Live stream: Kirwan High v St Patrick’s College, Aaron Payne Cup, Round 1

Kirwan High has exacted its revenge, making a dominant start to their Payne Cup campaign against reigning champions St Patrick’s College. Watch the REPLAYS.

Kirwan State High School got its revenge on St Patrick’s College with an emphatic 32-6 victory in the 2023 Aaron Payne Cup grand final rematch in Mackay.

The Kirwan Bears’ lethal right edge combined beautifully to score three first-half tries, two of them coming directly from forced errors, before strong and tall winger Heath Bethel completed his double to seal the result midway through the second half.

REPLAYS

St Patrick’s College v Kirwan SHS (Payne Cup)

Watch the full replay in the window above.

St Patrick’s College v Kirwan SHS (Cowboys Challenge)

Mistakes from the hosts, particularly in their own half, hurt the reigning champions’ chances of success and they were unable to build any real attacking pressure besides when powerful backrower Mark Morrow crashed over for his school’s only try five minutes into the contest.

Morrow enjoyed a terrific first 30 minutes but he was injured just before halftime during a tackle on Cohen Dittmann, forcing the Canberra Raiders-signed forward from the field.

St Patrick’s came out of the sheds with renewed vigour but a spectacular 40/20 from Kirwan five-eighth Marley Proctor put the Bears on the front foot and workhorse lock Diesel Taylor stormed over to extend his school’s advantage.

A second try for right winger Bethel sealed the result with 15 minutes to go, putting a cherry on top of a great outing from Kirwan’s right edge. Hardworking hooker Cooper Cox got just desserts for a great game with a try in the dying stages, using his footwork from dummy half to weave a path to the line.

Kirwan take on Ignatius Park College at home next week while St Patirck’s head north to Townsville to play Cairns school Trinity Bay State High School on neutral ground.

St Patrick’s College 6 (Mark Morrow tries; Adam McSherry (1) goals) def by Kirwan High 32 (Ryan Van Zanden, Davidson Benioni, Heath Bethel (2), Diesel Taylor, Cooper Cox; Heath Bethel (4) goals)

COWBOYS CHALLENGE REVIEW

The Kirwan Cubs opened their Cowboys Challenge campaign with an impressive 28-4 win of St Patrick’s College in Mackay on Thursday morning.

Kirwan scored first when backrower Rocky Jensen ran a great line and hit a hole at pace, accelerating past the defenders and away from the chasers to score a brilliant long-range try.

Fullback Eru Gunn-James made no mistake with the difficult conversion, and he went on to kick four of his five attempts at goal.

The Townsville school made it back-to-back tries minutes later, this time down the right touchline, when a swift passing play unlocked the space for speedy winger Clarwarn Oth to race over untouched.

St Patrick’s scored just before halftime to give them a whiff of hope, but second-half tries to Cubs hooker Malenkai Paraia, interchange forward Leeroy Ahuriri and left wing Bailey Heilbronn put the result to bed.

COWBOYS CHALLENGE

ST PATRICK’S: 4

KIRWAN: 28

(Rocky Jensen, Clarvarn Oth, Malenkai Paraia, Leeroy Ahuriri, Bailey Heilbronn tries; Eru Gunn-James (4) goals)

PREVIEW

For the better part of 12 months Kirwan High have had this date circled on the calendar.

A chance at revenge against Mackay juggernaut St Patrick’s College following last year’s 26-10 Aaron Payne Cup grand final defeat.

But little do they know, their southern rivals have had the match circled for much the same reason.

The clash, which will kick off a huge season of Payne Cup schoolboys rugby league, will be exclusively live streamed on KommunityTV on Thursday.

LOOKING FOR ANOTHER GAME? Check out the full Queensland Schoolboys Round 1 schedule below. Click the links to watch live.

St Patrick’s coach Ian Schiffiliti said his side welcomed the toughest challenge of the season first up.

“Preparation has been good but this week we’ll really find out when we’re tested by a big and strong Kirwan side and we’ll get a real indicator of where we’re at,” Schifilliti said.

“There’s no footage (of Kirwan) to analyse or any of that stuff so we’re just focused on ourselves. We’re expecting a real tight, grindy sort of affair to open the year.”

St Patrick's lock forward Kayne Smith in action during the Phil Hall Cup final against Palm Beach Currumbin. Picture: Matthew Elkerton

During last year’s Payne Cup pool phases, Kirwan and St Pat’s played out an 18-18 draw – the only game the Mackay side did not win in their run to the Phil Hall Cup final.

Kirwan coach Todd Wilson said he was looking forward to testing his boys first up against the school he believed would be the competition’s benchmark.

Wilson said his captain Logan Brookes would be a key cog for the side this season after the fiery fullback finished as Kirwan’s leading Aaron Payne Cup tryscorer last year.

Kirwan High will be determined to make a fast start to the Payne Cup this week. Picture: Evan Morgan

While both teams have lost some of their senior stars, the schools are confident that the next generation of players coming through can be just as impressive.

For Kirwan, the biggest loss would be Australian Schoolboys vice-captain Kaiden Lahrs who is now plying his trade for the Northern Pride in the Queensland Cup while he awaits his NRL opportunity at the Cowboys.

St. Patrick’s 2023 halfback Jaxon Purdue made his Cowboys debut earlier this year in a pre-season trial and his tryscoring heroics will be missed by the Mackay college.

Schifilliti said his new halfback Kooper Shears – the younger brother of North Queensland Cowboys Young Gun Will Shears – would be an integral member of his team.

“Kooper Shears will be pivotal in what we do, he was kind of like an understudy last year to Jaxon (Purdue) and Bailey (Venz),”Schifilliti said.

“He was part of the squad last year and now it’s time for him to steer the ship around.”

Thursday’s action starts at 9.30am with the Cowboys Challenge before the Aaron Payne Cup fixture at 12pm.

Originally published as Live stream: Kirwan High v St Patrick’s College, Aaron Payne Cup, Round 1