SCHOOLS • RESULTS
GPS
Grammar 46 def. 5 Shore 3rds
Kings 36 def. 14 Scots
Newington 26 def. 19 Shore
Joeys 35 def. 21 Riverview
CAS
Barker 31 def. 15 Knox
Waverley 38 def. 31 Trinity
Cranbrook 43 def. 15 St Aloysius
ISA
St Augustine's 47 def. 22 St Pats
Oakhill 20 def. 7 St Greg’s
Oakhill College 1st XV v St. Gregory’s College 1st XV
20 - 7
By Oscar Nowak Allcorn, Oakhill Y9 Student & Waratah’s Junior Reporter
Photos courtesy of Michael Remaili
It was a sensational winter’s day for playing rugby at Oakhill College in cool temperatures with the sun making an appearance every so often. Following many Oakhill and St. Gregory’s teams playing each other throughout the day, it was time for Oakhill’s 1st XV to play against St. Gregory’s 1st XV.
Oakhill kicked off to St. Gregory’s to start the first half. In the first 5 minutes of the game St. Gregory’s did not get the ball at all and in the first 15 minutes of the game they did not even get into Oakhill’s side of the field.
12 minutes into the game, Oakhill found themselves with the first points on the scoreboard. Oakhill knocked on 10 metres from the try line. They got the ball back from a great tackle by scrum half Finn Watkins on his opposite number Lindsay Munro. Oakhill won the ruck and got the ball back. They passed it out wide to number 7 Jett Peters, he got tackled very close to the try line. Oakhill went again, picking and driving trying to get the ball over the line. That didn’t work and they passed it to Jett Peters who scored right on the sideline. The conversion was unsuccessful by James Skuodas.
2 minutes later, Oakhill scored again. Oakhill had the ball 5 metres short of half way on their side of the field. The breakdown was in the middle of the field and number 9 Finn Watkins passed the ball to centre Brook Wells who passed it to flanker Cooper Griffin. Griffin ran 10 metres before offloading the ball to centre Josh Basso. Basso had Finn Wakins on his outside running in support. Basso drew St. Gregory’s fullback in, giving Finn Watkins space. Basso passed the ball to Watkins who ran under the posts scoring Oakhill’s second try for the game. The conversion was successful by James Skuodas taking the score to 12-0.
St. Gregory’s finally got some solid possession of the ball, 6 minutes after the restart. They capitalised on a line out 10 metres from the try line, stringing together a number of phases leading to their backline getting the ball and centre Sam Cramp scored. The conversion was successful.
Unperturbed Oakhill scored again 4 minutes later when number 9 Finn Watkins saw a gap just beside the ruck. He ran through the gap sprinting 50 metres to the try line out-sprinting StGregory’s fullback and the winger scoring in the corner on the try line. The challenging conversion was unsuccessful.
The game featured a number of stoppages through multiple penalties. Oakhill took advantage of one of the penalties by taking the opportunity to kick for goal. The penalty goal was successful by James Skuodas.
Half time score sat at 20-7 in Oakhill’s favour.
St. Gregory’s started the second half kicking to Oakhill. The second half was not nearly as well played as the first half by both teams. There were 16 penalties and 4 scrums in the first 15 minutes.
There were some great individual plays by both teams - Cooper Griffin (great charge down for Oak), Lindsay Munro (great run for Greg’s), Jayden Moujalli (great interception for Oak) and Jack Nicholson (great tackle for Greg's).
The second half was played mostly in the centre of the field and very rarely saw play inside the 22 of both ends. Both teams had some good runs and line breaks, however neither side were able to execute into a try.
20 minutes had gone in the second half when Oakhillsk’s fullback Jordan Lee Bacon injured his ankle during play. He came off to get some treatment from Oakhill’s physiotherapist.
Both teams struggled to put some points on the scoreboard in a half that featured multiple errors and penalties.
With 10 minutes to the final whistle, both teams were hungry to get some points on the board. The coaches made few changes to give some of the reserve players a run including Oakhill Joshua Denison who was back from injury. Denison tore his ATFL ligament in his ankle 3 weeks ago. It is normally a 6 week healing time but Denison sped up recovery with physio everyday since the injury and sleeping in his moon boot. As soon as he got onto the field he made some great tackles. You wouldn’t know he had just returned from a major injury.
The final whistle blew and Oakhill came out victorious defeating St. Gregory’s 20-7. The first half of the game was played brilliantly by both teams.
