DESPITE being the smallest school represented at Hunter’s Hill on Monday the St Philomena’s rugby union team finished third in the finals of the Chris Gangemi Cup.
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After winning their respective diocesan knock-outs, schools were required to travel to Sydney and Phillies coach, Joe Robinson, said his side performed extremely well.
“Most of the other schools had between 60 and 80 boys to choose their sides from, but we only had about 20, so for the boys to play as well as they did was tremendous,” he said.
Robinson’s side won two out of their three pool games against opponents from Kelso, Fairy Meadow and Toukley before progressing to the semi-final against New Lambton.
The Moree boys led 15-0 in the first half before the Newcastle school staged a comeback to lead 25-20 late in the game.
“We had a chance to tie it up after the buzzer but it wasn’t to be,” Robinson said.
They then trailed 15-0 in the third-place play-off before storming home to win 20-15.
Robinson said co-coaches Paul Raveneau, Jon Greer and Steve Haddad helped make his job a little easier.
They were all impressed with the way the team played as well as the skill level shown on the day.
“There was some absolutely fantastic attacking rugby as well as some exciting games played,” Robinson said.
“The boys were fantastic and I know they were knackered by the end of it,” he laughed.
“I wasn’t disappointed at all by the way the boys played.
“They had a red-hot go and I was really proud of the way they played in the semi-final in particular.
“We’d like to thank all the parents for their support too.”
