Match of the Round 7: Nudgee at Gregory Terrace (25-17)
Nic Darveniza (TheKing)
Legend claims that when the St Joseph’s College split to two campuses in 1891, the original on Gregory Terrace, the other in Nudgee, neither side could decide who would keep the St Joseph’s sporting colours. As the two stubborn schools clashed, it was decided that there could be only one way to decide – a winner takes all Rugby match. A fierce contest resulted in a Nudgee victory, granting that school use of the famous ‘Butcher Stripes’ forever, while Gregory Terrace were forced to assume the opposite colours. From that point on the “Battle of the Colours” legend has fuelled the rivalry to epic proportions. Could Terrace’s new stadium inspire their boys to win for the first time since 2004?
Tennyson’s new stadium hosted a crowd of thousands on Saturday as the next chapter in the rivalry was ready to be recorded.
Terrace kicked off to Nudgee’s left flank to start the match, and the shots flew hard and fast from then on in. With kicking aces Liam Moseley from Nudgee and Alex Horan from Terrace respectively taking to the skies often, working for field position, there were opportunities aplenty for defenders from both sides to make themselves felt by their Christian brothers/rivals, and not only legally.
A no arms, late shot from Terracian fullback Nick Weller on Nudgee halfback Eli Pilz granted the Butcher Stripes an attacking penalty just inside the 22. Though a kickable penalty, Liam Moseley kicked his to the 5 metre line. An uncontested throw by hooker Robbie McAfferty to openside Tom Zappala in the middle gave Nudgee a platform to set a rolling maul, indefensible from such close range. Australian Schoolboy tight head Gavin Luka opened Nudgee’s scoring account just 4 minutes in to the fixture as the maul crashed forward.
Kickoff saw Liam Moseley punt the ball within an inch of it’s life from 22 to 22, prompting several return serves. Finally ending the aerial ping pong by running the ball out from the backfield, GT halfback Reuben Wall was caught by chasers McAfferty and Stowers, and Nudgee flooded the ruck. 40 metres out, Terrace desperately fought to preserve their possession but were penalised under the pressure of a furious Nudgee pack.
From the lineout Nudgee’s forward runners carried the ball to the try line, but an offside penalty gave Nudgee a chance to re-set. Captain Reece Hewat called for a scrum.
In a near identical move to the try scored against Southport in Round 5, Hewat scooped the ball from the back and shovelled a pass to a looping Eli Pilz (acting as flyhalf in the move). With menacing centre Calvin Pritchard running a hard ‘unders’ line (45° angled run back in to the posts), the defender in the 10 channel was forced to plant his feet, creating space outside him for Nudgee to exploit. At outside center, former flyhalf Liam Moseley needed to commit inside centre Connor McNamara, opening up the J-Ball (flat inside pass) option for Tyrone Hussey. With the move perfectly executed, Hussey’s well timed run saw him go practically untouched for the try, and Moseley happily provided the extras.
Kickoff again saw Nudgee boot the stuffing out the ball, granting GT the opportunity to counter. Poor decision making from the back saw Nick Weller isolated again, and GT were under huge pressure at the ruck. However, the penalty was reversed as the referee judged that the tackler had never released. 60 metres out, Wall took the quick tap, sending the ball wide through Horan for outside centre Nikau Te-Rupe. Losing the ball in the tackle, Nudgee took the opportunity to counter, with Franklin Calugay dragged down before he could break the line. Nudgee constructed a few phases before kicking again, this time with fullback Rob Lane putting the ball 15 out from GT’s try line.
Next points came in the 17th minute, after an Alex Horan cutout to Nikau Te-Rupe was intercepted by outside centre Franklin Calugay, taking Nudgee to a 19 to nothing lead.
With the significant early lead you’d be forgiven for thinking Terrace were down and out of the contest, but some individual brilliance from Nick Weller was enough to get GT back in to the game. Inside the 22, Weller charged on to a perfectly weighted pass from Horan, pinned his ears back and beat his man for pace. With one beaten this close to the try-line there would be no stopping him. With the Horan conversion successful GT trailed by 12 with ten minutes remaining in the half.
Nudgee were able to work their way in to the GT red zone with ease, putting together 8 phases of centre field attack from the kickoff. A knock on 10 metres out was collected by Terrace and booted upfield, finding space just behind a retreating Tony Hunt on the wing. A wicked bounce beat Hunt, and the ball was plucked out of midair by a storming Nikau Te-Rupe. As Hunt turned to bring down Te-Rupe, Matt Forsyth found himself in space on the right wing. A quick pass left Forsyth with one to beat, and a good dummy left Queensland League star Calvin Pritchard clutching at thin air as the former Grammar boy raced ahead. The crowd roared it’s delight as Forsyth took the ball the rest of the way, but a sublime chase cut him down inside the 5 metre line. As the retreating Nudgee line desperately tried to slow the ball the match referee saw a cynical foul, and yellow carded the tackler, wing Tyrone Hussey.
