Academy tames the St George Dragon

Written on the 31 March 2015 by SWSAS

In what was a hard fought battle, our local South West Sydney Academy of Sport (SWSAS) team defeated the St George Dragons 16 -10, in its Round 4, NSW Rugby League Under 16 Harold Matthews Cup representative fixture at Kirkham Oval, Camden.

In front of a very partisan and vocal local crowd the Academy got off to a flying start with forward LJ Wright using his strength to carry Dragon's defenders over the line not once but twice within close proximity to the posts, making for two easy try conversions.

A free running third try was scored by the Academy before half time when Shondre Lee-Silva scored out wide after chasing through on a perfectly weighted kick from fullback Michael Pita. After failing to convert the third try the Academy took a healthy 16-0 lead into the half -time break.

A strong St George resurgence saw the Dragons score only 10 minutes into the second half, with Usaia Lovodua showing off his individual skills to score a try in the corner. The Dragons then crossed the line again only minutes later thanks to its nippy five-eight Anthony Romanovski, taking the score to 16-10.

The last few minutes of the game were nail-biting with St George launching attacking raid after attacking raid in an attempt to level the score. However, a strong defensive performance by the Academy side prevailed, with the young SWSAS side victorious for the second time in two weeks'.

The Academy's rugby league coordinator Elizabeth Callaghan stated that this was a fantastic result for the Academy and that the squad was starting to reap the benefits of its hard work undertaken pre-season and the excellent coaching provided by Wayne Azzopardi and his staff.

Callaghan proudly continued by saying, that the Academy side is made up solely of players selected from local Under 16 and Under 15 rugby league sides and given that seven of the players selected in the squad are only turning 15 in 2015; their performances to date against more fancied NRL and long established club opposition, has impressed many observers. 

With only a few more rounds of the regular competition still to be played the Academy will continue to face tough 'week to week' oppositions.