17 Nov 2023
Resilience. Camaraderie. Triumph.
On Wednesday, students from the various LeagueTag Grade teams participated in the NRL North Sydney LeagueTag Gala Day at Killara. Made up of students from Years 10-8 across two teams, the students participated against a slew of schools including Killara, Mosman, St Ives, Chatswood, and Cherrybrook across two divisions.
The day saw a round-robin tournament of 20 minute games with no half times, played in rapid succession, sometimes with 20 minutes break between, across 3-4 games throughout the day. It was as much a test of endurance as it was about skills, as the fatigue and knocks taken through the games started to accumulate.
Our 1sts team would face Chatswood I, Killara I, St Ives I, and Mosman I in their pool, while our 2nds would face Cherrybrook I, St Ives II and Chatswood II in their pool.
A special highlight for our Normo 2nds, who won their first game with a gripping 6-5 against Chatswood, with our team taking the lead through a last minute try to Noah Han, and a final flurry of passes as Chatswood tried in vain to retake the lead, resulting in their first win for the day and for the season!
After the round robin competition, our 1sts qualified in second place, falling to St Ives in the 3rd round 2-1 and making the Semi Finals by a single point, while our 2nds team narrowly missed out on qualifying for the Semi Finals after a countback of games won and points differential were tied, and eventually going to tries scored, marginally losing out to Cherrybrook.
The Normo 1sts came into the Semi Final already having played 4 games and with only two substitutions, felt the effects of fatigue and the intense pressure of Cherrybrook early on, going down 3-1 halfway through the game. But as they have shown numerous times, the team dug deep and inspired by Joshua Sayo’s second try 2 minutes before the end of the game, found themselves rejuvenated and pushing for an equaliser in the final moments. After forcing Cherrybrook to turn the ball over in the last minute, an all or nothing kick down field became a sprint between Cherrybrook players and Llewyn Morrison who cut through 3 players, collecting the ball centimetres before the try line and scoring a try right before the siren sounded, equalising the game. However, as we scored first, Normo would make its way through to the Grand Final to face St Ives again for a chance for redemption.
The round robin game was already a tense affair, with both teams playing an exceptional high level of attack and defence, with each incisive run met with riposte and counter-attack. The Grand Final was no different, with both teams already exhausted willing their bodies for the final game. Ashton Huynh would score early to set the team up and as a siren went, the team thought we had won, only for officials to declare that we had another 12 minutes left! Drama ensued as St Ives equalised with 10 minutes to go, putting the pressure back on both teams. However, the dead-lock was broken by an outstanding solo effort from Joshua Sayo once again, as he stepped through half the team, twisting and turning his way to the try line to give our team the slenderest of leads with 5 minutes to go. Already drawing on rapidly diminishing reserves of energy, the boys worked gainfully for each other, making desperate lunges and tags in the final minutes, even facing 18 tackles in a row against them in the final minute, to hang on and breakthrough for their first win in a tournament/gala day.
It was a great opportunity to test ourselves against other public schools and in an extreme competitive setting these gala days provide, and to not only see both teams do well but to come away with the eventual winners was a very proud moment for Ms Kim and myself who have seen these boys play this year.
Normo 1sts: Anthony Campobassi, Aidan Choy, Ashton Huynh, Lucas Liu, Llewyn Morrison, Andre Sathiavan, Dominic Sebastian, Hrithihan Siriragavan, Cedric Wei, Joshua Sayo
Normo 2nds: Ayush Ahuja, Nikil Andepalli, Arun Kallal Soma, Max Mohi, Keerthan Raja, Brayden Zhang, Barny Ha, Noah Han, Daniel He, Matthew Li, Jaeseon Kim
Coaches: Mr Virata and Ms C. Kim