With a lot of adrenaline and excitement for the tournament ahead, the team were confident of putting in a good performance on the day. With a late withdrawal from the pool stages, the boys were then given a late start to the 2-game event. First up was St Joseph’s College, Port Macquarie. The boys started the game strongly with a cross-field kick which was pounced on by Rasmus Borg in the corner, inside the opening minute of the match. Leading 4-nil, spirits were high. Unfortunately, St Joseph’s made the most of some costly errors inside our half and went on to dominate the rest of the match with the momentum they built.

Some soul-searching was needed to pick up the spirits for the next game against St Mary’s Catholic College, Gateshead. Sporting a fast and athletic team, St Mary’s dominated for most of the game but not without some inspired performances from some of our players. Cooper Djuricin led from the front with some big collisions from kick-offs, Sunny Straker looked dangerous out wide and Duke Russell was always busy playing every minute of each game during the hot day.

Finishing off the day with 2 losses was a disappointing way to end our campaign for 2024, but the boys learned some tough lessons against quality competition that can only serve them better in the future.

Thank you to Mr Lynch for training the team most weeks throughout Terms 1 and 2, and to Mr Carpenter for the organising team meals and accommodation as well as driving the team bus on the long 6-hour drive to Coffs Harbour.