2025 Aaron Payne Cup live stream: Kirwan State High v St Patrick’s College, Mackay

While it included a grand final rematch that didn’t quite live up to the hype, there was plenty of highlights from the opening round of Queensland schools rugby league. Catch all the REPLAYS here.

The Kirwan Bears have firmed as favourites to win the 2025 Aaron Payne Cup after outclassing St Patrick’s College 28-6 in a rematch of last year’s decider.

The reigning champions had to withstand wave after wave of attack to open the second half but the brick wall defence was able to handle everything thrown against it.

Kirwan defended a four-point lead for 15 minutes after halftime before finally regaining momentum and finishing the game with a three-try flurry.

CATCH THE AARON PAYNE CUP REPLAY ABOVE AND THE NRL SCHOOLGIRLS CUP AND COWBOYS CHALLENGE BELOW

After leading Kirwan’s Cowboys Challenge team through an incredible 2024 season, it’s clear a trio of year 11 stars are ready for the step up into First XIII footy.

Five-eighth Manua Dau had the ball on a string in the first half, setting up Kirwan’s first try with a pinpoint chip kick before scoring an early contender for try of the season with a 90m solo effort.

Trent Martin and Clarvarn Oth reformed their Cubs connection on the right edge and both had shining moments in attack and defence, including a stunning linebreak form tall winger Oth that put the team in position for its first try.

The two linked up again beautifully in the dying stages of the match, racing the whole field to score a sensational four-pointer.

Kirwan State High School winger Clarvarn Oth was one of his side’s best in the win. Picture: Michaela Harlow

St Patrick’s had scored a chaotic try just minutes into the match to open their account after a grubber from captain Joshua Toby pinballed around the in-goal and was eventually grounded by Jack Renehan.

Kirwan interchange forwards Anthony Vaigafa and Rylan Muaulu made a huge impact when they entered the game with their line-bending carries to swing momentum back to the home team.

Vaigafa was just as effective in his second stint, crashing over to give his team a 10-point buffer midway through the second half after Kirwan defended set after set in their own half.

Dau scored his second try of the afternoon when Riley Carbone threw him a beautiful short pass to all-but seal the result for the Bears.

St Patrick’s will need to be more effective in the red zone next week when they take on Mackay State High School, while Kirwan will head up the highway to Cairns to play St Augustine’s College.

KIRWAN: 28 (Kees Anderson, Manua Dau (2), Anthony Vaigafa, Clarvarn Oth tries; Riley Carbone (4) goals)

ST PATRICK’S: 6 (Jack Renehan try; Adam McSherry goal)

REPLAYS

Kirwan SHS v St Patrick’s College – 2025 QLD NRL Schoolgirls Cup Round 1

Livewire fullback Tah’Lucy Querro and halfback Diaz Bowen carried the Kirwan Grizzlies to an emphatic 38-4 triumph over St Patrick’s Mackay.

The powerful Querro looked like she would break tackles on every carry, slipping through the defence with her great balance to score one try while having a hand in a lot of Kirwan’s best moments.

The brilliant Bowen was outstanding with her ballplaying on both sides of the field, setting up a handful of tries and scoring one herself when she scooped up an error from her own kick.

Most of Kirwan’s tries came either directly from errors or from the subsequent set, giving St Patrick’s a clear area of the game to work on.

St Pat’s took an early lead when a deft grubber from five-eighth Kaitlyn Thiedeke ricocheted into the in-goal and Jade Williams pounced on the ball to score.

But an error gave Kirwan the chance to start a set deep in attack and Querro used her speed and strength to brush off three defenders and score from the ensuing scrum.

A nice short pass from Diaz Bowen sent Jakaia-Lee Collett across the line on the stroke of halftime to allow the Grizzlies to take a 16-4 lead into the break.

Siena Tabacchi’s speed was on full display when she found herself on the end of a backline move from a scrum, blitzing around the defence to score in the left corner as the Grizzlies put St Pat’s to the sword.

Tenacious Grizzlies centre Millie Fulford completed her hat-trick after the final siren, scooping up an errant pass to score her third of the day untouched. Fulford was rewarded with the chance to convert her own try from in front, but her attempt banged off the right upright.

