St. Ignatius’ College: 7 Gowerton under 16s: 26

The Gowerton U16s although slightly battered and bruised from their previous two encounters produced a gutsy and determined performance against their prestigious opponents. This fixture always promised to be the most difficult and didn’t disappoint. The game started with intensity, Jack Soproniuk bravely gathered the first kick off only to be double tackled with such force that he lost the ball forward, this set the tone for the early exchanges. Gowerton looked a little sluggish in both body and mind and got caught out on several occasions by the Aussie speed of thought.

Despite their slow start Gowerton scored first, Sean Collins made a typically abrasive run, after the ball spilled lose and after some good support play and retention Sam Cambriani pinged a long pass into the path of Adam Fielding who sprinted over in the corner. This seemed to stimulate our Aussie counterparts into action, they stole several balls at the breakdown due to their combative nature and this was testing the Gowerton resolve. Captain Cambriani came to the fore, the hosts No 8 picked up and ran had at Cambriani, who not only tackled but jackled the larger opponent. The resulting penalty gave Gowerton territory and a chance to regroup. From deep in the St Ignatius’ half their 9 cleared with a high box kick, Adam Fielding repositioned himself well to catch and evade the first defender, he then popped the ball to Joe Bright who drove hard into the defence. From the ruck nippy scrum half Max Treharne picked and ran blind into space, the cover defence was too slow and Treharne galloped over to score. Elliott Rees converted from wide out. Rees was playing in the unfamiliar position of open side flanker, this proved effective with him covering lots of ground and proving a real nuisance for the opposition.

From the kick off Jack Soproniuk gathered bravely once again, this time he made hard yards and retained possession, learning from his previous experience. Sam Cambriani was once again marshalling the troops well with a variety of kick testing the opposition defence. St Ignatius’ were desperate to get back into the game and were now playing with tempo, Gowerton were still reacting slowly at the formation of set pieces and as a result from a quick lineout and a gain line run their 9 scampered over to make the scores 12-7 at half-time. Notable contributions in the first half came from Declan Duckworth, Ollie Quick and Nathan Davies up front who all worked tirelessly to ensure both defence and offence were competitive.

The second half was always going to be an uphill challenge, St Ignatius’ possessed a large squad and had fresh legs and intensity to bring on, while Gowerton were starting to look tired after their first two games. St Ignatius’ were once again forcing the pace and intensity while Gowerton defended like warriors. From deep and against the run of play Gowerton produced the play of the game; crisp first phase provided Cambriani with the time and space to place Fielding into the gap. This was much credited to the off the ball run of Sean Collins who drew in defenders to create the space unselfishly. The score was now 19-7 after Elliott Rees converted. The next ten minutes were pivotal, St Ignatius’ applied significant pressure, it was evident the team ethos and mantra of “never say die” was going to be tested, however the resolve was strong. Cam Lewis and Joe Bright lead the charge from the front, making tackle after tackle and when not tackling marshalling the defensive line. Significant tackles were made by Adam Fielding, Sean Collins, Max Treharne, Elliott Rees, Jacob Ireland, Aled Simons and Ethan Guy. All providing inspiration for those around them. While this ferocity and abrasive approach was being implemented the cool calm head of Cambriani at 10 ensured when the right moments arose that pressure was relieved. With the last ten minutes approaching Cambriani once again benefitting from crisp first phase ball, employed his centre partnership of Fielding and Collins and once again Collins provided the perfect decoy for Fielding to break through, Collins’ clever support line this time allowed him to be in the perfect position to go over and seal the win.

