Confraternity Carnival heavyweights flex muscle

Rugby league’s most famous schoolboy nursery burst back into life today with three of its best-performed teams making bold starts in their bid for the Confraternity Shield in Mackay.

Defending champions Ignatius Park College, Townsville and the tournament's most successful school St Brendan’s College, Yeppoon, won both their boys’ matches on the opening day of the Confraternity Carnival, which has drawn teams from more than 50 schools across Queensland.

Host school St Patrick’s College, Mackay also began with a dominant boys’ win in front of a large home crowd watching the carnival in their city for the first time since 1996.

Meanwhile, last year’s hosts Iona College, Lindum, The Cathedral College, Rockhampton and St Augustine’s College, Cairns surged through the first day unbeaten.

In the girls’ competition, St Patrick’s College, Mackay, Shalom College, Bundaberg and Marymount College, Burleigh Waters won two matches today in the quest for the inaugural CQ University Shield girls’ title.

Confraternity Carnival, sponsored by CQ University and staged by Queensland Independent Secondary Schools Rugby League, brings together 48 boys’ teams and nine girls’ teams from Catholic and Independent schools across Queensland. The first carnival was played in 1980 with a host of Queensland’s greatest players emerging from the event.

There was much uncertainty heading into this 42nd Confraternity Carnival after the havoc wrought by COVID cancellations in previous years. There was no carnival in 2020 and last year’s tournament at Iona College ended with a snap COVID lockdown after the pool rounds.

That leaves Ignatius Park College as the defending champions for a Division 1 title won in Bundaberg three years ago. But there are similarities for the men in blue and white, who won their two matches today by a combined aggregate of 80-0.

Coach Steve Lansley’s team only gave up two tries across the week in their Shield win in Bundaberg and kept their line intact today against Aquinas College, Ashmore (44-0) and Marist College, Ashgrove (36-0).

But Lansley said his players could not be satisfied with today’s performance ahead of tomorrow morning’s final pool match against St Augustine’s College, Cairns before the quarter-finalists are decided.

“We defended our line well, but we were too often defending because of our mistakes,” Lansley said.

“We will have to get much better if we want to go deep into this carnival. It’s a high-quality carnival and I could see today how well some of the other teams have played in their games. It’s going to be a tough week.”

St Patrick’s College, Mackay attracted a large crowd watching a comfortable 34-10 win over St Peter Claver College, Riverview. Hundreds of people, some in work clothes heading away from the office to see family and friends play, saw a strong start to St Patrick’s quest to win its first Shield title since 2003. The home team were playing a late game tonight under the lights at BB Print Stadium.

St Brendan’s College – the most successful Confro school with 13 Shield wins – moved past Padua College, Kedron (22-0) and Shalom College, Bundaberg (20-6) as it chases its first title since 2015.

Padua showed its fight in the second match of the afternoon when it clawed back to draw 16-all with Marymount College, Burleigh Waters. Padua were among the teams from greater Brisbane’s Associated Independent Colleges competition launching into their league seasons after their rugby union competition. Iona College was among them, impressing with wins over Rockhampton Grammar School (24-6) and St Peter Claver College, Riverview (20-8).

The boys’ competition is played in three divisions of 16 teams. After tomorrow’s pool matches, the teams will be divided into six groups of eight to play for trophies. The quarter-finals in each competition begin tomorrow with semi-finals on Thursday after Wednesday’s rest day. The finals will be contested on Friday.

A host of teams remain unbeaten after the first day of the Division 2 competition including St Laurence’s College, South Brisbane, Marist College, Emerald and Charters Towers’ Columba Catholic College.

In Division 3, Good Shepherd College, Mount Isa, St Mary’s College, Woree and Unity College, Caloundra West were among the unbeaten group.

The girls’ competition is headed for its first final with Marymount College adding to its unbeaten Confro record today. The Gold Coast team won all three pool matches in last year’s tournament and added two wins today.

Shalom College, Bundaberg, won both its matches to show that it could figure in Thursday’s finals. St Patrick’s College, Mackay, were impressive after shaking off an encouraging start from Confro debutants St Margaret Mary’s College, Townsville.

The standard of the girls’ competition has been praised as representatives from the Queensland Under 19 representative program featured alongside promising new league talent.