It was a case of letting your guard down early for Anglican Church Grammar School last weekend, as the two-time reigning premiers fell to Ipswich Grammar 23-13 in the opening round of the GPS competition.
Rain and wind battered Brisbane on a miserable Saturday afternoon, as both teams needed to adapt their game plans to the conditions at hand. Ipswich came out of the gates flying with their forward pack setting the tone early in the scrums.
A bolstering front row of Eugene Koorts, Kolio Petersen-Timu and Jason Tani had their counterparts reeling, earning a shot at goal for flyhalf Cooper Whiteside.
The pivot notched the easy penalty, taking his side to a 3-0 lead.
It wasn’t long before Churchie hit back with a penalty of their own, as IGS were penalised for not rolling away in the 16th minute.
Fullback Henry Lennon slotted the penalty from 30m out to square the match with the rain pouring down.
Consecutive penalties by the home side then led to another shot at goal for Ipswich’s Whiteside.
The Ipswich forwards did well to retain the ball, slowly driving their way up the field for Whiteside to slot another easy penalty.
It was the visitors with a slight lead entering the latter stages of the half, 6-3.
Both sides were guilty of coughing up possession, none more so than Ipswich late in the half, as a fumble on their 22m line saw Churchie’s Henry Mitchell score.
Rampaging centre, Tristan Stanghorn did well to brush off two defenders at the ruck, before scampering away and offloading inside to a trailing Mitchell who dove over for the first try of the match.
The conversion was unsuccessful, but the home side lead 8-6 at the break.
Churchie kept the scoreboard ticking over early in the second half with a try to replacement Nathan Beil.
After earning scrum penalties deep in Ipswich territory, the Churchie pack used their strong pick and drive for Beil to push his way over.
Lennon couldn’t add the extras, as Churchie led 13-6 with 25 minutes to play.
The match then changed momentum drastically in the 49th minute, as Churchie blindside flanker Jack Slack was yellow carded for a tip tackle.
Ipswich used their numerical advantage immediately to score their first try of the match through captain Joshua Sheridan.
The flanker did well to squeeze his way through a tight Churchie defensive line, after his forward pack edged their way towards the line from a lineout.
Whiteside had no problem with the conversion, tying the game at 13-all.
The tide certainly had turned in the match with Ipswich sharing the bulk of the possession and territory, camping themselves in the home side’s half.
Time after time Churchie gave away easy possession through knock ons and forward passes, as they were unable to clear their own half.
It was only a matter of time before Ipswich were in again, this time through flanker, Noah Hughes.
Some great work by the dominant Ipswich pack instigated an easy drive from the 22m line, before Hughes dotted over next to the sticks.
Whiteside never looked like missing, as he steered his side to a 20-13 lead.
The premiers gave it one last hurrah in the closing stages of the match, attempting to run the ball from deep in their 22m to salvage the contest, but another handling error saw the ball turned over, before Ipswich earned another penalty for Whiteside to put the game to bed.
Ipswich head coach, David Eagle stated after the match: “It was a really tough win, we’ve got a young group of guys that put in a huge effort today against a strong Churchie side.
“I think we did really well to turn the match around, and the boys did everything they could to get the win today which is all we could ask for. I’m a very proud coach.”
In other opening round results around the GPS competition, St. Joseph’s College, Nudgee comfortably beat Brisbane Grammar School 39-3, The Southport School edged Toowoomba Grammar 28-24, and Brisbane State High School opened its account with a 22-12 win over St. Joseph’s College - Gregory Terrace.