By far the most pleasing result so far with some excellent individual performances making it difficult to choose a Man of the Match. Notable contributions came from Joe Bright and Cam Lewis upfront, both have grown in stature and responsibility on the tour so far. Joe Bright’s co-ordination of the defensive effort is proving effective, while Cam Lewis who has been controlling scrum time was rewarded with several strikes against the head. This is all maturely marshalled by Captain Cool – Sam Cambriani who plays with maturity beyond his years. Pollitely and constructively discussing decisions with the referee, providing key/important information to his players in the most positive of manners – definitely a “Pint Half Full” type of guy. However, Max Treharne produced “His Best Performance Ever” (MT – Sydney 28/07/2016). Crisp passing from set piece and breakdown gave Cambriani time while his sniping runs are ensuring defences remain honest. Lastly his abrasive defence despite his lack of size is proving inspirational to his team mates and frustrating to his larger more abrasive opponents. Max is the third of the Treharne Trilogy to tour with school – Dylan applied himself notably in the previous tour. Father David sadly never reached these dizzy heights – more notable for his planting of eggs in teachers boots than his tackling or jackling – thankfully the boys take after their mother.

Report: Mr W. Thomas

Barker College Hockey 0 Gowerton Hockey 4

We arrived at Barker College in good spirits after our win in soccer at Firbank on Tuesday. We walk through the school, which boasts some impressive sports facilities, nothing like you would see back home. As hockey and netball are playing at the same time, we only have 7 players. However, Barker are more than happy to loan us 4 players for the game. For this game, Sam Hughes has volunteered to go in goals for the first half. We start well with Ehsan Yadollahi seeing a shot narrowly wide in the first minute. We continue applying the pressure which leads to our first short corner or the match, which is defended well by Barker. Barker have settled in to the game and attack us which leads to a short corner for them. Freya intercepts the corner and plays a fine ball to Ehsan who goes on a solo run and shoots at goal only to see it wide. We continue pressing which leads to a shot from Freya Fleming from distance which is well saved by the Barker goalkeeper. Half way through the first half we have seen a lot of the ball in good positions but are unable to take our chances. Yet again we get the ball in another good position to see 3 shots well blocked by the Barker goalkeeper again. This may not be our day. However, a few minutes later, good play from our midfield, sees Kate (a loan player) free in the opposition circle, who shoots and it hits the back of the net to make it 1-0 Gowerton. We are confident after the goal and keep pushing for a second. We are denied that by another good save after a shot by Bethan Dallimore. In the final minutes of the half Chloe Weatherley and Holly Breeze-Jones expertly break up a Barker counter attack to keep the score 1-0 at half time.

The start of the second half sees play evenly matched with both sides playing some nice possession hockey. Bethan Has gone in goal for this half and Sam plays outfield. Lucy Jones plays a lovely ball through the Barker defence only to see too much pace applied which Sam can not reach. We are pushing for the second goal to give ourselves some breathing space. The next few minutes see 2 more shots from Ehsan and Freya which are blocked and narrowly wide respectively. Barker College are still in the game and play some more passes through midfield and are only denied by Chloe’s interception just before a shot on goal. 10 minutes in to the second half and we are back in control when Lucy plays a perfect ball to Ehsan who hits in to make it 2-0. Breathing space! Two minutes later, the same combination sees Ehsan one on one with the goalkeeper and he calmly doubles his tally for the game. 3-0 Gowerton. Another short corner results in a powerful Freya cleared off the line and put behind for another short corner. The resulting corner is well worked with Ehsan playing a ball into Lucy who sets Freya up to make it 4-0 Gowerton with a minute to go. We see the game out comfortably for our first hockey win of the tour. All players played amazingly throughout the match and thoroughly deserve the win.

POTM: Lucy Jones

Report: Miss Smitham

Barker College 25 v Gowerton netball: 27

We arrived at the Brick Pitt after a short bus trip from the city. This was not their usual place to hold games but due to exams being held in the sports hall, we had the pleasure of playing in the local sports centre.

Barker College won the centre pass and the game got off to a start just after 4. Barker college was able to hold their first centre pass and score the first goal of the game, despite Miriam Higgs and Shanaye Grant working well together to make it difficult for Barker college to get the ball into the circle.

The defensive circles on both sides were dominating the game from the start. Both wings- Chloe Watkins and Rebecca Williams’ hands were putting fantastic pressure over the attacking ball, making it difficult for Barker college to move the ball down the court. The game was neck and neck at 3-3.