KIRWAN: 38 (Tah’Lucy Querro, Millie Fulford (3), Jakaia-Lee Collett, Siena Tabacchi, Diaz Bowen, Aydah Ross-Kelly tries; Mia Pashley (3) goals)

ST PATRICK’S: 4 (Jade Williams try)

Kirwan SHS v St Patrick’s College – 2025 Cowboys Challenge Round 1

Kirwan State High School survived a late flurry of tries to claim a thrilling 12-10 victory over St Patrick’s, Mackay, to kick off the Cowboys Challenge season with a win.

St Patrick’s scored back-to-back tries late in the contest to come within two points of the Cubs, but they were unable to land the killer blow.

Both teams were able to string together some good sets after a number of early errors in slippery conditions, and it took a moment of individual brilliance to open the scoring.

The deadlock broke midway through the first half when Kirwan winger Jacob Peachey caught the ball on the full at speed and raced 80m before he was brought down.

The Cubs spun the ball to the right and opened space for centre Jeffrey Tugai to step his way over the line and slam the ball down to give his side the 6-0 it would carry into the break.

Kirwan co-captain Malakai Martin broke the line to give the Cubs some great field position early in the second half and a dominant tackle from the rangy lock and Sonny Meti forced an error from the visitors.

It didn’t take long for Jarrad Skiba to crash over with a strong run close to the line and Kirwan took a 12-0 lead following Travel Ngatuakana’s conversion.

St Patrick’s hit the scoreboard when hooker Mason Muscat poked a perfectly weighted grubber into the in-goal and five-eighth Harper Shields won the race to the ball.

Another quickfire try – this time from left backrower and co-captain Tom Mulherin – gave goalkicking prop Lucas Haack the chance to level the scores from the sideline, but his conversion sailed across the face of goal.

A desperate trysaving tackle from marker by Kirwan prop Eti Tepulolo secured the win, dragging Muscat down after he looked to have broken the line on the final play of the game.

KIRWAN: 12 (Jeffrey Tugai, Jarrad Skiba tries; Travel Ngatuakana (2) goals)

ST PATRICK’S: 10 (Harper Shields, Tom Mulherin tries; Lucas Haack goal)

PREVIEW

The Aaron Payne Cup will kick off with a bang on Thursday with a rematch of the 2024 decider between the Kirwan Bears and St Patrick’s, Mackay.

The grand final replay is the headline act from three enticing games of rugby league at Kirwan State High School as the Queensland Schoolgirls Cup and Cowboys Challenge both begin.

The Payne Cup clash will be free to watch live, but a full digital subscription will be needed to access the live streams of the Cowboys Challenge and Schoolgirls Cup.

Every match of the elite Queensland schools rugby league competitions will be exclusively streamed on KommunityTV in 2025.

Kirwan State High will kick off its Payne Cup title defence in style in a grand final rematch with St Patrick’s College. Picture: Michaela Harlow

Kirwan Bears head coach Todd Wilson said their season opener was about more than just the all-important two competition points.

“We haven’t played a game yet, so (the players) have a lot to prove,” Wilson said.

“We’ve certainly got some high hopes for a number of players, but we’ll just see what happens when we play St Pat’s. We’re expecting them to be a real quality opposition.

“We’re expecting a tough game. That Capricornia side at the state champs had a lot of St Pat’s kids and they pushed the best of those southern sides – they’ve done well through the Mal Meninga and Cyril Connell so we’re certainly expecting a tough game.”

The Bears have every reason to be cautious about Thursday’s blockbuster season-opener.

A number of St Patrick’s stars – including dynamic five-eighth Adam McSherry, Mark Morrow and Ryan John – return for another season of Aaron Payne Cup after being among the competition’s standout performers last year.

St Patrick’s playmaker Adam McSherry will lead the school’s charge toward the Aaron Payne Cup in 2025. Picture: Michaela Harlow

The terrific trio have only gotten bigger and better in the past 12 months and St Pat’s coach Shane Mau said the team would enter the competition with a focus on defence.

Mau said his players would need to be switched on from the get-go to stop the Bears running rampant.

“They’re always very tough. They’re usually a very big side and very mobile,” Mau said.

“So we’ll be concentrating on defence – that’s probably going to be our main focus for this, and probably for our first couple of games: really big defensive efforts.

“We’ve probably got the strike power with our attack, but defence is going to win this one.”

The Cowboys Challenge fixture kicks off the day’s action at 10.20am, followed by the schoolgirls at 11.20am and Aaron Payne Cup at 12.20pm.

Originally published as 2025 Aaron Payne Cup live stream: Kirwan State High v St Patrick’s College, Mackay