Live stream: Farrer MAHS hit the road to face Holy Cross Ryde in big Peter Mulholland Cup clash

As promised, Farrer gave it a real crack, but Holy Cross wore down their stubborn resistance in a strong second half effort to open their NRL Schoolboys season in style. Relive all the action.

Holy Cross Ryde has made a winning start to the Peter Mulholland Cup, despite some stubborn resistance from Farrer MAHS, recording a 28-12 victory on home soil.

The visitors showed plenty of fight to tie things up at 12-all at the break, before the class of Ryde proved too much in the end.

Despite Farrer having the early running on the back of a few penalties, a dropped ball close to the line let Holy Cross off the hook.

It was the one opportunity they needed to change the complexion of the contest, with an 85-metre effort swinging the game in their favour.

An early shift allowed Jope Rauqe to sprint down the sideline, before finding Kayden Kanaan on his inside to step his way to the tryline.

A couple of penalties of their own helped Ryde march downfield and a rampaging Abrahem Dahdah proved too much to handle as he extended the margin to 12 in quick order.

They couldn’t take the kick-off cleanly however, opening the door for Farrer, and some nice lead-up play from Leif Deitrich and Matthew Beattie helped Luke Jeffrey to cross with ease in the corner.

It was Jeffrey again that proved the man for the visitors, beating four defenders from 30m out in a brilliant individual effort to cut the lead back further.

And just like that, scores were even right on the stroke of halftime after a big right-foot step from Ned Jordinson helped complete the Farrer comeback.

Chaos at the back for Farrer paid dividends for Ryde, with Rauqe able to touch down a grubber from Kanaan after it was fumbled by the visitors to start the half off in a big way.

Farrer had their chances to hit back, but it was Holy Cross who found gold out wide to

open up an eight-point advantage with 12 minutes to play, as Samuel Mardini

touched down before going into touch.

That lead was pushed out into the unassailable range as big Jean-Paul Kawtal barged his way over from close range to get Holy Cross Ryde’s campaign off to a winning start.

PREVIEW

A few injury withdrawals and Country duty has left Farrer Memorial Agricultural High School with a very youthful side for their Peter Mulholland Cup opener against Holy Cross Ryde on Wednesday.

But what they lack in experience, coach Peter Stevens says they make up with guts and determination.

“We’re young, we’re little, but you know, we’ll have a crack,” Stevens said.

“We’ll just keep chipping away at them and see how we go.”

The Tamworth-based school are on the road for the first of two long pool game journeys, this one a 400km trek to north-west Sydney. They next make the slightly shorter trip to play Central Coast Sports College on June 6.

Catch the game LIVE and EXCLUSIVE on KommunityTV at Holy Cross College at 11am. Check out the full round one LIVE STREAM schedule below.

While it’s been a long time between wins for Farrer at this level, they showed in 2023 that they can match it with the best, going down by just two points to Hunter Sports, six points to All Saints Maitland and they also gave Central Coast a real run for their money away from home.

They do face a tough draw this year with reigning champions Westfields Sports High on their radar along with Central Coast.

“If you want to go into the best competition, you have to play the best sides,” Stevens said.

“And if you’re in it for long enough, you won’t dodge them anyway.

“We will have to be at our best to make it a competition, but as long as they give their best, that’s all we can do.”

Farrer begin their 2024 campaign on Wednesday.

Farrer’s opponents, Holy Cross College, had a poor 2023, conceding 110 points in their first two games before forfeiting their last game against St Dominic’s.

But Stevens said it would be foolish to underestimate them. Memories are still strong of when Holy Cross pulled off a 32-10 success over Farrer two years ago.

“In this school comp, you can go from not having a lot quite quickly,” he said.

“Suddenly you’ve got a good crew come through, or a couple turn up at your school, and you can just change the dynamics.

“We played Holy Cross here a couple of years ago, I wasn’t coaching then, but they had a fair crew and they put the cleaners to us that day.

“I imagine they’re going to be pretty well ready for it.”

TEAM LISTS

Holy Cross College

1. Kaydan Kannan, 2. Samuel Mardini, 3. Jarrod Kannan, 4. Jope Rauqe, 5. Chris Moala, 6. Fnn Kusto, 7. Matthew Fakhr, 8. Taj Mailei, 9. Christian Mardini, 10. Jean-Paul Kawtal, 11. William Stone, 12. Kasinga Noa, 13. Abrahem Dahdah, 14. Max Elias, 15. Brandon Lawandos, 16 Alexander Sharkey, 17. James Baranowski, 18. Isaac Kuto; Coach: Tim White/Sam Raymond

Farrer MAHS

TBC