Live stream: St Gregory’s College take on Bass High in big Peter Mulholland Cup showdown

Two of rugby league’s most-exciting young juniors went head-to-head on Thursday in a sneak preview of their face-off on the national stage next month. Watch the Peter Mulholland Cup REPLAY.

St Gregory’s College have now done all they can to move onto the Peter Mulholland Cup quarterfinals after a solid 32-16 win over Bass High.

With two wins and one loss, their fate will likely go down to points difference with Bass High still in contention with a game against St Dominic’s in their future, and Endeavour also recording two wins and one loss.

The match was also an early taste for what to expect at next month’s ASSRL Nationals

Cooper Black, who will spearhead the NSW Combined Catholic Colleges campaign at five-eighth in next month’s ASSRL Nationals, got an early advantage in his rivalry with NSW Combined High Schools’ hooker Aaron Keppie.

Black starred for St Greg’s, scoring two tries and converting six while his Bass High rival Keppie helped spark the near-comeback in the first half.

St Greg’s took the fast-starting approach as Gene Whiton opened the scoring barely three minutes in.

St Greg’s seemed much more composed in the opening period, with Cooper Black able to add a second try for his side not soon after.

A penalty from Bass allowed St Greg’s to go for the easy two-points, which Black easily secured to put St Greg’s comfortably 12-0 in front with 10 minutes left in the half.

It was with minutes remaining that Bass found their form with Fouad Turkmani able to plant a try in the corner for Bass’ first points.

It was quickly followed by Aaron Keppie on a brilliant run, doubling Bass’ tries and a successful conversion put the side just two points behind at the major break.

St Greg’s started the second half the same as the first with a try within the first few minutes, this time from Luke Cannon.

Corima Cosgrave added his own try soon after and two successful conversions from Black extended St Greg’s lead out to 24-10.

Bass attempted another comeback with Simione Laiafi bringing it back to 12 points with a converted try, but a second from Black sealed the victory for St Greg’s 32-16.

Both Bass and St Greg’s will have to wait until next month to find out who will progress to the next round when Bass takes on St Dominic’s in the final pool round match.

Check out the full LIVE STREAM details below.

PREVIEW

St Gregory’s are hoping the return of one of their star players will get their Peter Mulholland Cup campaign back on track when they face Bass High on Thursday.

After beating local rivals St Dominic’s in their opening game, St Greg’s crashed back to earth against Endeavour Sports, losing 30-12 in front of their own fans.

But with Roosters junior Lachlan Dooner back in the squad after a stint on the sidelines with a calf injury, St Greg’s coach Tom Morrison expects a significant improvement.

“He’s one of our best,” Morrison said.

“We have very high expectations of him because he’s a high level player.”

St Greg’s head out to Leichhardt Oval for their final pool round match - and you can catch the game LIVE and EXCLUSIVE on KommunityTV from 4.20pm.

Dooner missed St Gregs’ first two matches due to injury, with his side picking up a 12-10 win over rivals St Dominic’s before the Endeavour defeat.

Morrison said while Dooner is ‘chomping at the bit’ to get back on the field, they still have to take precautions.

“He won’t be starting for us,” Morrison confirmed.

Lachlan Dooner (right) is a welcome addition to the St Greg’s line-up.

“He has had an extended layoff and it’ll be one of those gradual return-type processes that we will be doing with him.

“We pride ourselves on looking after our boys properly, so we try not to kind of overload them too much.”

Morrison said he expects a hard match against Bass, who won their match against Endeavour 20-14 back in May, but he expects his boys to rise to the challenge.

“We kind of know what to expect from Bass,” he said.

“They’re a very big and powerful team.

“So the first and most important priority for us is to match them physically.

“So if we can do that, then it becomes basically about who executes and has the better performance on the day.

“Really we just have to kind of meet them in that physical game.”