Introduction – Shore 1st XV vs. Newington 1st XV
Sitting in the Shore School’s triumphant Hawker Stand and seeing hundreds of parents, players and schoolboys cheering on this highly anticipated match with only one thing in mind. Would this be one of biggest upsets in GPS rugby or would Newington show its master class and stay in the hunt for the 2013 AAGPS Rugby Premiership.
Scoring for the most of match was left up to the backs in this game with many tries on both sides being scored through the wings and through the centres. One thing for sure is that Shore was in it in every aspect of the game. By half time, through some Clancy magic, it saw a 17-17 scoreboard with a small Newington crowd looking eagerly shocked, as this could well be the end of the Premiership favorites. Then in-form and out of form kicker for Newington Joey Lussick managed to continue to slot any goal from anywhere the entire match. Then with 20 minutes to go, Shore had it by a grasp by converting an easy penalty goal to make it 20-17. From then on, Newington somehow bounced back
Newington – Newington’s gameplay, especially in the forwards, caused 2 or 3 substitutions early/mid and late through the match and the captain coming off with a sore shoulder just after the 1st half. This was only to be made worse when the elusive behemoth “Tanne Milne” had been yellow carded due to a ‘spectacular’ shoulder charge which left both the player and the crowd in awe of the shear power and aggression that went into it. Tepai had his moments but did not live up to his usual dominance on field. The back row for Newington did very well towards the end of the game and at the start with a new and inform 1st XV players of Stuart Mill who was so clean and well-executed when in Rucks and Lachlan Anderson who filled in at number 10 very well even though his size would not match 1st XV standards, his fearless and risky gameplay paid off in both the 1sts and 2nds games he played in.
Shore – Even with the added injuries in the forward pack and backline, every man in that team stood up and played above what was expected of them. The only things that let Shore down was the one-one tackles, securing the ruck and the physical dominance that was lacking in ball-running and scrums.
Players –
Newington – 15, 13, 6, 7, 22, 20.
Shore – 10, 12, 1, 6
Conclusion – The main things to come out of this match was that Newington still maintain their finger grasp on the Premiership, whilst Shore having lost yet another game can only stop teams like Scots from becoming undefeated later in the season and taking out the first 10-round championship. And best thing for both schools is that they get to play each other and every other GPS school again.
For a more in-depth report, see George Smith's report on the schoolboy article page!