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SCHOOLS CUP FINALS
A PENALTY goal in final play from rookie goalkicker Syris Schmidt has kept The Southport School in the GPS rugby premiership race with a 23-22 win over Gregory Terrace.
Year 11 centre Schmidt, playing through an injury to his right ankle, missed a simple conversion that would have tied the game at 22-all with a minute to play.
Down by two as time expired, Schmidt shrugged off the demons of his previous miss to nail a walk-off matchwinning penalty goal in the school’s final home game of the season.
“I misread (the earlier kick) but I knew we’d have another chance,” he said.
“Our team always finds a way, even this year and last year we’ve been a 70-minute team and we play to win.
“There’s no way we would have accepted a draw.”
Schmidt, already a 68 per cent kicker on the season, had received treatment on his “plant foot” earlier in the second half but never considered passing up the decisive kick to someone else.
“I was quite nervous but at the same time I knew I was up for it,” he said. “I’ve practised enough to trust my skills and I knew I could do it.
“My ankle was killing me throughout the game but at that point I couldn’t really feel it.
“Everyone was trying to leave me to collect my thoughts before I kicked except for our halfback Fraser (Cowan), who was in my face telling me he had my back and that made me a bit more nervous. I wasn’t sure it was going over but it ended up going through. It was the biggest kick of my career for sure so it’s something I’ll remember forever.”
TSS coach Mike Wallace couldn’t bear to watch. “I tend to look away, that’s always been the same. Sometimes you just have to trust them to get the job done,” he said.
“Syris works incredibly hard because goalkicking is a relatively new thing for him.
“It was always going to be Syris, he’s a pretty cool cat and he thrives in those situations.”
TSS overcame a sluggish start to lead 8-5 at the halftime break but fell behind 22-15 with 11 minutes to play.
Flanker Jon Burnett’s try could have tied the match at 22-all but for the missed conversion, setting the stage for a thrilling conclusion.
TSS must beat Ipswich Grammar away next week and hope for Nudgee College and Brisbane Boys’ College to lose one match each to come away with a shared GPS premiership.