Unfortunately Millie Steadman, showing great enthusiasm passed the ball a little too quickly for Amy Baldwin and the ball left the court giving possession to Barker- great turnover Barker.

Barkers’ GA was very quick and made Shanaye’s job a little difficult in the circle, scoring some more goals to pull away slightly.

A side line pass to Gowerton, that was well defended by Barker, who intercepted taking the ball back down toward our defence.

However, Rebecca showed some great defending skills, causing a wayward pass to be thrown, allowing Shanaye to use her outside arm.
There is an excellent team relationship developing between the girls- Millie giving a well timed, sneaky pass into Charleigh Baker to score a goal- closing the gap between Barker and Gowerton. Straight after the centre pass- Miriam intercepted the ball, giving us a great turnover opportunity, passing the ball to Chloe who fed an impressive ball into Millie- GOAL!!! The score was now 5-5.
The pressure from Gowerton started to cause Barker to make mistakes, but we were unable to benefit from them.
It was a side line pass for Barker after Amy pass to Chloe was a little too ambitious for little Chloe.
The fighting spirits were high across the team and interceptions were made on both sides. The first half finished 7-5 to Barker.
The second half started with a goal for Gowerton and the next centre pass, possession was given back to Gowerton for a backline pass. Shanaye started off a well practised set pass and the girls brought the ball all the way up the court, exactly as practised in training. The score was goal for goal as it went from 8-6 to 8-8 to 8-9 to Barker. When Rebecca made an excellent intercept on the edge of the circle, allowing our centre court players to bring the ball back to our shooters- Millie again scoring a fantastic goal- 10-9.
We are back in the opposition circle and Shanaye accidentally knocks her GS to the floor in her eagerness to intercept. It is okay as she apologised the Welsh way….”Soz babes”. Barker scored.
An excellent start at centre from Amy, feeding the ball to Millie for another shot at goal.
Barker centre pass, again Rebecca and Miriam putting excellent pressure on the passes. Shanaye intercepts a low bounce pass- just before the game she claimed she would never get one of those!! The score is now 12-14.
Chloe Watkins makes another turnover- I am losing count of the amount of times we have done this during the game. Unfortunately the ball gets intercepted in our attacking third and Barker quickly make it back into their circle- 12-15.

The third quarter started much alike the first two with Barker College holding a slim lead over Gowerton, but we started well with both the first goals being scored by Charleigh.
Tiffany Thomas continued to put pressure on the passes into the circle which meant Shanaye was able to pick up some loose balls, unfortunately on one of those occasions she was off the court.
Millie continued to show her excellent movement and fed the ball into Charleigh, quickly putting the ball into the net.
Down the other end Miriam was continuing to pile the pressure on her GA and made it very difficult to score.
Suddenly Chloe pulled up with a groin injury—disaster, she had been having a fantastic game, but not to worry Rebecca fills in as Chloe is tended to on the sideline (anyone reading at home- she is okay, just a little strain). This quarter ended 21-19.

The final quarter saw Grace Bevan-Hendry come on for her first appearance due to injury. Gowerton started to convert every chance into goals, with dynamic pressure on every pass of play. We were fighting for this game and with 2 minutes to go Gowerton took the lead for the first time in the game 24-23.
The defence worked so well together switching their opposition to suit the play and the attack was controlled and well timed. Every ball into the shooters was careful and every movement well executed. I could not have been prouder sitting on the side lines with Kaitlyn Egan both holding our breathes for that final whistle.

It went- we won- 27-25……..the roars from the girls echoed around the sport hall!!!

What a game!

Player of the game was Millie Steadman for her impressive moves and steady footwork.

Report: Miss Rushworth

St Ignatius’ 7 Gowerton 33

The conditions were very much different to the last game of the tour versus Harlequin RFC. The pitch was flat, the sun was shining and perfect for a chance to play some running rugby. St Ignatius’ would be a different team to the club side we played in Melbourne – St Ignatius have 9 senior rugby sides and their ground held a crowd of 17,000 people when they played in the final of the GPS cup 1997!

