Peter Mulholland Cup live stream: Hills Sports face Patrician Brothers, Blacktown in big gun match-up

The search for a first win of 2023 goes on for Patrician Brothers, Blacktown after Hills Sports down to pull off an impressive NRL Schoolboys Cup win. Relive the action. Check out the photos.

An electric atmosphere in what was one of the matches of the tournament so far resulted in a stunning come-from-behind victory for Hills Sports High School.

Last year’s runners-up didn’t have the lead until the final minutes of the game when Lincoln Fletcher expertly guided over two penalty goals under pressure for a 16-12 win.

Fletcher said he felt ‘relief’ seeing them both go through.

“I’ve never had a moment like that before,” Fletcher said.

Hills ran into a determined opponent in Patties, Blacktown. Pic: Monique Harmer

Hills have now won two out of two.

It was quite the comeback for last year’s runners up.

“But I knew I had to take my time and it turned out well in the end there.”

The scores were locked at 0-0 for most of the first half, with both sides frequently coming up short on their attacking moves.

Pats Blacktown broke the deadlock in the 24th minute, with Tyson Sangalang pushing through to the tryline for the first points of the game.

Heinz Lemoto added to the lead minutes later and two perfect conversions from Dylan Brettle gave Pats a solid 12-0 buffer heading into halftime.

Fletcher said coach Scott Jones didn’t mince his words at the break.

“Copped it at halftime,” Fletcher said.

Patties couldn’t hang on after such a bright start. Pic: Monique Harmer.

“We just weren’t to our standard, the boys knew we had to dig deep.”

Hills came out after the break determined and it didn’t take them long to halve their deficit thanks to a try from Lorenzo Talatania, which was expertly converted by Fletcher.

Talatania was instrumental in their second as well, dodging Pats defenders before a brilliant offload to Matt Aitchison levelled the scores 12-12 late in the match.

Hills were gifted two late penalties from Pats’ indiscretions, with Fletcher once again showing his worth and converting both.

Hills will face Westfields Sports High School in their final pool match to determine who takes top spot of the seeded pool, but Fletcher said the preparation will be the same as any other game.

“We’ll go back to training, do our individual stuff,” he said.

“And hopefully when we take on Westfields, we’ll be up for it.”

It was one of the games of the competition thus far. Pic: Monique Harmer

Defence was strong from both teams. Picture: Monique Harmer.

PREVIEW

After last year’s heroics, Hills Sports coach Shane Jones obviously has high standards.

Pipped at the post in last year’s NRL Schoolboys grand final, Hills began 2023 with a 36-16 demolition of Endeavour Sports High, but it wasn’t enough to impress Jones.

Hills Sports, who next face Patrician Brothers, Blacktown on Wednesday, were far from the finished product, according to the coach.

“We’ve done a fair bit of review and identified some areas we need to be a lot better in,” Jones said.

The match will be available to stream LIVE on KommunityTV from midday at Ringrose Park as part of a blockbuster day of matches, including reigning champions Patrician Brothers, Fairfield taking on Illawarra Sports High School.

See the latest LIVE schedule below.

Patties’ season got off to a disappointing start, going down to Westfields Sports, who produced an outstanding come-from-behind victory in the second half.

But Jones was wary of the Patties threat, even declaring ‘they are the favourites’ for the big second round match.

“With the team that they have, they are going to be hard to beat” he said.

Na’oia Tofaeano scored a double for Hills in their opener against Endeavour.

“I thought they were the better team for most of that game against Westfields but didn’t get the result, so I know they’re going to be hungry.

“We need to just make sure we stop their roll through the middle, it was an area we were quite poor at with Endeavour.”

Jones missed the last game against Endeavour due to illness, and assistant coach Mitchell Lewis had similar sentiments after the match.

“If we want to be really serious about this competition, we can’t be conceding 18 points every week,” Lewis said.

TEAM LISTS

Patrician Brothers Blacktown

1. Max Laing, 2. Aidan Kebourian, 3. Joshua Patrick, 4. Marcellus Iakopo, 5. Joseph Partch, 6. Jhett Sydir, 7. Dylan Brettle, 8. Zedrick Tupulua, 9. Lachlan Coinakis, 10. Hokafonu Lemoto, 11. Jacob Halangahu, 12. Heinz Lemoto, 13. Finau Latu, 14. Tyson Sangalang, 15. Langa Tukuafu, 16. Roman Tuaimau, 17. Jack Nicholas, 18. Kenny McKeever King, 19. Jared Haywood

Hills Sports High

1. Lincoln Fletcher, 2. PJ Sosaiete, 3. Carter Saua, 4. Albert Litisoni, 5. Cooper Rauhihi, 6. Lorenzo Talatania, 7. Marc Tannous, 8. Matt Aitchison, 9. Jackson McBain, 10. Jordan Uta, 11. Mace Karhani, 12. Hayden Elkris, 13. Jordan Bunt, 14. Logan Huia, 16. Sevuloni Satala, 17. Adam Meslemani, 18. Jayden Schokman, 19. Riley Watson-Miletic, 20. Douglas Tuala