SAINTS SPORTS

BDO Hockey 

By Ryan O’Connor (Senior hockey team)

The college’s junior (Years 7 to 9) and senior (Years 10 to12) hockey teams played in the annual BDO Hockey Competition on 8 September. Cade Coghlan proudly captained the senior team. School teams such as TAS, Cairns High, Redlynch, St Andrews, St Mary’s, and Smithfield also participated in the carnival. 

Notably, the senior team won all but one game to make it through to the grand final against Redlynch who we defeated comfortably 2-0 and were declared champions.  

The junior team, unfortunately, did not make the finals, missing out due to points differential. 

Thank you to Mr Seivers for organising the tournament and Mr Coyle and Mr Watson for coaching the teams on the day. 

Our Junior Cricketers Named North Queensland Champions of the T20 Comp

 By Heath McKenzie - First XI Cricket Coach

Saints recently played in the Northern Finals of the Streetsmarts T20 Cricket Competition. The junior and First XI teams travelled to Mackay to compete. 

Both teams had to play a semi-final against a Townsville district team, with the junior team playing Gilroy Santa Maria College from Ingham, and the First XI played Ignatius Park from Townsville.

The junior team were successful in this first game. Batting first, they set a monstrous total of 147 runs. This included a notable performance from Charlie Lawrence who scored 65. The Saints junior team then kept Gilroy to 82 runs with outstanding bowling from Oliver Halpin who took 3 wickets for 5 runs. This victory meant the junior team booked a place in the final against The Cathedral College (TCC), from Rockhampton. 

In the final, Saints junior team batted first. This time they set a higher total, amounting a colossal 216 runs. Jaden Bakurski scored his second century in the competition, with an outstanding 106 runs. He was supported by Charlie Lawrence who scored 82 runs. With a massive total to chase, TCC was contained to 120 runs. This was largely helped by some impressive bowling from Charlie Lawrence, who took 6 wickets for just 10 runs. This victory means that our junior team are the North Queensland champions.

In the senior competition, in their first game, the Saints First XI  were set a total of 153 runs to chase. After a good start from Dayne Margiotta who scored 34 runs, the task proved to be too large a total, and they were dismissed for 68 runs. This loss set up a match for third place against Rockhampton Grammar School. 

Saints batted first against Rockhampton Grammar and set a cool total of 203 runs. This innings had heavy contributions from Gareth Thomas (80 runs) and Seth McGinty (53 runs). After bowling for 10 overs, this game was declared a washout, but not before Henry King took 2 wickets for 2 runs. Saints was awarded the victory due to minimum overs being bowled and Rockhampton Grammar only scoring 36. This meant that the First XI team finished third overall. 

A big thank you to Mr Anthony Cuneen for driving the bus, Mr Churchward for coaching the junior team, and the parents who travelled down to watch. 

This competition ended the season. Well done to both teams. We look forward to another successful year for Saints cricket in 2023.

JSS 

The JSS competition continued last week with Saints taking on St Mary’s. In a close round Saints earned three wins, in Aussie rules (83-6), basketball (58-57) and volleyball (2-0), while securing a 0-0 draw in football and a tight 2-3 loss in touch football. 

This week our volleyball and AFL teams played  catch-up games against Cairns High and St Mary’s. After losing the first set, the volleyball team fought back, winning the final two sets to claim a  2-1 victory. Our junior AFL team continued their fine form and secured a dominant 59-0 victory over St Mary’s. The JSS tables are tight at the moment so the teams will be looking to get some early wins next term leading into finals. 

Secondary School Surf Carnival

Saints competed in the annual Secondary School Surf Carnival last Friday. This gave the boys an opportunity to compete and represent the College in a wide range of surf events. Saints combined won the overall competition and we came away with a podium sweep in the Senior Beach Relay. Thanks to Mr Williams and Mr Kingsley for attending the carnival. 

Upcoming TCC Trials

Parent slips have been sent home for the following TCC Trials. Please contact Mr Di Salvo if you wish to nominate for these trials. Students must present a completed Peninsula Permissions booklet signed by Mr Seivers to attend the trials. 

• TCC 13-14 years futsal – Thursday 6 October
• TCC 16-19 years cricket – Paper nomination due Thursday 6 October.

Saints Rugby 7s Sides Too Slick

By Toby McCarthy - First XV Rugby Coach 

At the end of last month, the Saints rugby union squads competed in the annual Northern 7s Tournament held at St Andrew’s in great conditions for running rugby. The U15s had trained very well leading up to it and there had been that much interest from the seniors that we entered two teams in the U18s division. 

Out top team dusted hosts St Andrew’s 43-0 in the opening game and set the tone for the day. Unfortunately, the competition fell away a bit and some opposition teams ended up merging. It didn’t worry the Saints juggernaut though as both U18s teams met in the final with our top team running away with it, 50-7. 

The U15s division was very competitive and our boys were extremely unlucky not be in the final. Nothing separated the four teams, and the boys did themselves justice by taking out the play off for third in convincing style. 

It was a fun, fast, exciting day of rugby, and our boys did themselves and their college proud on and off the paddock.