Rookies pull off stunning upset
IN TWO days Marymount College’s fledging rugby union team has gone from fighting for numbers to the grandest upset in three years of Super Schools Cup competition.
Marymount, a rising Burleigh Heads rugby league school, had only nine players signed on to play rugby 48 hours before the biggest match of their season – an opening-day clash with Gold Coast rugby powerhouse Somerset College.
Coach Simon Rezo led a desperate lunchtime recruitment
mission through the playground on Monday hoping to coax players from rival sports to give rugby a go.
On Wednesday his team of 19 players accomplished the unthinkable, beating Somerset College at their own game, 29-0.
“In our squad we had four boys who had played rugby before,” Rezo said.
“Over 60 minutes it was incredible how they picked up the game, following the lead of the few boys who’d played in terms of technique and movement around the pitch.
“It was a really strong defensive effort to keep Somerset
to nil, they really threw the kitchen sink at us.
“The boys probably only had less than 40 per cent of possession but when they got their chances they took them.”
Physical tighthead prop Wynesian Patelesio-Faamausili and fullback Hadley Smith led the Marymount charge as the school forced five tries through the opposition defence.
The win sees Marymount take top spot in the private school conference of the Cup, ahead of Ballina’s Xavier Roe College, who defeated Lindisfarne Anglican College 27-5.
In the public school conference Miami State High and Pimpama State Secondary College are tied on top after defeating Ormeau Woods State High and Varsity College by the same margin, 29-0.
Miami, riding high after the launch of a Rugby Sevens school of excellence program for male students, overcame size and age deficits to record a strong result over Ormeau.
Coach Matt Chapman said the play of skipper Bliss White, the most-capped Super Schools player in Gold Coast history after three seasons in the under-15s, was instrumental
in keeping his side focused.
“He’s gone from being one of the young guys to a real leader,” Chapman said. “He had some really strong attacking runs from No.12 and set good centrefield rucks for halfback Matthew Fletcher.”
Like Marymount, Miami had a team stacked full of converts to rugby union.
Most are 13 and 14 years old but there was no telling as they led 22-0 at halftime.
The Super Schools Cup launched on the Gold Coast in 2019 to give non-traditional schools a chance to play rugby.