CAS
Barker College 69 - 19 Knox Grammar School
Cranbrook School 28 - 24 St Aloysius’ College
Waverley College 39 - 21 Trinity Grammar School
ISA
St Patrick’s College 12 - 33 St Stanislaus’ College
Kinross Wolaroi 31 - 26 St Gregory’s College
Oakhill College 10 - 51 St Augustine’s College
AAGPS
Newington College 42 - 30 King’s College
The Scots College 34 - 38 St Josephs College
Shore School 10 - 33 St Ignatius’ College
Sydney Grammar School 14 - 21 St Ignatius’ College
Match reports
Sydney Grammar School 1st XV vs St Ignatius’ College 3rd XV
Score 14-21 (by David Zhang)
The second last round of the GPS competition, Shore played St Ignatius at Weigall in what proved to be some champagne rugby as both sides displayed their powerful brands of rugby. The match was well anticipated by both sides as a huge crowd turned up to show their support, creating a fantastic environment for players especially the Year 12 boys who were playing one of their final games of rugby for their schools.
The Bumblebees were delighted to be back at home with the support of Grammar’s community while Riverview hoped to make use of this match and prove that they were the stronger side. With kick-off, roars and cheers ignited from the stands as contest remained fairly even for the opening minutes of the game. Grammar and Riverview both played with ferocity as the ball lingered around the halfway line.
As the game picked up some pace, Grammar maintained possession and pushed Riverview back into their own half. Ill discipline caused Riverview to concede penalties which saw a perfect opportunity for Stirling Smith to display his grit and barnstorming runs. With the ball a few metres from their own tryline, Riverview put up some brilliant defence which saw Grammar fail to produce points.
St Ignatius were able to overpower the black and gold boys by securing the ball and hammering Grammar’s defensive line to move the game out of their 22m zone. The ball was recycled quickly, and some deep wide set plays allowed Riverview to strike gold on the wing, conversion successful.
Grammar lacked any substantial response, immediately allowing the winger to once again force Grammar into their own half. Riverview were able to upset the home team with some amazing play that allowed their halfback to slip through a hole straight to the tryline without any attempt of defence from Grammar, conversion successful.
In a lapse of concentration during the final minutes of the game, Grammar invited their opposition back to their tryline causing Riverview to slip in for an easy try once again, conversion successful.
Fortunately for Grammar, their boys came back fresh and revised, understanding the need for determination and focus. Leon Ortega opened the show with a try saving tackle which gave Grammar the fire to move the game to St Ignatius’ tryline. After several attempts at producing points but being held up, Stirling Smith finally scored Grammar’s first try after some hard persistent runs, conversion successful.
In a quick succession, a Riverview players was penalised with a yellow card for a dangerous tackle and allowed Grammar to once again move the game to the opposition’s half. Jack Brown received a crossfield kick but was tackled by some solid Riverview defence.
Grammar dominated the final minutes of the game as St Ignatius began to tire and concede penalties. This led to a try on the wing by Leon Ortega, converted successfully by Henry Munns on the sideline.
Ultimately, Riverview played their usual style of skillful and muscular rugby in the first half while Grammar responded in the second half with their bewildering skills and pure concentration but it was not enough for Grammar as the whistle cut their comeback short and allowed Riverview a well deserved win, 21-14 full time to St Ignatius.
Oakhill College vs St. Augustine’s College
Score 10 - 51 (by Oscar Nowak Allcorn)
What a splendid day of rugby it was between the two big rivals: Oakhill College and St. Augustine’s College. St Augustine’s, undefeated for the season, went into the game as favourites. However, both teams knew they were in for a very hard and physical game.
Referee Tony Fisher’s whistle commenced the game with St. Augustine’s kicking deep into Oakhill territory. As soon as Oakhill received the ball, St Augustine’s were all over them with a tackle and ruck forming 5 metres away from the goal line. Lachlan Brooke decided to kick the ball out of their half but a very quick charge down by St. Augustine’s saw them cross the line for the first try of the game. Luckily for Oakhill Tony Fisher ruled a knock on and no try.
