Nudgee College flexed muscles during a grand final rematch as round 1 of GPS First XV rugby got off to a flyer
GPS First XV rugby: A sensational draw, a try by IGS after just 14 seconds and a Nudgee College blitz helped kick-start a stunning round 1 of action. More here on how it all unfolded.
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A sensational draw between Churchie and The Southport School was among the highlight reel moments during a thrilling opening round of GPS First XV rugby.
After the hooter, outstanding Churchie No. 8 Sam Williams plunged down the blindside off a scrum to level the scores 24-all.
It capped a remarkable round 1 that also saw an early nomination for try of the season by Nudgee College against Brisbane State High, and a try after 14 seconds by Ipswich Grammar School blindside flanker Tom Smith against Gregory Terrace.
Nudgee recorded a sizzling 46-22 victory over Brisbane State High in the 2024 grand final rematch, while a Tyson Walker-inspired Ipswich Grammar clicked into gear late on the way to a rollicking 41-7 away win over Terrace on the Internationals Field.
Impressive blind side flanker Tom Smith scored seconds into the contest.
In Toowoomba, Toowoomba Grammar handled BBC 34-19.
Nudgee College were at times sensational in its 24-point win against BSHS at Fursden Road, with a thrilling first-half try by Oliver Patterson the top of the pops.
Patterson’s dynamic finish to a spectacular 85m movement 30 minutes into the game will take some beating as the try of the season after fellow winger Barry Taukolo sparked the movement with dazzling counter attacking play.
Nudgee College fullback Noah Fien had retrieved a BSHS kick centre field, 85m out, and immediately passed to his right winger Patterson.
Patterson shaped to kick, but then jinked and passed back to Fien which opened up the middle of the field.
The movement then flowed effortlessly via No. 10 Archie Mesritz to his outside centre Billy Spicer, who then found Taukolo near the right touchline.
Cornered by the cover defence, Taukolo grubber kicked infield where Spicer recovered the ball for Mesritz whose sensational lefty flick pass sent Taukolo on a 20m spurt to score.
Wow. What a try it was.
It said so much about a Nudgee College performance that featured confidence when handling, speed of both pass and run, and a positive run first, kick second vibe.
The try also said plenty about the team’s precision and ‘practice makes perfect’ mentality, because to produce like they did against BSHS would have taken days and weeks of training.
Nudgee College’s lineout versatility at pace was also a feature, as was the forward drive, when needed, of No. 8 Teina Graham and rugged loosehead prop Tito Hamala.
Fierce flankers Ben Di Donna and Harry Bate were like identical twins and were equally effective.
Left flanker Di Donna and right breakaway Bate both wore headgear, had identical thigh and knee strapping, and performed similar roles.
Di Donna’s catching skills from lifts in the lineout also added variety to the Nudgee set piece, and it was one such catch and release that created his team’s second try — for Bate, of course.
The middle man in the operation was rampaging No. 8 Graham who powerfully stormed forward from Di Donna’s clean line out catch to ensure his side had attacking ball.
Di Donna also had a hand in his team’s first try, scored by winger Patterson, after he ran a decoy line that opened up the outside of the field for centre Spicer.
Spicer then hurriedly put Patterson over to score.
Nudgee’s line out execution also extended to the other side of the ball, where lock Declan McGuire and that man Di Donna managed to steal possession from BSHS throws.
The Nudgee line out also laid the platform for the team’s fifth try just after halftime. Leading 25-8, having scored five tries, the match was Nudgee’s to lose.
But this young BSHS out rallied.
Shaken but not fallen, BSHS remarkably found themselves in the game, trailing 32-22 midway through the second half.
Two tries in four minutes elevated them from a seemingly hopeless position, into an outside chance.
After a thoroughly deserved pick-and-drive try, BSHS hooker Cyrus Suniula then doggedly burrowed over and the margin was just 10 points.
BSHS will give plenty of cheek this season once their young side settles after blowing out the first-round wobwebs.
While BSHS were well beaten, the side did display plenty of upside and a recovery by this group would not surprise.
Talent abounded through the raw skills of No. 10 Richie Taulagi, fullback Angus Tagicakibau and big, mobile forwards like Suniula, Robert Piutau and No. 8. Jesse Maugatai.
While Nudgee’s 85m counter-attacking try in the first half stole the show, there was also another golden-try nomination in the second period of play scored by winger Patterson.
Key to its creation was a passing exchange between prop Levi Slater and No. 8 Graham, with Graham’s pop pass to Slater simply superb.
