Peter Mulholland Cup live stream: Holy Cross, Ryde look to bounce back against St Gregory’s College
A star performance from fullback Heath Mason has stamped St gregory’s credentials as a finals contender in the Peter Mulholland Cup. Watch the REPLAY and see some great pics from the game.
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A Heath Mason hat trick has stamped St Gregory’s credentials as a finals contender in the Peter Mulholland Cup this season.
The fullback was sublime with ball in hand, scoring an impressive double in the opening 10 minutes to heap the pressure of Holy Cross, before throwing the final pass in two second half tries as the Campbelltown powerhouse ran away with a 50-10 win.
It was another tough loss for the young Holy Cross side, who have now conceded 110 points over two rounds of the NRL Schoolboys Cup season.
WATCH THE FULL MATCH REPLAY IN THE PLAYER ABOVE
But in a positive sign for the inner-west school one of their youngsters Kayden Kanaan scored their first points of the season while halfback, and Year 10 student, Christian Azzi showed plenty of spark with ball in hand.
In the end it was St Gregory’s size advantage through the middle of the field that proved a mountain too tall to climb for Holy Cross.
Front rower Cooper Clarke and lock forward Jed Reardon bashed down the front door of the Holy Cross defence in a dominant first half, and there was no let up when the bodies started coming off the bench.
Will Stimson, the younger brother of NRL forward Joe Stimson, was impressive in an extended stint on the field while Sebastian Sykes and Cooper Black made a massive impact when they entered the game.
Black, who grew up in the small outback NSW town of Nyngan, set up one try and scored another off an intercept in the second-half as the St Gregory’s side ran away with the contest.
It was a day that belonged to St Gregory’s skipper Mason, who shook off a couple of dropped balls in the backfield, to inspire his side to a dominant second round win and take their record to 1-1 to start the season.
Preview: St gregory’s determined to drop silly errors from game
In the end, loses are loses, but the manner of the first round defeats for St Gregory’s College and Holy Cross, Ryde couldn’t have been more contrasting.
St Gregory’s lamented ‘silly errors’ in their 20-4 defeat to St Dominics.
Holy Cross, on the other hand, were blown away in a second-half points-scoring frenzy by Bass High.
But which ever way you look at it, both sides have points to prove when St Greg’s make the 50km journey north to Ryde for the next instalment in their Peter Mulholland Cup journey on Wednesday.
You can catch the game LIVE on KommunityTV as part of a four-game NRL Schoolboys spectacular from 1pm at Holy Cross. See the full schedule below.
Considering the teams are in such a cutthroat pool, victory is vital if they are to stay in the hunt for the quarterfinals - and St Greg’s coach Tom Morrison pinpointed where his team must improve.
“We made some silly errors,” he said, looking back on his side’s loss to St Dominic’s.
“We defended our tryline too long, and then in the second half we were just chasing our tail.”
Morrison was wary of the Holy Cross threat despite the enormity of their first round defeat, saying it ‘will likely make them more hungry for results.’
“You’re always concerned about a team that doesn’t have a good performance,” Morrison said.
“Because they always want to turn it around and show that was a mistake or a once-off.
“From what I’ve seen, they look like a pretty young team. So our focus will be to put a lot of pressure on them and hope our experience helps us a little bit.”
Holy Cross coach Tim White insisted before the start of the season that 2023 would be a learning experience for his team.
“I’m just expecting them to compete and stay in the game, and build up as a team for next year.”
Bouncing back from such a hefty defeat is all part of that process.
TEAM LISTS
St Gregory’s College
1 Heath Mason (C), 2 Cooper Mangan, 3 Callum McMenemy, 4 Damon Potts, 5 Luke Fielding, 6 Luke Cannon, 7 Lachlan Dooner, 8 Cooper Clarke, 9 Dylan Smith, 10 Lucas Rossi, 11 Harvey Gay, 12 Archie Duncombe, 13 Jed Reardon, 14 Liam Walsh, 15 Sebastian Sykes, 16 William Stimson, 17 Cooper Black, 18 Jesse Rafferty
Holy Cross College
1. Kayden Kanaan, 2. JK Rauqe, 3. Will Stone, 4. Vili Koroitamana, 5. Sam Mardini, 6. Christian Azzi, 7. Angus Gobran, 8. Kalani Marseu, 9. Levi Moon, 10. Jayden Jenkins, 11. Jean Paul Kawtel, 12. Abraham Dah Dah, 13. Max Elias, 14. Daniel Rafferty, 15. Will Fitzpatrick, 16. Michael Papas, 17. Rory Davison, 18. Sebastian Ozbenian
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