Oakhill won the scrum and this time Lachlan Brooke’s clearing kick went over the heads of St Augustine’s finding the touch line for the first lineout of the game. St Augustine’s Vunga Halaufia’s throw was good, traveling to the back of a line out giving St Augustine’s backs a chance to break through 3 tackles. The pass went through a number of hands before finding its way to winger Addison Hawke who placed the ball on the try line 3 minutes into the game. This time the try was awarded but the conversion attempt was unsuccessful.
Oakhill restarted the game with a drop kick into the hands of St Augustine’s. St Augustine's footwork opened up gaps in Oakhill’s defence of their wing. St Augustine's no 4, Langi Gleeson charged across the line with a dive for their second try 2 minutes after the restart. The conversion was unsuccessful.
Seven minutes into the first half, Oakhill finally got some possession of the ball on the back of a penalty from St. Augustine’s. However, St. Augustine’s defence was very strong. Determined to break through the defence, Oakhill were looking for opportunities which they found on the wing through the fast legs of their winger Dylan Madden who crossed the goal line for their first try. Unfortunately the normally accurate boot of Lachlan Brooke was unable to convert the try.
Ten minutes later Oakhill’s Dylan Madden attempting to score his second try knocked on in almost a replay of his attempt in last Saturday's game against Kinross.
Oakhill continued the attack in St Augustine’s territory by moving the ball. In an attempt to spin the ball to the wing on St Augustine’s 22, the ball was intercepted by outside centre Craig McKenzie who sprinted 72m to place the ball between the uprights to score his team’s third try. St Augustine’s captain Harry Wilson converted the try.
A few minutes later St. Augustine’s no. 9 Freddy Lussick broke Oakhill’s line of defence but knocked the ball on. St Augustine's won the scrum off Oakhill’s feed and proceeded to cross the line scoring another try 10m from the post.
St. Augustine’s continued to find holes in Oakhill’s defensive line with no. 4 Langi Gleeson scoring his second try.
At half time the score stood 5- 36 to St Augustine’s.
Oakhill’s kick to start the second half was somewhat off the mark with the ball crossing over the touchline on the full, leading to a scum being packed on the halfway line.
Oakhill were awarded a penalty for St Augustines’s not releasing the ball. A few phases later Oakhill kicked the ball for Joel Magee to chase, however he did not make it to the in goal in time and the ball was grounded by St Augustine’s.
Oakhill’s captain Sam Dover made a fantastic line break but in an attempt to offload during a tackle he passed the ball into the hands of St. Augustine’s.
Unfortunately, while Oakhill were defending hard, Sam Dover was knocked out in a clash with one of his team mates. As the play continued into Oakhill’s half, St Augustine’s no 15 Daniel Ala came to the aid of Sam until Oakhill’s trainer arrived. Once Sam was in good hands, Daniel sprinted down the field to get into the play of the ball with his teammates. The ball was passed to him and he crossed the line for another try to St Augustine’s.
St. Augustine’s no. 14 Lachlan Bramford got his hands on the ball and broke through a tacked from Joel Magee. Lachlan Bramford ran along the sideline and scored again for St Augustine’s.
Shortly after Lachlan Bramford added another try from St Augustine’s.
Oakhill never gave up throughout the game. Their persistence eventually paid off with outside centre Zachary Fitzhenry crossing the line for Oakhill’s second try. Lachlan Brooke’s conversion attempt was unsuccessful.
St. Augustine’s prop Ofa Tuifua received a yellow card for a dangerous tackle. With one player down St. Augustine’s Lachlan Bramford scored the last try of the game.
Final Score was Oakhill 10 vs St Augustine’s 51.
At the post match function, on behalf of his team, Oakhill’s captain Sam Dover named St Augustine’s Alec Tuitavake best forward and Craig Mckenzie best back. St. Augustine’s captain Harry Wilson named Sam Dover best player for Oakhill. St. Augustine’s captain Harry Wilson praised the Oakhill team saying “The final score didn’t reflect how well you guys played’’.
