Rugby Match Reports – June 16, 2016

St. Patrick’s College 1^st XV vs. Trinity Grammar (A) (16/06)

Full time: 26 -“ 17 (HT 14-0)

Try scorer/s: Pou Siola’a, Ryan Yeomans, Chris Tuitea, Eddie Sauvao

Conversion/s: Pou Siola’a (3/4)

5 -“ Pou Siola’a 4 -“ Jayden Cooper 3 -“ Eddie Sauvao 1 -“ Regan Champley/Chris Tuitea/Simon Porter

Ultimately, the College holidays have probably come at a good time for us. This most recent outing, against Trinity, was a bruising encounter, soured somewhat by a significant injury to lock Jayden Cooper. Thankfully, I can report that Jayden was cleared by the hospital of significant damage, however safety, wellbeing protocols were strictly followed, which saw the game finished with six minutes still to play. Trinity had to win and win with a bonus point. On the balance of play (territory/possession) they deserved to win. To say the game was one-sided would be an understatement, however what all this does not show is the remarkable resilience that our 1stXV showed, against great adversity, to come away with the win and a maximum five competition points. It means that we go into the holidays with an unbeaten record, sharing the lead of the competition with St Kevin’s College, who we will meet on the first weekend back of next term in what will undoubtedly be a blockbuster of a game.

From our College’s perspective it is difficult to write eloquently on our performance. We spent almost the entire first half defending, resolutely, against wave after wave of Trinity attack. Our defence was almost faultless. Mistakes were made, particularly on the rare occasions we retrieved the ball, tackles missed, but to criticise the efforts of this first half would be grossly unfair. We always pose an attacking threat and we were able to show this with two well taken tries in the first half. The first was an opportunistic, but great individual read, by Captain and playmaker Pou Siola’a, who picked off an intercept and scored under the posts. The second was a length of the field counter-attack that saw prolific winger Ryan Yeomans score another try to add to his significant season tally.

The halftime message was framed positively, however improvement was needed. Unfortunately, it was not immediately forthcoming with Trinity, unable to score in the first thirty-five minutes, scoring in the first play of the second thirty-five. A high ball was not dealt with, Trinity retained possession and finished to bring the hosts right back into the game. The game then started to see-saw, there was certainly not the same one-sided nature of the first half. At one-point Trinity had a conversion to level the game at 19-19, however the kick was missed and halfback Eddie Sauvao struck a killer blow, spotting weak pillar defence to score under the posts. This was easily converted to leave the score at 26-17 in our favour. This is how the game would finish. Job done, that would be the best way to surmise the game. It was not the performance we had expected, or hoped for, however we left with the competition points we had wanted.

A five week break until a season defining game against St Kevin’s. Enjoy the holiday.

St. Patrick’s College 2^st XV vs. Trinity Grammar (A) (16/06)

Full time: 52 -“ 32

–

5 -“ Archie Pollard 4 -“ Sam Muller 3 -“ Riley Williams 2 -“ Jovesa Ravisa 1 -“ Damien Vincent

This was a true rugby classic. As has been the case in the 2ndXV competition this season the game commenced with reduced numbers. This creates a -‘false’ space that does make it difficult for both sides. Our hosts had also requested uncontested scrums, which would ironically provide the platform for two of our hosts tries, although the real cause were missed one-on-one tackles. The early exchanges were back and forth, however through the middle of the game our 2nds showed some outstanding team rugby, strong (selfless) running, an awareness of space and great player support, which saw us run in some wonderful tries. This was an outstanding performance. As a coaching team we so often have judged our 2nds players by their training performances, however we forget that these in opposition to our 1sts, which is actually clearly great preparation for game day as our 2s are performing brilliantly. Special mention must go to Archie Pollard, in his first game back after breaking his collarbone in Round (1) and to Riley Williams, who was captain for the day, and led the team with a superb individual performance.

St. Patrick’s College U15s vs. Trinity Grammar U15s (H) (16/06)

Full time: 10-26 (HT 10-19)

Try scorer/s: Escher Eastcott, Byron Keene

It was an early Saturday match for the St. Pats U15s rugby team, and with a 9’o’clock kick off, the team were eager to get out there and get the win. Being the formidable opponents Trinity Grammar are, the expected battle would be a hard fought match, and with forced positional changes and unavailability of some players, the game was going to be one of the hardest we’d played this season.

Unfortunately for us, poor defence, not enough communication, and lack of commitment let us down, and allowed Trinity Grammar to dominate all facets of the game. Moving forward from this, players must adopt a more determined attitude, and we must learn to play how we train.

St. Patrick’s College U14s vs. Trinity Grammar U14s (H) (16/06)

Full time: 14-26 (HT 7-19)

Try scorer/s: Declan Dwyer 2

Conversion/s: Adam Griffith (1/1), Luca Dixon (1/1)

The game started at an immense pace. With Declan Dwyer scoring his first try right at the very beginning of the game. Once again, Trinity took the game into their own hands and scored three extremely well worked tries. The SPC response, through our defence, was positive for some time in this game, but, unfortunately, some very minor mistakes led to the tries coming from Trinity. The visitors scored three tries in this half, which left the half time score at 19-7.

The second half was a very different scenario with both teams only scoring one try a piece. Both sides showed patience on attack and heart on defence. It took a whole 15 minutes before a slip tackle landed Trinity in the corner for their first of the half and their fourth of the game. However, SPC answered with a try of their own Declan Dwyer once again breaking multiple tackles and going over the line for his second of the game. Both tries were converted. One by Adam Griffith and the second by Luca Dixon. That left the final score to be 26-14 in favour of Trinity Grammar.

–

St. Patrick’s College U13s vs. Trinity Grammar U13s (H) (16/06)

Full time: 15-63 (HT 0-28)

Try scorer/s: Khy Jess 2, Riley Mroczkowski

The SPC U13 boys had a tough day at the office losing 63-15. Trinity Grammar were too good on attack and the boys from St Patrick’s College had no answer to the relentless attack. Right off the kick off Trinity ran straight through to score their first try, an ominous sign of things to come. That woke the SPC boys up and they looked very promising with their defensive game holding the Trinity boys at bay for quite a while. However, the pressure ultimately told and the visitors went over for another three tries. This left the half time score at 28-0 to our visitors.

After half time, the boys came out firing and scored using a move that they were shown on Thursday at training. Khy Jess scoring in the corner. This gave the home team hope and motivation to score some more tries. Riley Mroczkowski went in to score under the poles after taking a quick tap off a penalty 5 meters out. However, that was all Trinity allowed. The visitors came back to score another three tries of their own to reassert their dominance. The Trinity boys had an answer for everything and had this game in their control. The boys showed true grit, no matter the score line and stayed motivated, scoring a third try through, our Man of the Match, Khy Jess. All three conversions were missed, leaving the final score 63-15 to Trinity Grammar.