SYDNEY’S Hills High School advanced to the Waratah Shield semi-finals after a dominant 43-5 win over Tamworth’s Farrer Memorial Agricultural High School at Apex Oval, Dubbo on Wednesday.
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The two schools selected Dubbo as a neutral venue for the clash, and no doubt the Sydneysiders would be happy to return after they thrived in the conditions to run in seven tries before conceding one after the final siren had sounded.
Hills Sports High team manager Andrew Tetley said he was happy with the side’s performance, particularly in defence.
“Early on, we were under a fair bit of pressure but we really stood up well,” Tetley said.
“We’re thrilled with the result now. To be in the final four is great and we’ve really enjoyed our trip to Dubbo.
“The hospitality here has been great. We arrived yesterday (Tuesday) and and had a light training run on the back fields and the set-up here is world class.
“I’m pretty sure we’ll now play the winner of Knox Grammar and St Augustine’s in the semi-final. We played Knox in the pool games and beat them 60-19 but they were missing a lot of rep players that day so it should be a good contest if we do have to play them again.”
Farrer coach Kylie Dawson praised her side’s effort to make the quarter-finals, with Wednesday’s match their fifth in 10 days.
For so long renowned as being a rugby league school, Farrer has now made it to at least the quarter-final stage of the Waratah Shield for the past three years.
“We’ve actually got more rugby players at the school now than league so things have turned around a bit,” Dawson said.
“These boys have done a super job though. They’ve had a lot of football over the past week or two and to make it this far is a big achievement.
“The Hills were just too big and too fast today, particularly out wide with their wingers who had a lot of speed and were able to make the most of that.
“Our group is a young side too. Most of them are in Year 11, so they’ll be back next year to give it another crack.”
THE HILLS SPORTS HIGH SCHOOL 43 (Shaun Fitzgerald 2, Daniel Brown, Tully Macpherson, Beau Ungounga, Sean Walpole, Shane Kiel tries; Harry Rowe 3, Mitchell Korol convs) def FARRER AGRICULTURAL HIGH SCHOOL 5 (Joe Ferris try)