TRISTAN Sailor – the son of Brisbane and St George Illawarra great Wendell Sailor – scored a try as NSW Combined Catholic Schools dominated their showdown with state rivals Combined High Schools.
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The state schools team had dominated the opening day of competition with a comfortable 34-18 win over Queensland, with Steelers junior Zac Lomax scoring four tries.
But CHS were blown away by their Catholic rivals, winning 32-6 after leading 22-nil at the break.
Lomax and Sailor played alongside each other in the Illawarra Steelers’ SG Ball team, which made it to the grand final this year, before losing to 25-10 to Penrith.
“They’ve had a great year and it’s great to see them show their talent again there,” Illawarra junior league administrator Steve Nielsen said.
“Zac certainly knows how to find the tryline, he’s big and quick and hard to handle. He also likes to get in and do a bit of work through the middle.”
Both Lomax and Sailor will coming into National Youth Cup under 20 considerations next year, the final season of the competition’s existence.
The under 20 league is to be scrapped by the NRL in 2018.
Combined Catholic Schools tackle Queensland on Tuesday, while CHS have the bye.
Victory would mean NSW CCC take on the winner of the ACT and NSW Combined Independent Schools in a semi-final. CHS might have the chance for revenge in the final, but will likely have to beat Queensland again to make it through.