This week St Kevins College put Victorian Schoolboys on the map.

There will be a number of schools from New Zealand and other parts of Australia, asking themselves “Do they actually play rugby in Victoria, and just who is this St Kevins outfit?!!”

The Gold Coast Carnival happens annually, but SKC have only toured every two years. The competition has proven to be a great opportunity for the boys to play against some stiff competition, to build them up for the finals. This year SKC took two teams, the U16s and the 1st XV. The tournament was played trialling the new Stellenbosch rules, which tend to make the game move much faster, so fitness was a vital component.

The under 16s faced a very tough competition but held themselves together well throughout the tournament. There were 13 teams in the competition and our boys won their final game to place a respectable 4th in their division.

The 1st XV were not sure what to expect, and one comment (from a boy who will remain nameless) was “We will get slaughtered, as most of the teams we play are from New Zealand”.

The boys won their first game by 1 point against Te Puke High School, who had the distinction of having the longest Haka of the tour (about 5 mins!) and were off to a good if nervous start. The 2nd match against Aquinas College played proved an easy win with a four tries to nil SKC victory. The game was over early in the second half when the game was halted due to an injury on the opposing team.

The second day of competition was more demanding with a narrow loss by a drop goal to a ferocious Nayland College from NZ, who according to the unbiased observers on the sideline, had a bit of help from the NZ referee. However SKC came back to convincingly win the second game by 7 tries to nil against Northside College.

The final day of competition saw us play against a formidable team from the competition hosts; The Southport School’s Development Squad. An outstanding team effort saw SKC rewrite the script and come away again with a 1 point victory, which placed us in the Division final.

The final took place at 2pm on Saturday and the boys played brilliantly against another team from New Zealand, Queen Charlotte College. The essence of the win was how effectively our boys worked as a team, and kept their cool, as the opposition threw everything they had at them. 

This was the way they had played throughout the tournament. It was a crushing 5 try to 1 SKC victory against a very tough opposition, who perhaps were not expecting much from our side. The boys and coaches were overjoyed with the result, which rewarded all the great effort and dedication. 

The most rewarding part of the tournament was the team spirit and bonding between the SKC teams. This brings our schools rugby players together in a great community of friendship across the years.

Any parents who have some photos - please send them to me so I can post them on the net! (at pauldeg@optusnet.com.au)

Paul de Guingand