Campion stun Old Harbour to lift schoolboy rugby title

The Campionites exacted revenge at the most important stage of the competition, while it was the opposite for Old Harbour who tasted defeat for the first time this season.

The battle was a replay of the preliminary round clash between these two sides in which Old Harbour romped to a 22-14 win.

Despite all the pre-final talk of avoiding complacency by Old Harbour head coach Devaughn Stewart, the favourites were profligate in a game they dominated at the Cedar Grove Academy field.

By half-time Old Harbour had a firm grip on the contest as they led 16-4. Rodaine Walters, Ronaldinho Lagore and Mikhail Achong all registering tries, while Johnnie Russell and Walters had successful conversions.

On the resumption, the need to play as a team and close out the game disappeared from Old Harbour’s strategy, allowing Campion back into the contest.

Dimitri Rose and Isaac Dunkley narrowed the deficit for Campion with tries of their own, before Achong scored his second try of the game to leave the final few minutes on a knife’s edge with Old Harbour leading 20-16.

However, the red flame of Campion had scent blood with Isaac going for the kill with a diving try before Christopher Lawrence converted his second of two goal kicks.

It was the first time Campion had led and with time running out it was a case of too little too late for Old Harbour who have lost consecutive finals in the last two seasons.

While some key players were carrying knocks, Stewart said the team lost its way particularly in the second half.

"We made a few blunders which cost us the game.

"Some of the instructions were not carried out, we did not play as a team today and we did not stick to the game plan.

"We dominated the entire game but a few mistakes cost us in the end," Stewart said in his post-game assessment.

Old Harbour will look to rebound from their shock defeat when the high school rugby league 9s tournament begins this Friday.