The inaugural AIC rugby league season has served up a final-round clash after Iona College and Marist College Ashgrove kept their unbeaten records intact on Saturday.
Iona defeated St Edmund’s College 40-6 while Marist Ashgrove withstood another second-half fightback from Padua College to win 18-16.
The results make for an historic decider on Saturday when Iona and Marist Ashgrove clash in the final round, to be hosted by St Laurence’s College at Runcorn (2.40pm).
Marist Ashgrove had to withstand a thrilling match on Saturday when Padua stormed home in front of a strong home crowd.
With some of their greatest rugby league Old Boys watching on, Padua fell behind 18-0 after only 15 minutes.
Marist Ashgrove fullback Floyd Aubrey was dynamic for the visitors, opening the scoring in the fifth minute before unleashing another try 10 minutes later when he soared high to take a kick.
But this Padua team is never done.
They rushed back from a 0-18 deficit in the Confraternity Carnival against Queensland powerhouse St Brendan’s College, Yeppoon, making their way through to the semi-finals.
They trailed Iona by two tries in the first round and looked certain to win before a final pass broke down.
Last Saturday was another valiant attempt by Padua who scored in the 25th minute to make their way to halftime down 10-18. They were unlucky not to score in the 22nd minute when a try was disallowed.
But Padua will be heartened by the way they kept Marist Ashgrove scoreless in the second half despite running into a strong wind.
In Saturday’s other match, St Patrick’s College closed out their season with a 48-14 win over Villanova College. St Patrick’s will have a bye in the final round.
