Over the Term 2 holidays a Shirley Boys' High School Under-16 side represented the school at the Gold Coast Rugby Carnival.

Last year the team made it to the final, where they were beaten by Scots College of Sydney, Australia. This year there were 6 teams in our pool. Two teams from the UK, Kelston Boys High School, Melbourne High School and Scots College.

We started the tournament well with a win over Kelston Boys 12-0. Then we were to play Scots College in the afternoon. The boys played outstanding and in particular, defended well, making some big tackles, which put Scots under a lot of pressure. We capitalised on some poor passing from Scots scoring two intercept tries, with the other try coming through strong forward play. We finished the game with an 18-6 win.

The next tournament day we played the two teams from the UK. We had a great result in our first game winning 44-0, but our afternoon game was disappointing. The boys lost their focus and got into a more physical match than we would have liked. Down 5-0 with a few minutes to play, the boys finally strung some phases together and James McCulloch went through a hole and ran 30 meters to dot down. Liam Hansen converted the try to give us a 6-5 lead which we managed to hold on to (conversions being only worth 1 point).

On the last day of games we played Melbourne High School in a friendly 10-a-side game. The boys were too strong for this team and ran out comprehensive winners. Then it was the final in the afternoon, where we would play Scots College again. We started the game slowly and allowed Scots an early try. We then regrouped and played some great rugby through the middle part of the game. Tries to Darius Fidow, Liam Hansen and Waitangi Tuisaga had us up 17-5 with 10 minutes to play. However, Scots were not done. They attacked with intensity and managed to find some mismatches and broke free to score two tries in the space of a few minutes. This made it 17-17 with a few minutes to play. Scots continued to throw everything at us, but our defence held firm and we managed a turnover, and kicked the ball in to touch. The game was over, and with no extra time it seemed we were destined to share the trophy. However, because we beat Scots in pool play and went through the tournament undefeated, we were crowned champions.

It was a highly successful trip with the boys having a great time playing and spending some time exploring the sights and sounds of the Gold Coast. It was a great experience for the boys and something they will treasure over the years to come.

I would like to thank all sponsors who helped during our fundraising, and all parents for helping the boys to get there. It was a great trip and hopefully next year’s team can repeat the win.