St. Augustines win Waratah Shield for sixth time

St. Augustine’s College won the Waratah Shield for the sixth time in seven years at the T G Millner field yesterday.

Coach John Papahatzis, who had previously taken St. Edmunds College to five consecutive titles, achieved the distinction of coaching teams to tournament victory eleven times  in twelve attempts.

St. Augustine’s College 20 — Oakhill College 10

Although there were showers throughout the final they weren’t as heavy as some of them in the earlier Waratah Cup match—but the ground was heavy from days of intermittent rain.

When the game started the ball was dry and a bit of expansive play was attempted but the match soon settled down to a war of attrition.

First half

After the Oakhill 6  Jared Odgers made a fine break St. Augustines [Auggies] infringed and 9. Harrison Goddard slotted a penalty goal. It looked like a day to accumulate points as there had been a number of turnovers in the first five minutes and tries would be scarce.

Ten minutes in 8. Siaosi Halaifonua made a burst from the ruck for Auggies but was pulled down in the 22 just in time.  When the ball went wide the fullback was forced into touch in goal. (Apologies for not naming players, except those I know, but I lent my programme to somebody and never got it back).

St. Augustines had the advantage though and slotted the penalty goal. The score was tied up about twelve minutes in: 3-3.

There were many scrums because of dropped ball and the St. Augustines’ scrum was dominant except when they pushed off the mark early and got pinged.

This enabled them to get into Oakhill’s territory often and from a ruck near the Oakhill goal line LHP Eddie Afu surged over the line to score. The conversion missed and St. Augustines led 8-3 after the first quarter of the match.

Auggies spent the last ten minutes of the half in Oak’s territory and a lot of it in the 22. It was commanding play but they couldn’t get over the line because Oakhill was defending to the last man time and time again.

If they couldn’t score it would be a huge psychological benefit to Oakhill but in the last play before oranges the Auggies’ second rower Matthew Scholfield wrestled through defenders to score. **

The kick was converted and at half time St. Augustines led 15-3. That was a big lead in the conditions.

Second half

Three minutes into the half Oakhill turned the ball over and St. Augustines moved it to the drier edges. In the most brilliant individual move of the day 12 Luke Lough of Auggies headed an escort of Oakhill defenders for about 40 metres before he scored near the corner post; too wide to convert.

The score was 20 – 3 to St. Augustines.  On the heavy track it looked like a winning margin already.

The rest of the half was a continuation of the arm wrestle. There were a few not-straight throws to the lineouts by Oakhill, and handbags at ten paces by both teams.

The Oaks had a good ten minutes in the middle of the half to get back into the match but they were repelled repeatedly.

St Augustines got a bit of a scare when they dropped the ball and it was hacked through over their goal line but their winger Jordan Thomas got there first.

They had control of the game however, and even a yellow card with six minutes to go did not faze them.

Near the end of the match Oakhill went close to grounding the ball near the goal post but were held up.

From the scrum Goddard drifted wide and had the speed to take the outside break and score in the tackle.  He converted his try and the final score was St. Augustines 20 – Oakhill 10

** This try may have been officially awarded to Elia Fa’atui but the camera does not lie.

The teams

St. Augustines, the expansive ISA team who liked to use the ball surprised their opponents because they out-Oakhilled Oakhill in a commanding performance of tight play well-suited to the conditions. This was underwritten by an edge in the set pieces.

The Players

The heavy-going on the field exhausted the forwards from both sides. The two squads should be congratulated for their non-stop efforts, especially getting off the ground quickly to make the next tackle.

Oakhill
Openside flanker Lachlan Anderson was outstanding, as he was in the semi-final, whether it was with ball in hand or making key tackles.

The conditions were not suitable for an attacking scrumhalf to shine but Aussie Schools no. 9, Harrison Goddard, steadied his team and also scored their only try.

St. Augustines
Man-of-the match no. 8 Siaosi Halaifonua was a commanding presence trucking though the muddy conditions and nearly always beat the first tackle.

Under 16 eligible Luke Lough (12) scored an astonishing individual try (as he did in the semi-final) which established a lead which Oakhill couldn’t overtake.

The bruising play of lock Elia Fa’atui, returning from injury, illustrated how much it was missed in the semi-final.

The wrap-up

Although St. Augustines lost to Oakhill in the the ISA competition in May, the Boys from Brookvale seem to “have the wood” on  the Castle Hill team in the Waratah Shield, because they beat them last year also.

Maybe this time next year Oakhill will turn the tables but St. Augustines have six of their regular starting players returning next year, plus ten others who have been blooded during the season.

Watch this space.

Photos by Lee Grant unless indicated otherwise

See next page for a report on the Waratah Cup final