This weekend was the grudge round of nemesis North-Shore schools; Barker College and Knox Grammar School.
The Knox team was dominatingly larger than the Boys in Red, which made the game a long, grueling and depressing game for the home team.
Played at Barker Number One oval, a large crowd in their thousands attended. The atmosphere was excited, anticipative and keen for a win.
The game started with Knox’s captain and hooker, James Widders-Leece, scoring within the first two minutes. You could watch Barker 1st XV heads drop at this stage, and it didn’t get much better from there on for them.
Lucas Price and Sebastian Field were standouts on the field for Knox, running hard lines and both capitalising with tries in the first half.
A lot can be said for Barker’s defense strength, as they barely had the ball, shut down repetitively by a relentless and well prepared Knox team.
Tim Pearson was able to finish the first half for Barker with a try in the corner, giving the home side a glimpse of hope for the second half.
Score: 21-7 at the halfway mark.
Hope seemed to emanate from the Barker side in the early stages of the second half as Barker managed to press Knox’s, but the Knox defense was too solid to be penetrated.
Barker’s upper hand was extinguished as Knox’s halfback (Jacob Rose) made a cheeky turnover and break up the middle of the field.
Barker managed to hold Knox in their own half for a solid 10 minutes of grueling defense and attack, the score-line remaining unchanged.
As was inevitable, this exchange was finished with a try in the corner from Knox, which saw Barker’s heads drop permanently. With the score 26-7, there was no coming back for Barker.
A similar exchange followed with another penetration from Knox and a try in the same corner, 31-7.
Five minutes out from the end of the game, Knox’s fullback, Sebastian Field scored beneath the posts off a break through the centre. That was the end of the game, closed by a clearly dominant Knox 1st XV winning 38-7 on a cold and blustery afternoon.
Match day photos are on our Facebook page and in our gallery.