Gowerton kicked off and were on the front foot straight away when some solid defence enabled them to regain possession of the ball. The forwards were working hard to keep the ball, with some powerful runs from captain Tom Northey, Ben Brown and Joe Whitehorn. The St Ignatius’ defence were resilient and they were very strong in the tackle and the Gowerton boys knew they would be in for a tough game early on. Scrum half Tom Ham was having to give quick ball to the backs as the opposition were competing well at the breakdown. Full back Lewis Hyatt was put under pressure early on with some big kicks by the opposition fly half, and wingers Sam Williams and Nic Williams were always on hand to help him out, working well as a back three. St Ignatius’ took the lead when a kick through by the scrum half led to the winger showing good pace to score in the corner. The try was converted.

The game was stopped after ten minutes due to David Carpanini dislocating his knee in a ruck. I hasten to add that although the injury was very serious, David was in no pain and the college had a medical department on site – the nurses were on the field within 5 minutes! The nurses rolled David onto his back, put his knee back into place and whisked him up to the rather plush medical wing. He was in a brace and re-joined us for the post match speeches. I’m sure he told the nurses that he wanted to come back down and play once they had sorted his knee out!!

The game continued and St Ignatius’ were proving to be quite physical and aggressive in the contact area, pressing the Gowerton players at every opportunity. The back line were struggling to get on the front foot, but centres Steff Tyrrell and Callum Carson were looking for chinks in the armour of the opposition defence, as was outside half Olly Smith. Flankers Trystan Williams and Lloyd Dudley-Jones were livewires in both attack and defence, and Trystan was the subject of some ‘special attention’ from the St Ignatius’ forwards which led to a fracas which the referee stepped in to deal with. The Gowerton team responded superbly and the resultant penalty led to a Gowerton line out, taken at full stretch by Lloyd Dudley Jones; a catch and drive was set up and when the ball came out to the backs centre Callum Carson was able to put winger Nic Williams over in the corner. The difficult conversion was missed and St Ignatius led 7-5 at half time.
The second half kicked off and a crowd was starting to gather to watch the game, which helped the opposition up their game. Gowerton were able to rise to the challenge, and locks Joe Whitehorn and Luke Andrews were once again putting a big shift in, carrying the ball well and making tackles. Lock Ethan Harris was doing well to disrupt as much lineout ball as he could against a much taller opponent, as well as keeping the Gowerton line out functioning, and Ryan Hughes was once again turning the screw on his opposite prop in the scrum. Another great throw in by hooker Ben Brown and catch by Lloyd Dudley-Jones in the middle of the lineout led to a maul, and when Ryan Hughes peeled off the back on his own, Mr Lewis panicked as ‘you never go on your own off the back of a maul’, but ‘Hughesy’ managed to power over from 5 yards out to put Gowerton in the lead. Olly Smith slotted the conversion. St Ignatius’ were still looking to get under the Gowerton players skin, but the players rose above the tactics and continued to play attractive rugby. Milo Fleming was now on at 9, and Kieran Charles on in the centre – some much needed fresh legs to give the boys some extra impetus. A superb box kick from Fleming caught the opposition defence napping and Steff Tyrrell ‘took the handbrake off’ to show a great turn of pace to chase the ball from the halfway line to score Gowerton’s 3rd try. Callum Carson converted.

St Ignatius kicked off and after a bit of a juggle taking the ball, Joe Whitehorn passed the ball out to the backs, Kieran Charles fed Tom Ham who threw an outrageous ‘show and go’ which fooled the opposition winger and he ran in from halfway to score under the posts. Milo Fleming drop kicked the conversion. St Ignatius once again kicked off and the opposition flanker was guilty of taking Ben Brown out without the ball which led to a yellow card and the opposition down to 14 men. Some loose play led to Callum Carson breaking through the tired opposition defence and he managed to pass the ball to the supporting Tom Ham who caught the bouncing ball to score under the posts. Milo Fleming once again converted.

MoM – Tom Ham

Report: Mr Lewis

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