Our Saints Academy kicked off their tour of Australia with an impressive 40-0 win over North Sydney Bears at TG Milner Field on Saturday and you can watch the highlights below.
MATCH REPORT
The first try came 11 minutes into the first half as number two Lewis Baxter ran a great line following a pass from Joe Woods. Baxter dummied the full back and scored under the posts, before the conversion was successfully kicked by Lewis Dodd and Saints led 6-0.
Good contact from Cole Appleby forced the ball loose resulting in scrum feed to Saints before Dodd executed a ‘show and go’ to score out wide before converting his own try to lead 12-0 after 15 minutes.
Another good carry from Appleby brought the Saints down the right side before a neat pass from dummy half Keenan McDaid found Harry Brooks to score next to the posts. Dodd converted as Saints led 18-0.
Two very good carries from a goal line drop out by Zack Lee and Shay Martin led to the next score. A good inside ball from Dodd saw Baxter score his second try of the game next to the posts and Dodd kicked the extras on the half time siren. 24-0 at the break.
An inch perfect 40-20 by Dodd followed by a couple of good carries saw our half back take the ball to the line and throw a no look pass to a rampaging Reece Sumner who ran a very good line to score. Dodd converted taking the score to 30-0, three minutes into the second half.
From the kick off Dodd kicked the ball out on full giving the North’s the ball, but they knocked on early and Keenan McDaid swooped on the loose ball to run 60 metres to score. Dodd missed the conversion but the Saints led 34-0.
The final score of the game saw Baxter throw a nice pass to Jumah Sambau to swan dive under the posts. Scholarship Player of the Year Taylor Pemberton kicked the extras as Saints Academy wrapped up an impressive 40-0 win in their opening tour game with Sydney Roosters up next on Wednesday with kick off at 6pm (local time).
Day 5 summary…
All of the preparation, fundraising, bag-packing and race nights all feel worthwhile now as it was finally game day. Breakfast, pre-match meal and the journey to TJ Millner field seemed to fly by. The coach ride was a bit quiet
as the lads showed their usual pre-match emotions, focus, excitement and a bit of nervousness.
The match was a perfect start for the boys. It was an excellent defensive display which saw us open our tour account with a 40-0 win over North Sydney Bears.
Another fantastic opportunity for the boys followed as we headed to Parramatta’s newly built Bankwest Stadium to watch the final stages of this years World Cup 9’s. The event was great, some fast flowing rugby on show in both the men’s and women’s competitions, with the Aussies dominating both.
We bumped into Saints stars past and present including, Regan Grace, Mal Meninga and Tony Puletua who all took time to have photos with the lads and staff.
Pizza’s on the way home was a treat for the boys before we all hit the sack to get some well earned rest.
The boys head to the game
