Press Coverage - Cranbrook School

The Inverell Times
16 April 2013
Circulation: 2,974
Inverell juniors excel at carnival
THE junior Inverell Highlanders played five outstanding games of rugby union at the
weekend to come away division runners up at The Armidale School Rugby Carnival,
believed to be the largest primary-aged rugby carnival in Australia.
About a thousand young players from 48 school and club teams from Sydney to the Sunshine
Coast honed their skills in friendly competition.
The young Highlanders played some outstanding rugby to defeat St Joseph’s College Nudgee
52-0, Lismore JRC 50-0, Bishop Druitt College Coffs Harbour 44-0 and in the semi, St
Iganitus College Riverview 36-5 before being defeated in Sunday’s final 7-14 by Sydney
school Cranbrook, who scored and converted right on the whistle.
“The first few games were reasonably easy but for the final Cranbrook did their homework
and were very well drilled, shutting down our two try scoring machines, Angus Bell and
Brady Mather, who just didn’t get the chances they did in the earlier games,” Highlanders
coach Scott Bremner said.
“All the boys should be well pleased with how well they played.”
The youngest member of the team, Hamish Fraser, was awarded the presentation jumper for
his enthusiasm and commitment, and Wally Bremner won the match ball.
“It’s magnificently organised carnival, well-seeded, and a real ‘horizon-opener’ for a lot of
boys in later primary and early secondary school who otherwise wouldn’t experience this
level of competition,” Bremner said.
“The boys love the experience of staying in a boarding house – and the parents get to have a
pretty good time also.”
Apart from the rugby itself, other attractions included the chance to meet Tamworth-born
Wallabies prop Paddy Ryan, and the Tom Richards Cup, to be fought over by the Wallabies
and British and Irish Lions later this year.
Ryan said the carnival was a “fantastic” display of all that is good about schoolboy rugby.
“The spirit in which the games were played and refereed by the junior refs, has been
absolutely fantastic, it’s an absolute pleasure to watch,” he said.
In the grand final of the top division, Brisbane Church of England Grammar School defeated
Sydney’s Northern Suburbs JRC 10-0, while the red division grand final was a 14-14 draw
between Sydney schools The Scot’s College and St Augustine’s College.
The prestigious KooGa Team of the Carnival Award was made to Matthew Flinders Anglican
College from the Sunshine Coast, recognising their performance and sportsmanship both on
and off the field.”