Schoolboy Cup Rnd 1 Patrician Brothers Blacktown v Endeavour Sports
Author : William Tyson Daily Telegraph
Livestream School Boy Cup: Patrician Brothers Blacktown v Endeavour Sports High School
Eels coach Brad Arthur and his family could be set for another rugby league star as his youngest son looks to emulate his big brother’s School Boy Cup glory.Matthew Arthur has the chance to follow in his older brother Jakob’s footsteps by steering Patrician Brothers Blacktown to NRL Schoolboy Cup glory.
The promising hooker will lineup against fierce rivals Endeavour Sports High as a new wave of Harold Matthews Cup talent is set to step up in their opening match on Wednesday.
Matthew Arthur does so a year after halfback Jakob lifted the trophy for Patrician Brothers who are chasing back-to-back titles.
The youngest son of Parramatta Eels coach Brad Arthur is no stranger to the spotlight after he made national news bulletins when TV cameras captured footage of him beating Jarryd Hayne in a pre-season training run as a 13-year-old in 2018.
Both coaches had to reshuffle line-ups after injury setbacks and the loss of players to the NSWRL City-Country representative match.
Despite the new-look line-ups, Patties head of rugby league Greg Beacroft is excited about the occasion.
“At this stage it’s about giving boys an opportunity to see who can excel, and to see who can stand up.” Beacroft sad.
TUNE IN ON WEDNESDAY AT 12:30PM TO WATCH PATRICIAN BROTHERS BLACKTOWN V ENDEAVOUR SPORTS
Patrician Brothers Blacktown’s Matthew Arthur. Picture: Jonathan Ng
Endeavour coach Brad Kelly is also optimistic about the rare opportunity.
“Obviously you want to play well and build the team combinations, it’s also the best chance to try different guys out in different positions as well and see what works best.” Kelly said.
Promising Patties forwards John Sagaga and Matthew Arthur will have important leadership roles to play when they come against Endeavour’s crafty halfback Iverson Matai.
Sagaga had a solid year for the Panthers SG Ball side and Matai was very consistent in the Bulldogs Harold Matts team.
Patrician Brothers Blacktown will be without their Parramatta Harold Matts young-guns Ethan Sanders and Myles Martin, who both had strong seasons for the Eels who lost to Manly in the grand final 11 days ago.
Endeavour Sports High will lose their Canterbury Harold Matts second-rower Lajuan Vito, who will also be representing the City side.
Patrician brothers hold a slight advantage over Endeavour winning their last two semi-finals encounters over the Shire locals, however, Beacroft emphasised how close both the games were.
Patrician Brothers Celebrate winning the 2020 Schoolboy Cup (Photo : Steve Montgomery)
“We’ve played them in the semi-final the last two years and beaten them, but we’ve had to come from behind to beat them,” Beacroft said.
“It’s never been a dominate win, they’re always close games and they’re a very well-coached team, on the day we’ll see how we go.”
Both schools have both produced long lists of NRL stars, with Patties having legends such as Luke Lewis to hot young talent Jarome Luai, Stephen Crichton and Daine Laurie.
Endeavour old boys Damien Cook, Jamayne Isaako, Curtis Scott, Will Kennedy, Alex Johnston, Valentine Holmes and Blake Ferguson just to name a few are some of the game’s biggest names.
The NRL Schoolboy Cup match will be live-streamed from Panthers Stadium from 12:30 pm for dailytelegraph.com.au subscribers
2021 NRL SCHOOLBOY CUP: Round 1