On the movement went, through fellow prop Tito Hamala, onto Bate, then hooker Isaac Rauluni before Patterson emerged through the ruck to drive over from close range.
Nudgee’s ability to transition from defensive ball into attack in broken play was stunning, with winger Taukolo a three-try hero.
The Auckland prospect, signed by the Broncos, looks set for a big season.
On the Internationals Field in Tennyson, IGS players or supporters could not believe their eyes when breakaway Tom Smith scored after 14 seconds.
IGS had kicked off, but Smith’s charge down of a clearing kick saw No. 8 Tannar Baker snare the ball and then unload to Smith who found the line in the left hand corner.
Smith was one of four IGS debutants who got their First XV careers off to a winning start and his heroics off the first play will be surely be spoken about at the end of season dinners.
It took the Ipswich local no time at all to announce himself on the big state as he bound forward in anticipation to draw first blood on the season.
Tyson Walker’s booming sideline conversion then gave IGS a 7-nil break before a player on either side had a grass stain on their jumpers.
With the match level-pegging into the second half, IGS then produced a 34-point scoring blitz sparked by a wonderful performance by No. 10 Walker whose stunning 50m solo try iced the party.
IGS’s point-scoring frenzy started seven minutes into the second half after Terrace had done so well to defend IGS’s pick-and-drive attack.
Having been unable to batter down the fortress door, IGS halves Jack Garnier and Tyson Walker then decided to go via the flanks where centres Brock Coombes and Finn Kendall combined to put winger Hemi Rakuita over.
The more the match progressed, the better IGS became, particularly when No. 10 Walker got lightning service from halfback Garnier who was right on the money in his debut.
It was an inside pass from Walker to centre Coombes which gave IGS the momentum for their second try, scored by outside centre Kendall.
All of a sudden IGS led 19-nil.
The poor Terrace forwards would have then been horrified to break from the set piece and see Kendall running 50m to score after they had put IGS under scrum pressure.
Trailing 24-nil, the Terrace forwards then had their spirits raised by a stoic rolling maul try, finished by hooker Charlie Hollyman after the home side had executed with precision from a lineout win.
Within their limitations, the Terrace forwards tried hard and there is promise within the squad if their handling improves and work at the breakdown becomes more polished.
IGS then finished the game in style, with Walker the puppeteer of three tries that put an exclamation mark on the away victory.
A long pass by Walker put winger Rakuita over to score, and soon after he then attacked the blindside to help put boundless No. 8 Baker into space.
Baker ran 40m, thundering past two defenders on his way to scoring.
And finally, Walker left the best until last when his chip and chase break finished with him blazing 50m to score in the corner.
On Churchie’s Main Oval, No. 8 and captain Sam Williams was a late-game hero when he speared off the back of a scrum and scored to equalise the scores for Churchie.
TSS, having scored four tries to one up until the 70th minute, lead 24-19 before inspirational No.8 Williams backed himself on the short side and slammed the ball down to make it 24-all with time expired.
It was magic.
Churchie fullback Angus Underwood couldn’t get the conversion home and that was that.
A 24-all draw to christen the new season.
Underwood had a fine day off the boot, having nailed four penalty goals and a conversion. But his sixth attempt at goal, 5m in from the right touchline, missed by the slimmest of margins.
TSS looked doomed when No. 8 enforcer Elijah Galloway was yellow carded for a high shot with 10 minutes to go. Underwood took the points to make it 19-all and Churchie had a one-man advantage on the final straight.
But it was TSS who scored while undermanned. Blindside flanker Viliami Fifita shrugged off three defenders before barging over.
Fifita’s forceful five-pointer was TSS’s fourth try and it retook the lead after they had earlier returned from 9-nil down to enter the second half with their noses ahead, 14-9.
SMITHY’S SUPERB START
In a match that demanded he be on his game, Year 10 TSS fullback James Smith delivered. Especially in the first half.
Smith’s squeaky clean first-half helped the visitors get on a roll after three successive Underwood penalties saw Churchie lead 9-nil late in the first half.
Smith touch the ball more than any back, except scrumhalf Jason Campese, and kicked so well for touch.
His decision making was supreme. After heavy involvements across the first 10 minutes, Smith made a huge play when he stripped the ball clean off a rival. The keen Churchie forwards were closing in, less than 5m from the TSS line.
Up the field the visitors charged and after a turf-shredding carry by destructive loosehead Kingsley Uys, TSS kicked into gear and lock Lachie Crain crashed over for their first of the year.
