St Paul's Sunshine Coast tour
18th May 2011 12:10PM
By Hamish Forsman
St Paul’s has used a pre-season rugby tour of Queensland to help develop a new group of players after significant changes to coaching and playing staff.
Team management, led by former Black Ferns coach Jed Rowlands, decided a tour was needed to help start the season after losing a number of players from last year.
Assisting Rowlands this year are experienced coach Kiwi Searancke and Waikato ITM Cup player and former St Paul’s pupil Vern Kamo.
St Paul’s took both their first XV and under 16 squads to a tournament at Matthew Flinders Anglican College on the Sunshine Coast during the Easter holidays.
“The main purpose of the tour was for team selection and to help develop a team culture,” said manager Gary Henley-Smith.
Their pre-season fitness was tested as they played four matches in quick succession, all against tough local opposition, with temperatures in the high 20s.
Their first game was against Toowoomba Grammar. St Paul’s scored four tries, two each to Ezak Eksteen and Robbie Leon-Guerrero, as they won 23-14.
The next day of matches were 30 minute games against two Brisbane schools. Early season errors were evident in both games as St Paul’s lost to St Patrick’s College 12-5 and drew with Villanova College 5-5. Michael Gutry and Lachlan Cooper were St Paul’s try-scorers.
The final game of the tour was against Brisbane Grammar, one of the top rugby schools in Queensland. They arrived at the tournament just for this game and took advantage of a tired St Paul’s side, winning 32-0.
However Henley-Smith said he was impressed with his team’s tenacity and commitment and the tour had done its job.
“It wasn’t a typical tournament, teams were coming and going, it was a real pre-season tournament”.
But he said that the point of the tour was selection of the first XV. So with no real pressure on during the games they were able to get a good look at the players and are now looking forward to the season.
“It’s a young side, and not many boys have had first XV experience, particularly against quality sides. The team will get better as the season goes on”.
Most valuable player on tour was Hadleigh May, the best performance in a game went to Robbie Leon-Guerrero, and Aaron Elliott won the silent achiever award.
