Vaihu fending beating a few to score from close range.
Terrace scored again just before halftime with an old-fashioned barge over from No. 8 Aidan Chambers giving them a five-point lead going into halftime at 12-7.
The half started with the game’s second red card. Henry Wilson received his second yellow which turned to a red for a dangerous tackle.
The floodgates opened for Terrace with lock Fergus Nasser and outside centre Jonathan van Aswegen both scoring in quick succession.
Churchie weren’t willing to roll over, with pressure building on Terrace’s line leading to astonishingly the third yellow card of the game, this time to Gregory Terrace’s Jonathan van Aswegen.
They scored the very next play giving Churchie fans hope with George Stoddart bustling his way over.
David Vaihu had an incredible day out, making a huge bust before giving a lovely ball across to winger Will Hancock to extend the lead.
Vaihu didn’t stop there, bewildering the Churchie defence on his on line and running another 60m.
Fly half Riley Lee scored shortly after going over untouched via a nice offload, but Churchie started to fight back.
They scored two consecutive tries through substitute Archie Wilson and winger Noah Coleman but it was too little to late.
Gregory Terrace Assistant Coach Reg Tayler said the school’s first win was a result of attacking directly and some strong defence in the first half.
“It gives them a lot of confidence, and we’ve been confident all year we just haven’t been able to get the result,” Mr Tayler said.
“We were confident coming into today but obviously we weren’t necessarily favourites but it was really good to get on top of them and finally get that win.”
Captain David Vaihu was sintilating today, but Mr Tayler says he’s not even at his best.
“He can actually play better than that, if he plays to his potential he could be one of the best players in this competition.”
Churchie’s Director of Rugby, Andrew Moloney said the team showed some real fight in their first loss of 2020.
“It’s always a challenge when you lose a couple of players early but I think our boys can hold their heads high to be 13 on 15 for a long period of time we’re just really proud of the effort,” Mr Tayler said.
“The coaches have done a great job with this team they've had some challenges during the week and some challenges during the game but they kept their heads, stayed in the game and I thought they looked pretty good when they had the ball in hand.”
OTHER SCORES
In a fantastic match, premiers The Southport School pulled the match out of the fire to defeat Brisbane Grammar School 20-15.
TSS scored five minutes from the end after the scores were locked at 15-all.
“It was a really close game as the scores indicated,’’ said BGS director of rugby Phil Mooney.
“We had our chances and did not take them and they took their chances.’’
Tom Sullivan was promoted late at prop to start for the first time for BGS, while Will Petersen also made an excellent debut.
“It was just a good performance across the team. We competed very well.,’’ Mooney said.
Brisbane Boys College 49 defeated. Ipswich Grammar 20
The BBC forwards produced excellent driving play to spearhead their side to victory.
It was scrappy at the start, but BBC blew out the cobwebs when they needed to, with lovely touches again from Taq Annan.
IGS Head Coach Mr Keiran Moffat added: “Essentially BBC dominated all major facets of the game and were simply too strong out wide for the IGS backs.”
While the IGS forwards produced some positive moments, the BBC backline was given too much time and space and scored freely. Best for IGS was Xavier Stowers, Ethan King and Leandro Tupi.
Nudgee College 43 defeated Toowoomba Grammar 14 in Toowoomba.
“We held the ball well, maintained possession and defended our line again well which was pleasing,’’ said Nudgee director of rugby Sean Graham.
“We stayed on task and were really patient when we had the ball and managed to accumulate points.
“But Toowoomba were good again and never gave up.’’