In the lead up, the ferocious Fifita and measured Smith had great touches on the left edge before a swift backline shift saw hooker Ryder Tee, defensive terrier Dallas Ingram, Lavender and Ashton McDermid touch the ball before it reached Crain.
Outside centre McDermid scored TSS’s second try when he pounced on a loose offload and raced away 25m to score and take a five-point lead.
Unfortunately for TSS, he could not hang on to a killer late-game offload by Lavender when the hard-to-handle No. 12 had created an overlap as he powered into the Churchie red zone.
Lavender was sensational all game, while Uys was at times impossible to be stopped when he had a full head of steam. Himself and front-row combatants Tee and Hunter Pyke (tighthead) were excellent in the scrum but Churchie’s trio of Hunter Tauakipulu, Harry Batkin and Jacob Knowles did well to limit the damage.
Midway through the second half, Churchie retook its lead, 16-14, just when TSS looked like they were finding its groove.
A superb cross-field kick by flyhalf Charlie Austin fell into the hands of right wing Marty Hatcher and ignited a roar thar rippled through the grandstand.
Quickly Lavender wrestled back momentum for the visitors when a barnstorming 40m right-edge surge, which featured a bump off and dummy, created a one-on-one for winger Dylan Terblanche.
That’s Terblanche’s bread and butter and his try made it 19-16 before Underwood’s fourth penalty goal 11 minutes from time set up a tense finish that saw Williams throw on his cape and snare one point for a draw.
FINAL SAY
TSS showed tremendous bravery and strike power — not just turning Churchie away — but scoring when playing with 14 men in the late stages.
Based on how Williams had been playing all game it was no surprise to see him land the equalising try.
He was simply outstanding alongside gutsy backrowers Duke Thallon and Tom Wood.
Lineout-throwing flanker Thallon, having made about 20 tackles, was the gift that kept on giving in defence.
Churchie halfback Alfie Bowman was a point of difference for the home side. His box-kicking was outstanding and service as crisp as it gets.
Before being yellow-carded for a high shot, debutant Galloway was a strongman in attack while locks Oscar Dunn and Lachie Crain couldn’t have done much more for TSS.
Late in the match, after Williams had scurried 30m downfield from the ruck and into enemy territory, Dunn pulled off a crucial pilfer that staved off Churchie when the scores were 19-all.
Toowoomba Grammar School, chasing a cherished premiership in the school’s 150th year, could not have produced a better start to the season on Old Boys’ Oval against Brisbane Boys’ College.
Scoring in just the third minute was the perfect takeoff as the boys in blue and gold gave it their all en route to a 34-19 win in front of a big home crowd.
Parks near and far were hot commodity in the lead up to Rhymen Tusi picking up Grammar’s first seven points of the season.
The block-busting No.8 converted his own try before BBC’s Cooper Murray, a Warwick ace with speed to burn, scored minutes later to get his debut off to a nice start.
That early back and forth was the precursor for what turned out to be a tight, early-season blockbuster that had a finals feel from the outset.
“It was an outstanding effort from our guys,” said proud of as punch Toowoomba coach Scott Gale.
“They’re a really, really quality team, BBC, so we knew we had our job cut out for us and we knew it would be a 70 minute contest.”
His boys aimed up and produced five tries to BBC’s three, with the TGS defence the stuff of legends.
After TGS had shot out of the blocks in a stellar start, an imposing BBC then lead 12-7 at the break.
BBC’s strong finish to the first half came on the back of some bruising forward play, hard-hitting defence out wide and tries to goal-kicking flanker Gray O’Neill and winger Murray.
The signs were there for Grammar, who looked dangerous every time they spread the ball wide.
Fullback Myles Rosemond was a looming threat every time he had the ball in hand but the Grammar gun was bought down by some defiant defenders before he could fire off passes.
It was all Grammar in the second half, with a large and vocal home crowd watching their side score three quick-fire tries to pull away from the visitors.
“I’m proud of how we came out in the second half,” Gale said.
“We dominated field position and rolled our sleeves up.
“They had us for size so we had to use our speed.
“We’re fortunate to have some speed in the backrow and backline so we wanted to use the ball a little.
“We’re blessed with some X-factor in the outside backs and the support play off the back of that, the boys pushing up through the middle was amazing.”
Tusi worked hard in the midfield, making a number of line-bending runs and scrumhalf Jack Brown was dynamic in behind his No.8.
Flanker Keagan Cook could be seen stopping players in their tracks.
Rosemond, despite BBC handling him well, managed to break through the BBC defence with some nifty footwork and the lightning quick Isiah Wuruki’s commitment to supporting his teammates helped him cross the line for a telling try to finish.
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