Rugby Report

Saturday 26 July 2025

AAGPS Round 7

The Scots College (Scots) 38 defeated Shore 36 (Tries: Tim Leahy 2, Rex Bassingthwaighte, Digby Hockey, Jai Callaghan, Oscar d’Almeida; Conversions: Oli Greig 3)

Shore began well, kicking off and almost regaining possession following a well-weighted contestable kick-off. Shortly after, Shore received a penalty in good field position. Rather than take the points, they opted to kick for touch, and a well-executed line out and driving maul led to Shore’s first try, with Tim Leahy being the man to put the ball over the line. However, Scots were quick to hit back with some slick transition play, catching the Shore defenders on the back foot. This allowed them to score two quick tries to put their team into the lead 12 – 5 after 15 minutes. Shore’s set piece work from the lineout proved very effective again, with another try to Tim Leahy coming off the back of a good drill and an effective driving maul. The successful conversion from Oli Greig tied the game at 12 – 12. Both teams’ attack was proving hard to defend, and Scots scored two tries to Shore’s one, by Rex Bassingthwaighte, to go into half-time leading 26 – 17.

After a stern talk at half-time, Shore came out with renewed energy and were first to score courtesy of a cross kick from Jai Callaghan that sent a flying Digby Hockey in for a try in the right-hand corner, narrowing the score to 26 – 24, following another conversion from Oli Greig. With the game in the balance to win for both teams, Shore made a few costly errors, resulting in Scots scoring two tries on transition to lead 38 – 24. Despite this, Shore kept on fighting, scoring two more tries by Jai Callaghan and Oscar d’Almeida. In the end, Scots hung on to win 38 – 36 with valiant efforts from both teams. Overall, it was an exciting game to watch with a lot of time with ball in play, allowing both teams to expand the defence, edge to edge, and create a free-flowing game. Unfortunately, some poor defensive efforts on our goal line allowed Scots to score six tries from seven entries into our 22m area. The team will be determined to put in a good shift at training this week and reverse the result against Newington this Saturday.

Mr David Mason-Jones
MIC Rugby