A scrum was packed to the melody of hundreds of teenage boys singing the timeless Schoolboy chorus of Kiss Him Goodbye by the Bananaramas, but it only inspired the Nudgee scrum to win the ball back against the feed, largely thanks to a sublime scrummaging effort from Aussie Schoolboy Gavin Luka. From the clearance Terrace were determined to make some tough yards through the middle, eventually granting Matt Forsyth a sniff on the right wing, and if not for some more stellar defence out wide GT would have gone in for their second.
With just a minute remaining in the half, Alex Horan dummied his way through the defensive line, but couldn’t find the support to finish off the break. GT attacked wide for several phases before earning a breakdown penalty in centrefield. Horan stepped up to the plate to cut Nudgee’s lead to 9 at the break.
Second Half
Three minutes in to the second half Terrace were awarded a penalty in centrefield, opting to take the quick tap instead of an ambitious shot at goal or even kicking for touch. The ball was shovelled left through the hands of Horan to X factor Nikau Te-Rupe. With a strong line in front him Nikau sold a dummy to his outside, luring Nudgee’s blindside winger out of the line for an attempted big hit. Though the hole closed fast it was all the Terracian needed to break the line, and halfback Eli Pilz in cover defence was the last obstacle for the bolting centre. A clinical tackle brought Te-Rupe down inside 5, but poor work in the ruck from the Red and Black supporters let Nudgee off the hook by giving away a penalty.
It took Terrace 5 minutes to get back inside Nudgee’s 22, and the game plan of muscling it up through the middle was bearing fruit. It took 14 phases for Nudgee to regather possession, and it was only through a miscommunication from their opposition forwards that the ball was isolated and turned over.
Nudgee responded by kicking their way up field and stealing a GT lineout just outside their 22. A penalty was awarded for the defending side not rolling away, and Moseley calmly collected the three points on offer to extend the lead to 12.
GT’s lineout was put under a ton of pressure throughout the fixture, and some impressive aerial work from Nudgee’s openside Tom Zappala proved thoroughly disruptive. Without the clean ball from the lineout Terrace’s backline struggled to make use of the attacking opportunities at set piece time.
Reece Hewat managed to break the Terrace line in the 50th minute, but after pushing an offload Terrace were able to spectacularly counter attack. With the ball loose on the deck, Terrace quickly transferred the ball to their dynamic fullback in the midfield. By running hard and straight at the corner of the defence, Weller forced Nudgee’s right wing to commit to tackling him, leaving space out wide for blindside winger Quilian Pritchard-Malaki. A superbly executed draw and pass put Quilian away, but Nudgee’s cover defence was working hard to negate the threat. With space rapidly closing, the runaway wing chipped for the corner. Pritchard won the footrace to the ball but couldn’t ground it, wrapped up in a try-saving tackle instead. Nudgee were penalised for failing to release the tackled player, and Australian Schoolboy Connor Moroney, captaining GT from openside flanker, called for a scrum.
Whereas Nudgee used a smoke and mirrors play to deceive the defensive line for their 5 metre scrum, Terrace decided to play things much simpler. With the scrum under huge pressure, a quick transfer from Alex Horan at flyhalf to outside center Nikau Te-Rupe on a crash ball left Nudgee’s Tony Hunt on an island with the hard running Terracian. Needing to execute a one-on-one tackle to save a try, Te-Rupe put on a shimmy and broke the tackle, reaching at full stretch to plant the ball just outside the left goalpost. Horan nailed the ‘gimme’ conversion, and all of a sudden Nudgee’s lead had been cut to just 5 points with twenty minutes remaining in the match.
Nudgee butchered an opportunity for an immediate strike back after stealing a Terracian lineout just 22 metres out from the line. Prop Gavin Luka had a peek at the gigantic hole he was running in to just metres out from the goalline, forgetting that you first need to catch the ball before celebrating the try. Needless to say the ball bounced harmlessly off his huge frame, and GT were safe for now.
With neither side truly contesting at the breakdown the ball was quick off the ground, and width was the order of the day in attack. One well worked piece of play nearly gifted Tyrone Hussey his second try, but the sliding defence was somehow able to shut down the space. Terrace were penalised in the breakdown after attempting to counterruck, and Nudgee kicked for the line. Despite winning the lineout easily Nudgee somehow coughed up the ball at second receiver, keeping Terrace in the game.
An offside penalty against Terrace cost Number Eight George Cox 10 minutes in the sin bin with 12 left in the game. Nudgee kicked for the line, and it didn’t take long for Liam Moseley to cross the line, but for a third time Nudgee were denied – this time by being held up over the line. With the scrum set, halfback Eli Pilz scooped the ball up from the back and touched down between the posts, ending Terrace’s chances of a comeback win.
Terrace showed heart until the very end, but the match was already lost. The 2014 Battle of the Colours win to Nudgee marks the 10th consecutive victory of the Butcher Stripes over their Christian Brother’s rival.
Nudgee College 25 (Tries: Gavin Luka, Tyrone Hussey, Franklin Calugay, Eli Pilz Conversions: Liam Moseley (1/4), Penalties: Liam Moseley (1/1)
Gregory Terrace 17 (Tries: Nick Weller, Nikau Te-Rupe, Conversions: Alex Horan (2/2), Penalties: Alex Horan (1/1)
