Peter Mulholland Cup

Erindale College v Illawarra Sports High

by
newscorpsport
01/06/2022

Illawarra Sports High hold bragging rights over Erindale after winning the clash between the two schools last year. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Erindale College v Illawarra Sports High

Author : Billy Tyson News Corp Sports

Erindale College v Illawarra Sports High, Peter Mulholland Cup

Erindale College opened their Peter Mulholland Cup campaign in emphatic style with a 12-try blitz of Illawarra Sports High.

RELIVE all the action from our LIVE STREAM.

Centre Jacob Iosefa and backrower Noah Martin combined to steer Erindale College to a dominant 64-0 win over the visiting Illawarra Sports High in the opening round of the NRL Schoolboy Cup in Canberra.

Martin started things off for the hosts, stacking the blindside and passing off to Iosefa who scored in the corner. He put the victory down to team chemistry.

“We just played together well as a team and kept our discipline the whole game.” Martin said.

“It feels amazing playing with a good bunch of boys and it just feels great to get the win as well.”

Before the visitors could take a breath, Iosefa crossed over again, taking a magnificent grab from a Jonah Anderson highball to put the home side up 10-0.

Erindale’s immense pressure was forcing errors out of the visitors and their captain Regan Carr capitalised, scoring a runaway try off a scrum.

Despite some defensive highlight plays from Illawarra’s Zac Maarbani, the home side were just too much, scoring again from a quick play of the ball.

Martin was rewarded for his efforts and scored his first running a strong line through the visitors’ right edge.

The home side were able to extend their lead on the stroke of halftime when Martin bagged his second rampaging through Illawarra’s defensive line reminiscent of Reuben Cotter.

Down 34-0, the visitors needed to score the first try in the second half and they got agonisingly close off the back of strong carries from Zech Taufa and Toby Miller.

But Erindale continued the pile on the points when Ben McSpadden’s magnificent individual effort saw him score in the corner.

The floodgates ropened as Martin, Iosefa and Gash combined for a full field try.

Erindale’s crafty fullback Sam Gash broke the line again, dishing off a short ball to super-sub Blake Hovi who opened his scoring account.

Martin secured an opening round hat trick scoring again through the middle.

It was a cold try-fest, but the locals were too clean and ultimately too classy for Illawarra, winning convincingly 64-0 at a windy Seiffert Oval on Wednesday.

PREVIEW: Southern rivals go head-to-head in big game
– Kelsey Hogan

The southern rivalry between Erindale College and Illawarra Sports High will be ignited in the opening round of the Peter Mulholland Schoolboys Cup.

The local derby will be one of the must-watch matches of the opening round and was exclusively live streamed from Seiffert Oval on The Daily Telegraph website.

The Erindale outfit will be one to watch this year, featuring several players from the Raiders NSW representative sides including the SG Ball star winger Regan Carr and explosive Harold Matthews Cup fullback Samuel Gash.

Erindale Coach Ash Barnes said rivals can expect the Canberra line up to “play a similar style” to what is played under NRL coach Ricky Stuart at the Raiders, hoping to maximise on the experience of his representative players.

Raiders young gun Samuel Gash will be a crucial piece of the Erindale College puzzle this season. Picture: Richard Dobson

“You can’t just play that power game. We play a game where we move the footy a bit, hopefully that is an advantage for us having guys who have played together,” Barnes said.

“It is one of those things at the Raiders and our pathways – we focus on fundamental skills.

“Hopefully when we do hand them on to Ricky in the future, they can pass left and right and can tackle one-on-one on both shoulders.”

The match will feature some exciting match ups with Harold Matthews’ Steelers Isaiah Hegedus, Villiami Amone and Darnell Te Ahura expected to headline the Illawarra Sports High side.

Eyes will also be on Year 12 student Ethan Cliff who will be donning the no. 6 jersey for Illawarra this year after an impressive SG ball season for Steelers.

TEAM LISTS

Erindale College

1. Sam Gash. 2. Jack Clutterback 3. Regan Carr 4. Jacob Iosefa 5. Alex Sweeney 6. Ethan Alaia 7. Jonah Anderson 8. Jordan Eti 9. Xavier Cacciotti 10. Ben Castle 11. Noah Martin 12. Ben McSpadden 13. Jack Anderson 14. Blake Hovi 15. Jayden Svager 16. Jonah Sullivan 17. Max Mercer 18. William O’malley.

Illawarra Sports High School

1. Te Umuariki Heremaia-Tukere 2. Cuba Cleavan-Van De Laark 3. Darnell Te Ahuru 4. Ethan Cliff 5. Mitchell Sweet 6. Palu Tausala 7. Zac Scott 8. Villiami Amone 9. Zane Howard 10. Zech Taufa 11. Toby Miller 12. Braith Plecas 13. Zac Maarbani 14. Yazan Hammad 15. Jacob Colwell 16. Tony Taani 17. Tali Feagai 18. Brett Carney

NRL SCHOOLBOYS CUP ROUND 1

The Daily Telegraph will exclusively live stream every match of the Peter Mulholland Cup this season which involves the best rugby league nurseries across NSW.

Find out more information about the competition here and see below for the opening round draw.