Round 2 Preview

But first, here’s our panel’s preview for the week ahead!

Spikhaza and myself are tied for joint second in the tipping comp [located here], having both been blindsided by Southport’s dominant showing against BBC (Spik’s alma mater!)

RuggasXV leads the comp after one round, with a perfect week in Round 1.

Gregory Terrace at the Southport School:

TheKing: Terrace beat Brisbane Grammar by 27 points on the weekend, but Southport beat BBC by even more than that. GT could have had an even bigger scoring margin if there wasn’t quite so much dropped pill. If Terrace can fix up their handling errors than this game will be tight – but I’m tipping Southport again here. I’d feel safe to call this the game of the round!

Spikhaza: GT have plenty of heart and soul and will drag any team into the firefight regardless of name or reputation. Nevertheless they will run out of steam against mike Wallace’s side who possess too much quality. TSS will score a couple of late tries to finish this one off.

RuggasXV: GT have been looking very dangerous in their first couple of games they’ve played and being led by some quality players will help them as they travel down the coast. TSS may be riding high horses after destroying the competition favourites BBC and that may just be their downfall. GT to win.

Toowoomba Grammar School at Brisbane Boys College

TheKing: Toowoomba put up a big fight against State High in round 1, but BBC will be coming out with a vengeance. I’d say this is the tipping point of BBC’s season – a big win here, and they’re back in the premiership conversation. If they win by a little bit, then nothing changes. If they lose, BBC 2014 becomes synonymous with Churchie 2012. I’m picking BBC to bounce back in a big way

Spikhaza: BBC will bounce back, but not by as much as people are thinking. BBC still lack polish but won’t be made to pay for their mistakes in the same currency as last week. BBC by 12

RuggasXV: Travelling such a long distance from home two weeks in a row is never beneficial for a team and after a shock performance by College in their first round fixture, the team and coach will be more dedicated than ever to right their wrongs against the boys from the Range. BBC to win.

Brisbane Grammar School at Nudgee College

TheKing: Nudgee have had a quiet off-season by anyone’s standards. They haven’t played a huge number of trial games, and no-ones been able to find a starting XV team list. That said they secured  12 GPS representatives – the program must be going all right. Grammar have looked helpless in attack so far, so if Nudgee are able to tackle their way out of a wet paper bag, I’d say they might just get up here.

Spikhaza: NC are the kings of consistency and BGS will need to find more flair to trouble their well organised defense. NC need to make sure they stamp out any hope of a grammar insurgency in the first half to demoralise the tenacious BGS defense. Grammar will be hoping for some opening game jitters. NC by 18

RuggasXV: Grammar have it tough coming up against a team stacked with talent and eager to play their first competition game. Nudgee will be fired up and ready to continue the success of their predecessors, running rampant at home over the Light Dark Blue. NC to win.

Brisbane State High School at Churchie

TheKing: Churchie are in superb form, having scored 7 tries against an IGS side that really isn’t all that bad. State High came back in the last minute to beat Toowoomba, and so far as pre-season form can tell us, neither of those two are in crash hot form. With BBC’s collapse against Southport I’m firmly on the Churchie bandwagon for an undefeated season. #BoC2104

Spikhaza: ACGS are currently purring on attack like their supporters notorious Mercedes on the autobahn and expect this week to be no different. State High just got home last week against a valiant TGS side but just don’t have the firepower to challenge the Brisbane stockbroking industry this weekend. Churchie by a bull market buy up.

RuggasXV: The already red hot Churchie side have been gifted with two home games in a row and their superb backline will run rings around the State High team in front of a dominant home crowd. Expect an exciting and entertaining fixture from this years favourites. ACGS to win.

So there you have it. Almost unanimous, with RuggasXV the lone horse backing Terrace over Southport the only separation between them.

Scroll to the right for the Round 1 Match Reports. Enjoy Round 2!