Impressive Nudgee College centre Billy Spicer and his Queensland Under-15s teammates can’t wait for a shot at redemption in Sydney next Saturday.
The Reds U15s fell short 27-19 against the NSW Waratahs in Sunday’s interstate clash at Ballymore when a better result felt within reach for much of the game.
The two teams meet again in a return bout at Sydney's Southern Districts Rugby Club.
The Waratahs certainly deserved to win Game One yet the frustrating “what ifs” mounted for the Queensland boys after they’d taken an early 7-0 lead.
Spicer scored the opening try when he scooted by the final defender after accepting a pass from centre partner Harlem Faalafi.
“We’ve got a week to work on what we need to because we played a little into the Waratahs’ hands today, and didn’t execute as well as we wanted,” Spicer said.
The Waratahs led 20-7 after a spurt of points either side of half-time before the Reds struck back through St Laurence’s College winger Harrison Taylor.
He scooted over after fullback Chilli Tonelli-Smith entered the line and ripped a superb right-to-left cutout pass to give Taylor momentum on the left sideline.
Chilli-Tonelli’s fine conversion from the sideline put the Reds within reach.
“It was a very physical and athletic match. It’s really good to have that game under our belts to know how each other play,” Taylor said.
“We are definitely keen for Sydney.”
Modest kicking for territory in the first half, losing two midfield lineouts when back to 20-14 and little errors stalled momentum for the Reds.
“Some key moments let us down because our conversion rate when we did get into the Waratahs quarter was pretty good,” Reds coach Sean Graham said.
“The boys are hurting because they feel they are good enough to beat them. They’ll be better for their first run together and they are keen to have another crack in Sydney.”
There was certainly no lack of effort. Reds prop Jeremiah Kite crossed from close range with two minutes to play and the Reds went on another attack before the final whistle.
Flyhalf James Smith, from The Southport School, made back-to-back tackles on far bigger players in the shadow of his own goalposts late in the game to demonstrate that effort.
Nudgee College hooker Xavier Hill was another to have a busy day in the heat.
In the Under-14s match, a hat-trick of tries to Churchie schoolboy Elijah Nosa steered Reds Gold to a 24-14 come-from-behind win over Reds Navy.
Lucas McLean and Alexander Eaton had earlier crossed for Navy to give them a 14-5 lead before being overhauled.
The match was an excellent stepping stone to put talented young players on the radar for the Reds U15s and Reds U16s in years to come.
NSW WARATAHS U15s 27
Def
QUEENSLAND REDS U15s 19
Tries: Billy Spicer, Jeremiah Kite, Harrison Taylor
Conversions: Chilli Tonelli-Smith 2
