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14'S LEAGUE BUCKLEY SHIELD REPORT:-

This week Glen Innes High participated in the finals of the Buckley Shield, the under 14s rugby league State Knockout. It was the first time in 35 years since this level of achievement had been reached.

GIHS had to face up to the winners of the South Western Sydney conference; Casula High School which has a population of 1250 students.

The GIHS squad travelled down to Sydney early Tuesday morning with a largely enjoyable drive, which was sociable and uneventful.

After a very restful evening at the Mereton Liverpool , the boys had a great dinner, solid rest, hearty breakfast and then made their way out to the ground at Casula High School for a 9.15am kickoff.

Both teams went through the process of warm up thoroughly and were set to play. Glen kicked off with the Casula boys keen to engage with a power game with a large forward pack with plenty of size. ( It was rumoured that Benji Marshall was seen outside the school grounds trying to find a few players to fix some of selection concerns for the weekend).

The Casula main front man, hit the ball up off the kick off and was hit powerfully but GIHS lock forward, Lloyd Newbury. Newbury dominated the tackle. Casula then directed more heavy artillery into the Glen centre and Brad Hoskins cut and lifted his opposing front rower in a great tackle. Heavy defence continued with Glen controlling the Casula power game with Charlie Templeton cutting his opposing backrower down, two passes off the ruck. Then Hoskins pulled off another big hit. Casula was forced to kick from inside there 40m zone. Glen fullback Jordan Watts defused a tough high ball and Glen made their way forward into their first attacking set. Glen were in the game and Casula were surprised.

The game continued to go set for set with the GIHS back 3 continuing to do a great job. Glen turned over cheap ball close to their line but with great defence refused to let the Casula big men dominate and then forced an error. Glen made their way down the field with their own power game with Newbury swatting off 95kg forwards at will, Hoskins running over his opposing front men and Ethan Graham finding space on the edges of the ruck. Casula were getting a game they didn’t expect.

After a penalty Glen rolled into the 20m zone which saw Hoskins crash over near the posts on the back of a deft pass from Rocco Eastwood. Hoskins added the extras. Charlie Templeton ran powerfully and Newbury continued to be a headache for Casula big men as he continued with his Bradley Clyde like game. Again Glen earned some great field position which gave Ethan Graham a chance one on one with his opposing number, which saw Graham crash through and score near the posts. Again Hoskins converted. Glen led 12 nil.

Severel sets passed with GIHS realising that Casula were slow to return after early kicks. The Casula big men were walking, had their hands on their hips, and were showing signs of early fatigue. More solid contact from Glen saw a long stoppage in play arise as a Casula backrower was carried from the field. Hoskins was again set on the posts but the long break saw the opposition regain their legs and the opportunity for the Glen front rower to get his second try was thwarted.

Contacts continued to be heavy which saw Lloyd Newbury forced from the field with a shoulder injury. Newbury recovered, passed his TOTAPS test and chose to return to the field. Again in another massive collision involving three Casula big men where Lloyd still won the contact, the talented young man from Pinkett broke his clavicle and was forced from the field.

Being the tight group they are, and seeing their lockfoward in pain naturally affected the Glen crew, fueling concerns for their captain and maybe some self doubt. Newbury had been having a whale of a game, with Casula relieved to see him retire from the field. The question was who was going to step up for Glen to fill his shoes. Ryley Dawson tried hard along with Miles Livermore and were far from dominated by the CHS power game. Hunta Ferris continued to give quality service from dummy half and along with Patty Wright got through a power of defence. Casula scored late in the first half which saw the visitors go to the break leading 12-6.

GIHS coaches Miller and Taylor were thrilled with the team’s output and application. Casula’s willingness to strip the ball in defence and off load in tackles with the ball was addressed at halftime. We knew we had to kick deep and take the power out of the opposition’s legs. GIHS did not realise how close they were to beating this big city school.

Casula came out strong and Glen started to miss a few tackles. Ethan Graham had a massive half proving to be a real handful for the opposition. But with a classy centre already signed by the Tigers ("put him in this week Benji") hitting his straps Casula ran away with the game 36-12.

After having an excellent game on the wing, defusing numerous bombs Lachlan Grob was also forced from the field with a knee injury late in the second half. Unfortunately, both Grob and Newbury were transferred by ambulance to Liverpool hospital.

It had been a game of two halves and had finished on a sombre note for Glen.

It was very clear to our crew how deep our community is after being placed for two days in Western Sydney. All boys saw things, met people and experienced the challenges city folk battle with daily. They have returned a little more self aware and grateful. The team and its coaches were overwhelmed by the support and care shown to the team to enable the trip. The Glen Innes Magpies Old Boys donated $2000 to the team’s travel requirements which is incredibly generous and greatly appreciated. The boys have pledged to help out in future fund raisers for this great community organisation. In addition the Glen Innes P&C contributed $500 dollars to meals. The team enjoyed some great nutritious meals and were very well fuelled for game day and recovery.

The team would also like to acknowledge the huge input of the P&C President Mrs Leanne Eastwood who assisted in finding the best and most affordable resources for the team to make the trip. She was amazing.

Whilst up against adversity, the GIHS boys learnt that they could compete with the best Western Sydney could offer and with subtle variations in defensive technique and more willingness to stick to the simple processes of a rugby league set the result could have been very different.

The GIHS crew would also like to acknowledge and thank the parents that supported the team on the day. Most importantly, the injured players who received immediate and expert medical care and are on a pathway to recovery. The squad waited in the central park at Liverpool for 5 hours, endured absolute peak hour traffic and rolled back into a chilly Glen Innes at 1am Thursday morning.

Overall a very rich experience.

Richard Taylor

Head Teacher PDHPE