The season conclusion of the Sumo Hospital Cup is upon us as Brothers take on Wests in the big dance at Ballymore.
After A thrilling Preliminary Final at Sunnybank Rugby Club where Wests toppled Norths 43-20, the stage is set for an inticing final against minor premiers Brothers.
Wests delivered a dominant effort to defeat 2nd-placed Norths. Photo @brisbanerugbycom
Wests’ halves have real star power in Japanese League One halfback Yoshiki Yoshioka and Queensland Reds’ five-eighth Harry McLaughlin-Philips, feeding their Fijian centres, a class act. Brothers, led by Will Wilson (brother of Wallabies Captain Harry Wilson), went through the season undefeated until their last match at St Lucia against UQ Red Heavies, where a masterclass by Mac Grealy disrupted what looked like them breaking the 110+ years’ record of being undefeated in the Hospital Cup championship,
CJ with James O’Connor after his 10-minute cameo against UQ, where he scored a try. Photo @brisbanerugbycom
On a sultry August afternoon in Brisbane’s northern suburbs, at the Behemoth of Christian Brothers St Joseph’s Nudgee College, the Round 6 clash between the undefeated Nudgee and Brisbane State High took place. BSHS students cheered their 1st XV side as they made their way onto the hallowed Ross Oval, only to be drowned out by over 130 years of history as the boarders, in school uniform, bellowed in unison from the old boys’ stand. This was their turf.
The excitement and anticipation didn’t dissipate after the kick-off as these two GPS powerhouses went toe-to-toe from the outset. Nudgee dominated with wave after wave of attack, only for the students south of the River to thwart them. These were only boys, but they played like men, throwing their teenage bodies at each other like young bulls in a pen. The deadlock was broken in the 10th minute with a well-constructed snipe down the blindside to put the butcher-stripes in for their first 5-pointer.
The first try went to Nudgee College, giving them an early 7-nil lead.
The only government-run school in this premier GPS competition wasn’t about to let the Catholics have their way and forced their way back with two converted tries of their own. They held onto this 14-7 lead almost to the end of the first half, when Nudgee scored from a lineout to claw back the margin on the stroke of halftime to trail 14-12.
Nudgee managed to cross the line on the stroke of halftime to trail BSHS 14-12.
The second half was a masterclass by the Nudgee 1st XV, as they have done all season; they ran away with sustained attack, scoring a plethora of tries through controlled kicking by their five-eighth, Chilli Smith (son of the recently departed Brian Smith) and strong running from inside-centre Bond Bradley. BSHS Coach, Stevie Kefu, proved his boys were not walkovers and stayed in the fight to the death with late tries of their own, but with a 43rd Premiership beckoning, the greatest rugby nursery of all time held firm to win 41-26. Nudgee coach Andrew Scotney can be proud of his chargers, who have reached another level since their preseason tour to South Africa, where they toppled SA schools champions Grey College 29-26 in Johannesburg.
Another dominating performance by Nudgee to stay undefeated.
Bouyed by his team’s narrow 35-32 loss the week before in Osaka, Eddie Jones was talking up a Wallaby takedown in their backyard. Especially since they will likely take on the Wallabies in the Round of 16 in Brisbane at next year’s Rugby World Cup in Australia. If anyone can do it, it would be Jones, having shocked the rugby world at the 2015 Rugby World Cup by defeating the might of South Africa 34-32 at the death in the Miracle in Brighton. However, in Townsville, a happy hunting ground for the Wallabies, it was not to be as Les Kiss’ men turned on the blowtorch for the second half to blitz the Brave Blossoms with 35 unanswered points to take the match 56-17.
The Brave Blossoms are not that easy a side as when the All Blacks thrashed them 145-7 at the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa or the 91-3 defeat by the Wallabies in Lyon at the 2007 Rugby World Cup. They had their Miracle in Brighton win and backed it up at home in the 2019 World Cup, topping their pool by beating Ireland (19-12) and Scotland (28-21) along the way. Fast forward to 2026, and Eddie Jones, back at the helm, has plucked a young 21-year-old out of Meiji University, Ryunosuke Ito, without any professional rugby to play five-eighth against a resurgent Italian side, coming off wins over Scotland and England at this year’s Six Nations Championship, to play at Tokyo’s iconic Chichibu-no-Miya Stadium. It was a full house on a sunny 4th of July day in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward, where the Brave Blossoms delivered an emphatic 27-10 win. Our own Nic Berry was blowing the whistle that day.
So, the two matches against Japan, although ranked 4 places below us, were always going to be tricky for a new coach. Les Kiss wasn’t inventing the wheel and wasn’t about to make drastic changes to the side Joe Schmidt had assembled. As Ryan Lonergan said, it was more about “Evolution, not revolution”. The three-point victory at Osaka’s Hanazono Stadium in the oppressive heat and humidity was a lucky escape to notch his first win for the Wallabies.
With the shackles now removed, Kiss finally picked a team more to his liking, upsetting Waratah supporters with a strong Reds flavour, with 11 in the match 23. The return of Lukhan Salakai-Loto, arguably the best Aussie performer in Super Rugby Pacific, alongside Isaac Henry pairing with Hunter Paisami and Carter Gordon in the midfield just seemed so natural. Kiss had nurtured these boys’ injuries at the Reds during his tenure over the last three years and knew intimately how much they had trained and rehabilitated. That faith was repaid in spades at Country Bank Stadium last weekend, and now a more confident squad embarks on their South American tour for two matches against a very formidable foe in Argentina, just ahead of the Wallabies in the latest world rankings.
Kiss gets to pick the side he wants in Townsville. Photo courtesy of the Wallabies.
I’m sure everyone remembers the infectious Brave Blossoms’ halfback Fumiaki Tanaka. The little general made his mark on Super Rugby for the Highlanders with his speed and crisp service from behind the ruck. He was not a university prospect, but joined the Panasonic Wild Knights in 2007, where he played alongside Tony Brown, who was instrumental in bringing him to the ‘Landers (Wikipedia). At 166cm and 72 kg, he’s one of the smallest players to play international rugby, but a very inspirational one.
In Brisbane, there’s a young 20-year-old student, Risa Hayashi, playing halfback for the UQ women’s team. A fiery young prospect making her mark on the competition. I caught up with her earlier in the season at Jeeps ‘ home ground at Yoku Road, Ashgrove. Originally born in Dubai, her mum is from Kanagawa, next to Tokyo, and her father is from Osaka. She has prospects of playing in Japan.
Hayashi is not a trailblazer, though, as that honour goes to Asako “Diji” Ono. Ono also played for UQ Women’s, then went on to represent the Reds and Wallaroos at halfback. Originally, coming to Australia as a young, naive 16-year-old student chasing her dream to play rugby, she now mentors other women to better themselves. Currently teaching at Churchie, where one of her Mathematics students, Rio Shimizu, is also from Japan and is a halfback for the 1st XV team.
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