Peter Mulholland Cup live stream: Westfields Sports and Hill Sports battle it out for pool supremacy

Lachlan Galvin was unstoppable as Westfields stamped their authority early over one of their big rivals for the Peter Mulholland Cup title. Relive the action from the LIVE STREAM.

What was supposed to be a tightly contested first place battle in the Peter Mulholland Cup seeded pool turned into an absolute demolition, as Westfields Sports destroyed Hills Sports 40-4 at Aubrey Keach on Wednesday.

Westfields, who finished the preliminary rounds unbeaten and look one of the teams to beat for the title, had it won in the first half after running in five tries.

Their only defensive blemish came in the second half when Hills scored their sole four pointer.

“Things just clicked in the first half,” Westfields coach Troy Weeden said.

“We had a plan going in and we didn’t stray from it.”

Lachlan Galvin was unstoppable, picking up two tries in the first half and another in the second for a hat-trick, and Weeden said was full of praise for the young five-eighth.

“He’s on the ball all the time, he’s just very eager and is always either scoring the tries or contributing to them.”

Will Craig also added to his season’s try tally, scoring once in each half for six tries total tries this year.

Hills showed some glimpses of performance early in the second half, but sloppy errors at the line ruined any chances of scoring.

Jayden Schokman planted Hills’ only try after 50 minutes.

“Hills were playing for a bit of pride in the second half,” Weeden said on letting the try through.

“We just strayed a bit from the plan in the second and Hills were there.”

PREVIEW

Injuries could well be a deciding factor as two of the top teams in this year’s Peter Mulholland Cup prepare for a marquee battle on Wednesday.

Hills Sports High School and Westfields Sports High School both come into the final pool match undefeated, with the winner set to claim top spot in the seeded pool.

But neither school will be at full strength after a busy period of action, which included the recent Schoolboys national competition, as well as weekend footy holiday commitments, took its toll.

This blockbuster match will be available to stream LIVE and exclusively on KommunityTV on Wednesday at 1pm from Aubrey Keech Reserve. See the full week-long Schoolboys schedule below.

“We’ve got a few boys under some injury clouds on the back of that championship,” Hills coach Scott Jones said.

“But even some just over the holidays with weekend footy.

“We’ve got four definitely out and potentially another one or two, so I’ll be having a discussion with the coaching staff as to whether we put those boys on ice and just get them through to the quarter final.”

Westfields coach Troy Weeden said he was expecting ‘two possibly three’ withdrawals because of injury, but he.wasn’t too concerned.

“We got a couple of injuries coming out of the holidays, but we were expecting that,” he said.

Hills have started of their 2023 campaign with two wins.

“The boys have been focusing on this competition throughout the year, the Schoolboys nationals kind of got in the way of it.”

The coaches had differing opinions on what the result meant to the draw for the final eight.

The four quarterfinal matches will be played back-to-back at Lidcombe Oval on August 16.

“Given how the pools go into the quarters, it’s not a bad position to finish in first given the other results so far,” Weeden said.

Jones responded: “Every game we want to win, without a doubt..

“Just the way the competition is set up, there is just no real tactical advantage to coming first or second. 

“Sometimes you can finish third and get an easier game in the quarter final.”

Hills eventually got the better of Patrician Brothers, Blacktown.

Hills, last year’s beaten grand finalists, started their 2023 campaign with wins over Endeavour Sports and a last-start four-point thrilling win over St Pats, Blacktown.

Westfields also had trouble putting away St Pats, Blacktown before a a more comfortable win over Endeavour.

“It’s always a good game when we play Hills,” Weeden said.

“They’re always up there and there’s a bit of a rivalry.”