2021 Schoolboy Cup

Schoolboy Cup Rnd 1 St Gregory’s College v Hunter Sports High

by
dailytelegraph
13/05/2021

St. Gregory College, Campbelltown, the boiz are back (Photo : St. Greg's)

Schoolboy Cup Rnd 1 St Gregory’s College v Hunter Sports High

Author : Nick Campton Daily Telegraph

St Gregory’s College Campbelltown’s quest to break a 20-year title drought is off to a flyer after beating Hunter Sports High. Watch the replay here.

The sleeping giant of schoolboy football may have awakened as St Gregory’s Campbelltown got their NRL Schoolboys Cup campaign off to a scintillating start with a 28-8 win over Hunter Sports High.

In a physical, fiery encounter it was halfback Liam Sutton and backrower Thomas Fletcher who led the way for St Greg’s as a heaving home crowd created a rowdy atmosphere which helped spur the Campbelltown side to victory.

“It was a massive build up. When we came out of the sheds and we saw hundreds of boys ready to go, it was a crazy atmosphere, I couldn’t believe it,” said Sutton.

“To have them back us through the game was something I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”

(L-R) Thomas Fletcher, and Liam Sutton led St Greg’s to a big win. Picture: David Swift

Fletcher, who starred for Western Suburbs in SG Ball this season, opened the scoring after he won the race to a deflected Sutton grubber in the opening minutes.

But Hunter struck back shortly thereafter with a long-range effort with fullback Lachlan Fitzhenry, their best on the day, finding space off a kick return before linking with Kynan Toomey in support and the nippy halfback cruised the final 30 metres to score.

St Gregory’s turned it on in front of their home fans, dominating Hunter Sports High on their way to a 20-point win.
From there Hunter enjoyed a sustained period of pressure on the St Greg’s line but were consistently turned away by a number of last gasp efforts.

“They had the ball for about three or four sets in a row and I said to the boys at halftime how proud I was that we turned them away,” said St Greg’s coach Michael Bullock.

“For Principal Lee MacMaster to allow the whole school to come down was unbelievable and the boys fed off that atmosphere.

“That’s the culture we used to have and that’s so good that it’s coming back and the boys get to experience it because these are memories these boys will remember forever.”

The match was in the balance but St Greg’s bench props Thomas Carroll and Zak Clarke helped the home side regain the ascendancy with some strong charges in the middle of the field.

Then it was Sutton and Fletcher who again found the killer blow, this time linking up via a short ball for the backrower to charge over for his second.

Sutton picked up his third try assist of the half with a short ball to fullback Emmanuel Kandidakis to plunge over and when centre Charlie Guymer cut back against the grain to cross from close range St Greg’s carried a 22-4 lead into halftime.

Guymer was at it again just after the break with the Parramatta SG Ball centre breaking into space from deep inside his own half before finding winger Will Grabowski backing up with the speederster crossing under the posts.