Kinross Wolaroi defeats Saint Stanislaus' College in ISA Rugby derby

The Bathurst school were hoping to celebrate their Old Boys Day in style by securing a win in the 1^st XV clash but it wasn't to be as Kinross came away 36-19 winners.

The visitors had Stannies constantly playing catch up rugby throughout the 80 minutes and rounded out the season with a gritty success on their rivals' turf.

Kinross rugby master in charge Matt Tink was thrilled to see the school tough out a win in the fashion they did.

"Stannies have had the wood over Kinross for a number of years, with Kinross only jagging a win here and there, so Saturday's win was really important for the boys and our school," he said.

"It's great for our year 12 boys, being their last game for the school. The thing is that many of the boys have played Central West together for a number of years, so many of them are mates.

"From talking to a few of our boys they were disappointed for a couple of their Stannies mates because they get on well with them and they've played footy together, and I hope they continue to play together in the future."

For Stannies co-coach Shane Thurston it was a tough way for the team's season to end.

"Credit to Kinross, they were very good. It's disappointing for us because it's always such a big game against Kinross, and the Old Boys round added a bit to the day," he said.

"We've had a bad run with injuries so it's been pretty unsettled with the players that we've had throughout the year, but I'm sure Kinross have been through similar things.

"We've both had tough seasons this year, and the Sydney schools are doing some good things with their programs at the moment, so we need to lift our game in terms of how we approach our rugby.

"We've got great numbers in years seven and eight and our 16s had a great year of rugby. Hopefully, going forward, we can get one back on Kinross. But right through 13s to 16s we had wins on the day, as well as our thirds and seconds, it was just unfortunate to go down in firsts."

Kinross' dominance of the opening stages of the game led to a try in the eighth minute on the left wing through Shep Taylor.

Stannies gradually moved the ball downfield, making strong metres down the left side of the park, and eventually found their response in the 18^th minute through Jonah Tulevu, with Cooper Watters' conversion putting the hosts in front 7-5.

The home side struggled to get out of their own territory after the try and the pressure eventually led to an unconverted Kinross try through skipper Luke Dominello.

Stannies had he ball for most of the remaining minutes in the lead up to half-time, and were held up over the try line at one stage, but Kinross delivered a big blow inside the final two minutes when Harry Shea ran in for a converted try to make it 17-7.

The home side got off to dream start in the new half when Connor Wilkin dived across for a try in the 46^th minute on the left wing.

But an error on the kick-off from the hosts allowed the Orange boys to make an immediate response via a nice solo run from Shea for his second try of the day, and a great sideline conversion from Sam Fabar made it 24-12.

The back-and-forth rugby continued when Blake Kreuzberger barged across the line between the uprights to get Stannies back within five points in the 59^th minute.

Kinross broke the hosts' hearts when, deep in their own territory, Shea made a run into Stannies territory and found Carter Kirby in support for a try.

Fabar then sealed the result with his chip-and-chase try inside the final four minutes.

KINROSS WOLAROI SCHOOL 1^st XV 36 (Harry Shea 2, Shep Taylor, Luke Dominello, Carter Kirby, Sam Fabar tries; Fabar 3 conversions) defeated ST STANISLAUS' COLLEGE 1^st XV 19 (Jonah Tulevu, Connor Wilkin, Blake Kreuzberger tries; Cooper Watters 2 conversions)

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