Five things we can’t stop talking about after Gold Coast District Rugby Union (GCDRU) Grand Final 2021
THE big game experience of Griffith Uni Colleges delivered a finals football masterclass in a dominant Gold Coast District Rugby Union grand final win over Helensvale on Saturday.
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THE big game experience of Griffith Uni Colleges delivered a finals football masterclass in a dominant Gold Coast District Rugby Union grand final win over Helensvale on Saturday.
The clinical Knights were never challenged in a 36-24 victory, absorbing a punishing forwards onslaught from their hosts while building pressure with a surgical tactical kicking game that Helensvale failed to overcome.
Colleges led 33-12 in the 70th minute before a late flourish from Helensvale yielded two tries.
The North Queensland connection fired for the Knights in the first half with Cairns products Kerrod Martorella, two tries, and Connor Kennedy, four-from-four goals and strong kicking from hand, turning the screws to lead 28-7 at the break.
Winger Blayne Wanoa-Commons’ try was the clincher after industrious Hogs flanker Willie Hungahunga closed the gap to 28-14 in the 53rd minute.
FIVE KEY TALKING POINTS
1. EXPERIENCE IS KING
THE Knights kicked off their sixth straight first grade grand final appearance with an average age of 29 in their starting team against a Hogs side at the opposite end of the experience scale.
Colleges captain Jaye Paton said that quantum difference in experience was the key factor in a decisive win.
“You can’t beat experience,” he said.
“Hogs are a really good, flairy team but when teams face pressure like that, especially at those ages, they can crack.
“We played exactly the game we wanted to: we shut down their two big-game players and forced others to try win the game for them.
“That first half was as good as we’ve ever played in my four years and that set us up for the rest of the game.”
2. TAKING OUT TIPU
COLLEGES worked overtime to limit the opportunities of Helensvale livewire Keahn Tipu, who they had identified was responsible for generating momentum in attack.
Tipu was made to make tackle after tackle as the Knights directed hundreds of kilograms of muscle into his defensive channel in a bid to tire out one of the competition’s most dangerous attacking talent.
“He’s so dangerous with the ball that we pretty much made our game plan around stopping him,” Paton said.
“We focused on a good three-step defensive line where everyone got into their face to not let them run, especially Keahn.
“Our job was to shut him down and in that first half we did it perfectly.”
3. DREAM FAREWELL
FORMER Wallabies tourist Richard Kingi’s 77th minute penalty goal for Colleges was the final act of one of the Gold Coast’s greatest rugby careers.
The former Reds, Rebels and Stade Français scrumhalf said a head knock in the major semi-final convinced him it was time to hang up the boots and focus on coaching.
“I made the hard decision and told my wife I’m done, I can’t do it anymore,” Kingi said. “This journey for me has been really special and to end it on this note is amazing.”
Seb Gallagher, Tony Bartley and Cass Walding also retired after the match but Paton confirmed he and props Tee McLean and Lesi Semi would play on in 2022.
4. ONE FINAL TOO MANY
HELENSVALE needed to sweep the competition’s best three teams in succession and came within a half of doing so.
Captain Scott Stokes said the team had been worn down by too many grand finals before the big one.
“We took the hard road in the finals and to our boys credit we’ve taken some hard knocks in the last two weeks,” he said.
“This week was probably just a bit too much and realistically we carried a few boys in this game that if it was a semi-final they wouldn’t have played.”
5. DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH
A 17-YEAR-old fullback was the breakout star of the match for Helensvale as the club’s youngest ever grand final player.
Sean Howlett saved three tries with thumping try-saving tackles and was Helensvale’s best kicker on the day in his fourth appearance in the top team.
Stokes said the Hogs’ custodian was a superstar in the making
BOB SINCLAIR MEDALLIST LESI TAWAKE SEMI PLAYS THROUGH PAIN
COLLEGES prop Lesi Semi played on for nearly 30 minutes on a badly damaged right knee before walking onto the stage to collect the 2021 Bob Sinclair Medal for Gold Coast rugby’s most valuable player.
The former Fijian Under-20s player was left writhing on the ground in pain after Hogs flanker Willie Hungahunga dived at his right knee in a try-saving tackle in the final play of the first half.
Such was his desire to play on in his sixth straight grand final Semi refused to be substituted until the 66th minute.
Winger Blake Griffin said Semi’s toughness was one of the features that had made him beloved to the team.
“No matter how injured he is he gets up and plays,” Griffin said.
“If he gets injured in the first 10 minutes or whatever it doesn’t matter to him, he plays through pain and that’s what we love about him.”
The loosehead prop was the obvious winner for player of the year honours as an 80-minute player who led all props for tries scored with five and spearheaded the competition’s most dominant scrum.
The Dr Rod Thomson Leadership Trophy for 2021’s captain of the year was awarded to Helensvale’s Scott Stokes - surprising even him.
“I had no idea to be honest,” the 27-year-old said.
“I probably play rugby a little bit differently to most captains in that I don’t mind a bit of niggle or push-and-shove. I’m probably the captain with the most yellow cards this year but I felt I grew a lot as a captain.
“It’s an absolute privilege to be named captain of the year.”
Stokes has played for Helensvale since he was a 17-year-old under the leadership of Hogs legend Hayden McCaa.
He praised the lessons taught to him by McCaa now he is the senior player mentoring a new generation of youngsters at the Hogs.
MAHURI PUTS HOGS ON SPIT
NERANG’s nerves held true in the 2021 second grade grand final, defeating Helensvale 34-14 to complete an undefeated season.
Player-coach Te Ari Mahuri led his side to victory against his former club with a try, 4/4 conversions and two penalties.
