Lunchtime Football World Cup

Last Tuesday saw the completion of our lunchtime football World Cup.  We had teams from Ecuador, Senegal, Netherlands, England, Iran, USA, Wales, Argentina, Mexico, Poland, Brazil, Serbia, Portugal and Cameroon.  Students should be very proud of the spirit, skill and sportsmanship on display whilst participating in each game.  Thank you to all supporters and referees during the tournament, for adding that little bit of extra atmosphere.

The knockout phase saw eight teams left standing: Ecuador, Mexico, Wales, Serbia, Cameroon, USA, Argentina and Senegal.  All knockout matches were very closely contested, with one match even needing a penalty shootout to separate the two.

The final two teams were Argentina and Wales, with Argentina eventually taking the spoils 2-1 in another match that could have went either way.  Could it be an omen for the FIFA World Cup final next Monday morning?

Golden Boot:  Kaleb Ryan
Player of the Knockout Phase:  Austin Murray

Todd Curtis
Year 12 Leader of Wellbeing & Engagement

NSW Champion of Champions School Futsal Titles

Congratulations to our 19’s school Futsal team, who recently competed in the NSW Schools Champion of Champions Futsal Titles in Port Macquarie.  Our team played with outstanding skill, competitiveness and sportsmanship throughout all their matches, going through the day undefeated!

All players were terrific throughout the day with dominating attacking performances and strong defence across all their pool matches, which resulted in comprehensive 8-0 and 4-2 victories over Melville High School and Camden Haven High School respectively.  St Clare’s dominance continued with a 3-1 victory over Bellingen High School to finish on top of the table and book their place in the semi-finals.

St Clare’s faced off against Melville High School in their semi-final clash.  They displayed outstanding attacking flare, which lead to numerous terrific team goals.  St Clare’s finished with a comprehensive and emphatic 11-0 victory.

St Clare’s progressed to the final, where they came up against Camden Haven High School.  Our team dominated ball possession, working over the Camden Haven defence to score two well-constructed team goals.  St Clare’s peppered the Camden Haven goal with several chances glancing off the posts and the keeper making some brilliant saves.  St Clare’s ended the match with a 2-0 victory and were crowned champions!  Congratulations and well done.

Lastly, a big thank you to Mr Laurent Gonfond and to those parents who helped to coach and support our school Futsal team, their tireless efforts are very much appreciated by everyone involved, making events like this possible.

Back Row: Harry Miller, Matthew Spiteri, Connor Clarke, Jai Payne & Ryan Martin
Front Row:  Saffron Grass

Matthew Collier
Futsal Coordinator

14’s Girls & Boys Rugby League 7’s

Congratulations to our 14’s girls and boy’s rugby league teams, who travelled up to Port Macquarie to compete in the NRL 7’s tournament on Thursday, 1 December.  Both teams played with terrific skill, toughness and sportsmanship across the entire day with some excellent and highly entertaining rugby league played by all.

In what was a baptism of fire for our 14’s girls team, with many of the players experiencing the fast paced action of Rugby League 7’s for the first time, the girls played amazingly!  St Clare’s dominated in defence and attack across all their pool matches with some terrific and skilful team tries scored. 

The girls easily accounted for Melville 24-4 in their opening fixture and were equally as dominant in their clashes with Kempsey Adventist School and Camden Haven High School, coming away with comprehensive 16-0 and 24-4 victories respectively.  St Clare’s class and skill was again on display in their fourth and final fixture, a hard fought and determined win over perennial heavy weights MacKillop College, 16-8.  In what was an exciting and see sawing contest, St Clare’s displayed great defensive efforts under fatigue and athleticism and skill in attack to come away with the hard fought and well deserved victory.

The girls finished the day undefeated!  This saw St Clare’s top the table and book a ticket in the final against arch nemesis MacKillop College.  The game was a bruising end to end encounter with strong defence on display from both teams.  St Clare’s clawed their way back from conceding two early tries to level the score at halftime, 8-8.  Unfortunately, fatigue and ball handling errors late in the second half saw MacKillop cross for two tries to seal the match, 16-8.

Our 14’s boys team were strong and enterprising in their opening round fixture against Chatham High School.  St Clare’s displayed great attacking flair and defensive grit to come away with a comprehensive 16-4 victory.

The boys played MacKillop College in their second match, in a hard fought and bruising encounter.  St Clare’s opened the scoring with a run-away try, before adding a second try on the stroke of half time to take an 8-0 lead.  Costly defensive errors late in the second half saw MacKillop capitalise to score three consecutive tries, the last on the fulltime siren to take the match 12-8.

St Clare’s third and final fixture was against Hastings Secondary College. The boys dominated early to again take an 8-0 lead, before Hastings scored a well-structured team try to get themselves on the scoreboard. St Clare’s sealed the match with a try in the closing moments of the game to come away 12-4 winners.

The boys qualified for the semi-finals by finishing second in their pool, where powerhouse Taree High awaited them. St Clare’s stunned Taree High with a try in the opening minutes of the match. However, Taree High were able to claw their way back to take the lead 8-4 early in the second half.  St Clare’s fought hard and came close to levelling the score in the dying stages of the match, however some desperate scrambling defence from Taree High saw multiple attacking raids from St Clare’s stopped, with Taree taking the match 8-4.

Lastly, a big thank you to Mrs Parvin as well as those parents who contributed their time and dedication in training, coaching and supporting our teams, without their outstanding and tireless efforts events such as this would not be possible.

Matthew Collier
14’s Girls & Boys Rugby League 7’s Coordinator