Live stream: Hallam College face Patrician Brothers Fairfield in huge Peter Mullholland Cup playoff

Hallam Secondary College has created rugby league history on the back of a match-winning try which has to be seen to be believed in the Peter Mullholland Cup playoff. Watch the full replay.

Waka Hammond might just be the most popular student at Hallam Secondary College after he led his school to Victorian rugby league history.

The exciting fullback scored a try for the ages in the dying stages of the Peter Mullholland Cup as his side became the first Victorian team to qualify for the tournament’s quarter-finals.

It capped off a 22-17 win against the Patrician Brothers from New South Wales.

After receiving the ball about 30m out from the line, Hammond sidestepped his way and broke three tackles on his way to scoring the game winning try.

It capped off a second half rollercoaster which saw three sin bins and the two sides going try for try.

The opening half was one of nerves with Hallam playmaker hooker Micah Warena scoring the game’s first try before Jeziah Tua’au levelled the game right on halftime.

It didn’t take long for Patrician Brothers to fire the first shot in the second half as Felise Taufa’ao crossed the line on the back of some brilliant build up play.

Phoenix Woods and Alipate Vaka combined a short time later for Hallam with the latter crossing the line after the former had attracted most of the defender’s attention.

Vaka was across the line again shortly after, the man described as a “wrecking ball” in commentary, couldn’t even be stopped by five defenders as he powered his way to the line.

Then Willie Hehea benefitted off a wonderful from Patrician playmaker Brandon Navarro to get across the line with the conversion taken care of with ease.

Navarro thought he might have been the game winner when he kicked a field goal with just over three minutes remaining but his work was undone by Hammond.

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Hallam coach Janan Billings is confident Victorian teams are closing the gap on their NSW school rivals.

The Storm Cup champions, who beat The Grange in the decider last week, will take on Patrician Brothers Fairfield in a playoff to qualify for the quarterfinals of the Peter Mulholland Cup.

The winner faces a final eight showdown with Central Coast Sports at Campbelltown Stadium in Sydney on August 7.

Since Victorian schools have entered the Cup, none have beaten those freom north of the border, with Victoria University losing by 58 points to eventual tournament runners up Patrician Brothers Blacktown last year,

Hallam, who face the 2022 PMC champions, are confident the school can cause a shock on Wednesday.

Waka Hammond was closely marked in the Storm Cup final.

“Like any team we’ve done our homework on Patrician Fairfield,” Billings said.

“We believe that if we play to our best they are definitely beatable.

“We feel like we belong.

“We feel like we are part of the competition.

“We want to go in there and take every opportunity with both hands and make the most of it.”

Billings conceded the school won’t stand a chance if it produces the same performance as the last 20 minutes against The Grange in the Storm Cup final.

After storming to a 36-6 lead in the first 40 minutes, to effectively end the contest, Hallam conceded multiple tries in the last 20 minutes as The Grange roared back.

The final scoreline, 42-24, was enough to get the win but Billings was disappointed with how it played out.

“It’s really important, doesn’t matter what the score is, we’ve got to be a consistent rugby league team,” he said.

“The big word this week will be to not worry about the scoreboard but to do your job for the 60 minutes.

“The first 40 minutes was nearly faultless.

“For whatever reason we took our foot off the gas and gave The Grange a sniff.

“We’re going to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Patrician Brothers Fairfield won the Peter Mulholland Cup in 2022.

Billings said he anticipates the opposition would mark Waka Hammond like The Grange did last week.

The Storm Cup player of the season will be one to watch, if he isn’t tagged, but Billings is also confident the team can handle it if he is.

“The Grange did a really good job on him on Thursday and we didn’t see the best of Waka,” he said.

“If he gets free and they are not marked on him, we’ll see the best of him.

“But I felt like all our forwards stood up on Thursday night against The Grange without Waka and, while he was marked heavily, all the other players stood out.”

Billings added the players would give the contest a red-hot crack, especially at home.

SQUADS

Hallam

1/ Waka Hammond 2/ Latrell Cordtz 3/ Waka Brown-Rapana-Edwards 4/ Memphis Wallace-Unoituapola 5/ Ryder Sparrow 6/ Jayden Matatmua 7/ Izaac Batey 8/ Tevita Tuima 9/ Micah Warena 10/ Alipate Vika 11/ Jactin Samaeli 12/ Ezekiel Tausili 13/ Phoenix Woods 14/ Alijah Waertford 15/ Ethan Cook 16/ Lebron Maea 17/ Kendrick Simiona 18/ CJ Buskermolen 19/ Wyntah Hukui

Pats Fairfield

1/ Sonny Edwards 2/ Tyler Volcov 3/ Glassie Glassie 4/ Jeziah Tua’au 5/ Tarelle Tutu 6/ Brandon Navarro 7/ Alex Isdale 8/ Kimball Liufau 9/ Jireh-Trey Stewart 10/ Willie Hehea 11/ Nevaeh Pritchard 12/ Felise Taufa’ao 13/ Soul Tuiletifuga 14/ Rauna Ryder-Kingi 15/ Spencer Kavapalu 16/ Jayden Hashim 17/ Jayceon Warner 18/ Mouhamad Ayache 19/ Josh Toilalo

Replay: Hallam Secondary College v Patrician Brothers Fairfield - National Schoolboy Cup