Props Arapeta Te Paki and Talmage Enoka took Nerang into a 14-7 halftime lead, with Hogs fullback Matt Parsons scoring for his side.
Mahuri took control of the second half to lead 34-7 with six minutes to play with fullback Kyle Turei’s clincher.
Hogs’ flanker Kyle Howlett scored a late consolation try to cut the lead to 20 points at full-time.
COLLEGES’ REVENGE
HELENSVALE’s team of former premiership heroes from 2019 were outclassed by Colleges in a 30-13 grand final thumping in third grade.
Playing under the Hares moniker, Helensvale’s second team in the third grade competition got off to the worst possible start when Knights flyhalf Dion Taumata sliced through to score in the second minute.
An exchange of penalty goals saw Colleges head into the break ahead 10-6.
A 60 metre runaway to winger Kainoa Pasili, a penalty try and another backline strike to James O’Brien took Colleges to 30 points while a try in final play took Hogs to 13.
SURFERS KICK CLEAR TO GRAND FINAL WIN
AUSTRALIAN Schoolboys representative Koji Goulding captained his Surfers Paradise- Nerang combination Under-18s team to a 16-7 victory over the Helensvale Hogs-Bond Pirates combination team on Saturday.
Three penalty goals to Surfers’ flyhalf Eamon Kimmins proved the difference with both sides crossing for a single try.
Surfers waited almost 25 minutes to break the Hog Rats defence for their first to lead 10-0 at the break.
Hog Rats’ fullback Tyler Maxwell scored with 10 minutes remaining to cut the lead to six points before Kimmins’ final shot secured the win.
McDERMOTT RETURNS TO BEACH THAT STOLE LIFE OF BEST MATE
WALLABIES halfback Tate McDermott sits on the edge of the beach at Kurrawa, staring with glassy eyes at the waves that stole the life of a childhood mate almost a decade ago.
He’s returned to this beach just once since farewelling Matthew Barclay, the junior surf lifesaving champion who drowned at the 2012 Australian Championships in a tragedy that transformed the sport in Queensland.
On Sunday, McDermott will take the field for the Wallabies against South Africa at Cbus Super Stadium, 15 minutes from the beach that changed his life forever, setting a rising Surf Lifesaving star from the Maroochydore club on a collision course with rugby union instead.
Barclay, 14, was more than just a mate to McDermott.
The pair were Queensland’s Male Board Rescue champion team for their age division.
Barclay, the stronger swimmer of the team, would sprint to the can before summoning the nuggety McDermott to paddle out on Barclay’s distinctive white board, with its funky green Tetris pattern, to “rescue” him and race back to shore in tandem.
At Kurrawa Beach in March 2012, Barclay set off alone for the Under-15 board race at the Australian Championships.
When a white board with a distinctive green pattern washed up on the sand without its owner, McDermott knew something was amiss.
“As soon as I saw that board wash up I just feared the worst,” the 22-year-old said.
“I just knew something was wrong because that was so out of character for him.
“He was so much bigger and stronger than us and even though it was a massive surf day he’d never lose his board.”
McDermott retreated off the sand to watch from the balcony of the nearby apartment booked by the Barclay family as a frantic search began on the beach below.
Sirens and the chop of helicopter blades soundtracked the most difficult hours of the 14-year-old’s life as the surf at Kurrawa ran purple with rescuer’s dye.
Barclay’s body was discovered 17 hours later at Southport, 2.5km north of his last known position.
He became the third lifesaver to drown during competition at Kurrawa, after Robert Gatenby in 1996 and Saxon Bird in 2010.
For McDermott, the tragedy was the final push to walk away from the sport for good, setting in motion a journey that has led to a Wallabies jersey.
“Obviously that was a pretty tough moment in my life as a 14-year-old,” McDermott said.
“Because it wasn’t just one day and it was over, it was in the news for ages.
“Surf Lifesaving had a lawsuit out and obviously they didn’t find his body until the next day either.
“I’ll never forget that night. When you talk about that transition, that probably put me off surf lifesaving for good.”
McDermott had flirted with the idea of returning to the sport but is haunted by memories he is not sure he will ever be able to fully process.
“When you lose a mate at that age I don’t think you ever really process it,” McDermott said.
“You think of him whenever you’re in the ocean or at Maroochydore Surf Club or even here at Kurrawa. I’d be looking at my board and be reminded of his board washing up, or the emotions we had with his family.
“Steve, Donna and Lauren (his sister) were so strong, but at the same time, they’d just lost a son and a brother. I still love the beach and I don’t blame anyone for it but I didn’t want anything to do with surf lifesaving after that.”
McDermott doesn’t feel the loss of his mate has steeled him to overcome hardships in his rugby career but the experience has given him something even more valuable: perspective.
There is little danger the Wallabies tyro, already a hero of Queensland rugby for his feats in the Super Rugby AU title win, succumbs to the pitfalls of ego that have entrapped others.
He honours Barclay’s memory when he plays and has remained in close touch with the family, a touchstone with real life that keeps him firmly grounded in an era in which the bubble around professional sport can be even harder to escape.
“I do think of him, especially when I’m running out,” he said.
“For me, it wasn’t about steeling me or making my tougher. It’s all about feeling lucky to have known Matt for the time I did when a lot of people didn’t get that opportunity to be close to him. I think about how lucky I am to be in this position, when the days are getting pretty tough at rugby or it’s a hard session you just put it back in perspective.
Sunday will be a difficult day for McDermott, playing in green and gold for the first time on the Gold Coast, at a ground less than 10km from the spot his life changed forever.
“I have no doubts he would be in the stadium if he was still here,” McDermott said.
“It would have been phenomenal to run out in front of him and hopefully I can do him and his family proud.”
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