SCHOOLS • RESULTS
CAS
Waverley College 53 def 12 Knox GrammarBarker College 45 def 17 Cranbrook School
Trinity Grammar School, Sydney 48 def 10 St Aloysius' College
ISA
St Augustine's College 47 def 14 St Gregory's College, Campbelltown
St Pius X College 22 def 31 Oakhill College
GPS
St Joseph's College 24 def 19 The Scots College
The King's School 32 def 12 Newington College
St Ignatius' College, Riverview 57 def 7 Shore
St Pius X College 1st XV vs Oakhill College 1st XV
22 - 31
By Oscar Nowak Allcorn, Oakhill Y9 Student & NSW Rugby Junior Reporter
Photos courtesy of Michael Remaili
8th August 2020
The faces of the Oakhill men said it all when the full-time whistle was blown, sealing the win just as the buzzer went off at Chaplin Oval with a final score of 22-32 in the first round of the ISA competition.
Oakhill started the game kicking the ball to St Pius. Oakhill got the ball back immediately following a Pius error. As soon as Oakhill got the ball they consistently ran into Pius defence, gaining valuable metres at every phase. After a few phases Oakhill got very close to the try line. Jayden Mojalli powered over the line putting Oakhill’s first points on the board. The conversion by James Skuodas was successful.
The game was filled with intensity from the kick off with some great tackles and individual plays by Oakhill's Jett Peters, Doug Sullivan, Sam Pickard and Pius’ Will Chan, Stu Dingley and Brynnmore Mendell.
10 minutes after the kick off Oakhill scored again. Oakhill had their backline set and they passed the ball to fullback Jordan Lee Bacon. Bacon received the ball and put on some great footwork, stepped 3 of Pius’ defenders and sprinted 50 metres before putting the ball down to score. The conversion was successful by James Skuadas.
2 minutes later Oakhill put more points up on the scoreboard. Oakhill was 30 metres from the tryline when Doug Sullivan made a line break and drew Pius’ fullback towards him just before he passed it to scrum-half Finn Watkins. Watkins sprinted to the try line and scored. The conversion was successful by James Skuadas taking the score to 0 - 21 Oakhill's way.
In the first 20 minutes of the game Oakhill had the most possession of the ball compared to Pius. Pius, let down by simple things like missing tackles and unorganised defensive structure, allowed Oakhill play to their own style and dictate the game.
This changed late in the second half, with Pius gaining more possession of the ball and starting to look promising in getting some points on the scoreboard.
With 5 minutes left in the first half, Oakhill gave away a penalty to Pius just on the sideline 20 metres out from Pius’ try line. Pius passed the ball very quickly through the backline all the way to winger Gregor Dingley. By the time Dingley got the ball he was 10 metres from the try line. He sprinted to the try line and scored Pius’ first points in the game. The conversion by Will Chan was unsuccessful.
Half time score was sitting at 5 - 21 to Oakhill.
Pius started the second half kicking to Oakhill.
The play in the first 10 minutes of the second half was outstanding. Oakhill’s Doug Sullivan, Jordan Lee Bacon (try saver), Finn Watkins (try saver), Cooper Griffin and Ethan Barone delivered some great tackles. Pius’s Brynnmore Mendell, Fred Baddock, Gregor Dingley and Stu Dingley also showcased some excellent tackling.
15 minutes into the second half Oakhill scored. Centre Josh Basso made a break 30 metres from the try line and the only thing stopping him to get to the try line was Pius’ fullback. Basso, with 2 Oakhill men supporting him, passed the ball to winger Nick Charlwood, who scored untouched.
5 minutes later, Pius found the tryline. Pius was right on the tryline and Oakhill did very well defending their line but after 12 phases of constant tackling and rucking, Pius’s forwards found the tryline and scored, taking the score to 10-26. Conversion was not successful.
8 minutes later Pius scored again. Pius got very close to the try line again and after 15 or so phases Pius’s scrum half Zac Davidson put the ball over the tryline and scored.
At this point of the game the scoreboard was sitting at 15-26. Oakhill was feeling the pressure as they dropped some of the intensity they started the second half with.
5 minutes later Pius put more points on the board. Fullback Stu Dingly made a line break on the 40 metre line and managed to break through another tackle to score. The conversion was successful making the score 22-26.
With 1 minute left in the game, both teams were working extremely hard to either secure the win for Oakhill or for Pius to score again.
Pius had the ball, they passed it to their backline having one overlap on the wing. They looked extremely promising to score and take the win but Oakhill’s winger James Skoudas took the interception and sprinited to the try line and scored just as the final buzzer went off. The crowd went wild as they could not believe what they just saw.
That last minute try made the final score 22-31 Oakhill’s win.
A great game of footy played by both teams especially in the second half.
