2021 Schoolboy Cup

Schoolboy Cup Round 1 Bass High v St Dominic’s College

by
dailytelegraph
15/05/2021

St. Dominics College held Bass scoreless in their Round 1 clash of the Schoolboy Cup at the Belmore Sports Ground (Photo : Steve Montgomery)

Schoolboy Cup Round 1 Bass High v St Dominic’s College

Author : Jocelyn Airth Daily Telegraph

St Dom’s give Bass a beating

St Dominic’s College took on Bass High in the Schoolboy Cup early on Thursday. Check out who won and watch a full match replay here.

We are title contenders – that’s what halfback Keagan Russell-Smith said after he steered St Dominic’s College to a comprehensive 26-0 victory over Bass High School in Round 1 of the NRL Schoolboy Cup.

Despite the final score, it was a tight and gritty contest at Belmore Oval.

St Dom’s led just 4-0 at halftime, but a late surge from forwards Lachlan Blackburn, Lachlan Whitehouse and Mason Teague saw the boys from Penrith run away with the win.

“They get good carries, they get us rolling and make us a good team,” Russell-Smith said.

“We started a bit scrappy, they were very strong, we worked hard and stuck to it.”

What makes St Dom’s victory especially exciting, is that they pulled it off without hooker Ryley Smith and fullback Liam Ison – both Penrith Panthers junior representative stars were late withdrawals from the match.

“What (Ison and Smith) bring to the table is unbelievable. But we’ve got the depth this year. We had few young boys filling in, Josh DeBritt did well and Matt Rossetto was good at 9” Russell-Smith said.

Bass High skipper Jonathan Su’a said his young side will learn from the loss.

“It was good to run out with the boys, but it wasn’t the outcome we wanted” Su’a said.

“Our first half was pretty good, I was happy with that … we will work on our attitude towards training.”

St Dominic’s flexed there muscle in an impressive NRL Schoolboy Cup display against Bass High. Check out the highlights.
Bass High were in the contest for most of the match – five-eighth Su’a and fullback Bilal El Youseff were constant threats.

St Dom’s centre Declan Quirk looked sure to cross first, after his 40 metre bolt down the field.

But the 17-year-old – who is also an elite swimmer who qualified for Tokyo 2021 trials – was stopped just short of the line thanks to a brilliant cover tackle by Youseff.

“(Quirk) always played footy growing up, he’s stopped playing but he’s stuck around for school footy. It’s amazing what he can still do, he’s a full time swimmer but a great league player too” Russell-Smith said.

Dom’s power up the field in Rnd 1 of the Schoolboy Cup at Belmore Sports Ground (Photo : Steve Montgomery)

Just before half time, St Dom’s winger Baley Brothwick crossed on the right edge to give St Dom’s a 4-0 lead.

Bass High’s Calvin Levy – fresh off a stellar season with Many’s grand final winning Harold Matthews Cup side – threatened to level the scoreboard on a number of occasions in the second half, but the winger just couldn’t get past the wall of defence.

St Dom’s prop Whitehouse was formidable through the middle and even put in a couple of handy kicks.

In the end, Blackburn steamrolled over, thanks to an inside ball from Russell-Smith, to spark St Dom’s second half surge.

Luke Hanson, Isaac Bartolo and Teague then crossed to seal the deal.

After losing last year’s quarterfinal to Westfields SHS, Russell-Smith said his side is determined to go all the way in 2021.

“There’s a real buzz around the school, everyone’s keen to see how we go this year. I think we should be looked at really competitively and as genuine contenders this year, we’re the team to do it, if we just get it right I believe we can” Russell Smith said.