SCHOOLBOY DELIGHT:
GIANT FORWARD LEADS TSS CHARGE INTO REP HONOURS
POWERHOUSE 125kg No.8 Reno Gerrard has been elevated to the Australian Schoolboys side to add clout on the tour of Ireland and Scotland.
It is a worthy reward for Gerrard’s eight tries and the bullocking ball-carries that played such a big role in driving The Southport School to Queensland’s GPS schools decider last month.
Gerrard was deployed at the Australian Under-19 carnival in Canberra last week rather than for the schoolboys side that lost 24-12 to New Zealand Schools in the wet at Ballymore last Saturday.
His go-forward will be an asset on tour and on heavy grounds.
Queensland has won 10 spots in the 27-man squad for the prized four-game December tour, with TSS and Nudgee College both earning four places.
Prop Harry Vella, flyhalf Reesjan Pasitoa, both Year 11 students, No.8 Bailey Tautau and prop Phrancis Sula-Siaosi have been selected from Nudgee’s champion GPS outfit.
Red-haired halfback Spencer Jeans, lock-flanker Tom Van Der Schyff (pictured), hooker Tyrell
Kopua and Gerrard got the nod from TSS.
Brisbane Boys’ College flyhalf Carter Gordon has also won selection.
For the first time in their 45-year history, the selection criteria for the Australian Schoolboys has been varied to include players who have left school.
Viliami Lea, the sharp winger who finished at Ipswich Grammar last year, Perth-bred flanker Carlos Tizzano and NSW Waratahs Academy lock Max Douglas are the three who benefit as Under-18s.
It is a shrewd preview of next year’s full move to an Under-18s make-up to Australian Schoolboys sides, which is in line with European standards.
Backrower Will Harris, lock Jeremy Williams and halfback Seb Strang are all products of The Scot’s College in Sydney and part of a 14-strong representation from NSW.