Cowboys contracted youngster Jaxon Purdue blazes a trail through Ignatius Park’s defence to help St Patrick’s avenge their Payne Cup grand final heartache. Relive all the action from two games.
Purdue’s electric try six minutes from full-time was the knife twist to seal victory, slicing through the heart of the Ignatius Park defence to open a matchwinning eight-point lead.
WATCH THE REPLAYS FROM THE DOUBLE HEADER BELOW
It was the high point of seven minutes of rugby league heaven for the hosts after left wing Hunter Harris and his inside man, Tenzin Contor, kicked off the 14-point scoring swing in the 47th minute.
Ignatius Park failed to make the most of a dominant opening half, with prop Wyatt Lourigan’s early try matched by Mackay five-eighth Bailey Venz to send the sides to the break tied at 6-all.
Rookie Iggy Park centre Zy Gall was sent back to the sheds seconds into the second half when a lifting tackle tipped past the horizontal, leaving his side down a man for 10 minutes.
Strong defence and a 95m runaway try to flying winger Iowani Cavuilati saw Ignatius Park win that period 6-0, opening a 12-6 lead the side would hold until the final 13 minutes.
A strong breeze and poor ball handling opened the door to St Pat’s comeback, with Cowboys junior Purdue beating three defenders through sheer pace on a 60m gallop.
The victory avenges St Patrick’s College’s Aaron Payne Cup final defeat to Iggy Park last season.
It was a perfect start to the schooboys season for St Patrick’s who also won the Cowboys Challenge clash against Ignatius Park 26-6.
REPLAYS
Aaron Payne Cup Round 1 – St Patrick’s College v Ignatius Park College
Cowboys Challenge Round 1 – St Patrick’s College v Ignatius Park College
PREVIEW: St Patrick’s College determined to aveneg grand final loss
All eyes in North Queensland will be on the Aaron Payne Cup grand final rematch on Tuesday morning as two giants of Queensland rugby league aim to start their season with a win.
After winning all four of their regular season games, St Patrick’s College, Mackay were beaten in the grand final by Ignatius Park College 24-12 – the second grand final they had lost to the school in as many months.
This year, St Patrick’s first XIII team manager Chad Buckby is determined to go at least one game better.
You can watch St Patrick’s College, Mackay play Ignatius Park College LIVE and exclusive on KommunityTV at 10.15am at Mackay Brothers – kicking off with the Cowboys Challenge (Year 10) game.
LOOKING FOR ANOTHER GAME? Check the full Queensland schoolboys schedule below and follow the links to our live streams
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Buckby said his team had a point to prove.
“Our goal is to try and go one step further, Iggy Park beat us in both finals last year – Confraternity as well as the Aaron Payne Cup – so we’d like to get another opportunity, but there’s a lot of hard work that goes before we get to the finals,” Buckby said.
“They’ll always be strong, they’re a very strong system and a very strong school. We’re not expecting anything different this year.
“We’ve got some pretty handy blokes who will be better from their experience playing last year. We’ll definitely be relying on them to guide us around the park.”
The northern battle resumes between Ignatius Park and St Partrick’s.
Two of those players are talented hooker Xavier Kerrisk and electric half Jaxon Purdue, who were both recently named in the Queensland Schoolboys team.
Ignatius Park College have their own motivation in 2023 after losing in the Phil Hall Cup final against Ipswich State High School in 2022.
Ignatius Park had a stellar year, claiming the Confraternity Shield and Aaron Payne Cup double, but were no match for the Ipswich boys, who went on to win the NRL Schoolboys Cup with a 32-6 victory over NSW champions, Patrician Brothers’ College Fairfield.
In his first year in the role, Ignatius Park College coach Zeb Kyle said he was anticipating a tough challenge from St Patrick’s.
“I’m expecting them to be really good, they’re coming off the back of their Capricornia form. There’s six blokes from that squad that will be playing, so it will be a really good challenge for us,” Kyle said.
“Hopefully, we can get up for it and play well. All we can do is control what we can control and if we start worrying about other things, it will be a long day.
“We’re going to keep it as simple as possible and do the 1 per centers really well; our catch-pass, running hard, tackling hard and a bit of field position would be nice too.”