Live stream: Kirwan SHS take on St Augustine’s College in Aaron Payne Cup semifinal

With their left edge running rampant and halfback Riley Carbone in total control, Kirwan piled on the points to sink St Augustine’s and reach Thursday’s grand final. Check out the REPLAY.

Kirwan State High School dismantled the previously unbeaten St Augustine’s College 38-10 to book their ticket to next week’s Aaron Payne Cup decider.

St Augustine’s struck first and confidence was high in the opening minutes, but that would be one of the only shots fired by the Far North school in the first half as Kirwan ran away with the lead.

Kirwan’s left edge ran rampant in the first half as Cohen Dittmann and Heath Bethel combined for three consecutive tries.

Bethel had a number of powerful runs down the left edge, especially coming out of his own half, and the tall winger’s hard work paid off five minutes before halftime when he found himself on the end of a backline spread and dived over in the corner.

The visitors scored again within a minute of halftime when barnstorming prop Cayde Miller ran a great line and crashed over, but that faint whiff of an upset was quickly blown away when athletic right winger Davidson Benioni strolled across to push the score back out of reach.

Bears halfback Riley Carbone put on a kicking master class from the tee, nailing five of seven goals mostly from near the sideline, and he was also very sharp in attack when he got involved on both sides of the field.

Eneliko Savelio put the result beyond doubt midway through the second half when he was unstoppable from a metre out, somehow grounding the ball through a pack of determined defenders.

Co-captains Logan Brookes and Wil Hope each scored late to put the cherry on top of terrific performances.

The grand final next week against St Patrick’s College, Mackay will be one to savour, that’s for sure.

KIRWAN SHS: 38 (Cohen Dittmann (2), Heath Bethel, Davidson Benioni, Logan Brookes, Wil Hope tries; Riley Carbone (5) goals)

ST AUGUSTINE’S: 10 (Sam Jonsen, Cayde Miller tries; Lucas Russell goal)

PREVIEW

The winners of both Pool A and Pool B of the Aaron Payne Cup are ready to lock horns in the ultimate grudge match as the curtain-raiser for an NRL blockbuster.

Kirwan SHS take on St Augustine’s College at Queensland Country Bank Stadium, before the Cowboys take on Queensland rival Brisbane Broncos on Saturday evening.

The Saints finished their regular season undefeated while Kirwan finished with a record of four wins, a loss and a draw.

Catch all the action LIVE and EXCLUSIVE on KommunityTV from 3.10pm. Check the week one Queensland Schoolboys finals LIVE STREAM schedule below.

Kirwan coach Todd Wilson said they will have to be at their best to beat the Saints.

“The boys are really looking forward to the contest and the opportunity to play the curtain raiser for the Cowboys,” Wilson said.

“They have had a really good campaign the Saints, they will be tough to beat.

“We get our fullback and captain (Logan Brooks) back after he was away playing OzTag for Australia, so that will be a welcome return for us this weekend.

Logan Brookes is a key inclusion for Kirwan.

“But I think our pack will have to stand up this week if we are to be any chance.

“So it starts with the pack and then any decision made by the halves and the outside backs off that.”

Kirwan won their first three games before dropping the game against St Patricks’s and then drawing with Ignatius Park.

But before the loss, when most teams had their school break. Kirwan headed to New Zealand to play off against two international schools.

“In between round 3 and 4 we toured New Zealand and played a game in Christchurch and a game in Auckland,” Wilson said.

“They were pretty tough physical games and we learnt a lot out of that.

“Then the St Pat’s loss, it gave us a real sharp focus on where we need to improve and work on.”

On the flip side, St Augustine’s College are in red hot form as they head into the knockout stage.

They are the only team to go undefeated in the whole tournament, but coach Kris O’Farrell said it means nothing if you get knocked over at the first hurdle.

Can St Augustine’s take down the Payne Cup favourites?

“We had a good Aaron Payne Cup campaign and we will look to build on it again on Saturday,” O’Farrell said.

“They (Kirwan) have the who’s who and deserve to be favourites. They will go into the game as heavy favourites.

“They’ve got rep players across the park, they are a class act, experience across all aspects of the park, representative players in their squad.

“They deserve to be favourites to take out the competition.

“All we need to do is play the way we have been playing, get the ball on our terms and play our brand of footy and not getting sucked into their style of game play.”

Originally published as Live stream: Kirwan SHS take on St Augustine’s College in Aaron Payne Cup semifinal