Palm Beach Currumbin steal schoolboy cup
Gold Coast's loss looks set to be Cronulla's gain with young hooker Brody Ollard coming up with a piece of individual brilliance to steer Palm Beach Currumbin to a thrilling 24-22 win over Matraville Sports High in the Arrive Alive Cup schoolboy competition.
Ollard produced the match-winning try five minutes from fulltime when he stole the ball from Matraville's Chris Thomas before racing over to edge the Queensland side ahead for the final time.
Thomas had been taking the ball up from a restart at the time with Matraville having just taken a 22-18 lead in a see-sawing final which featured six lead changes.
"It wasn't planned at all, just lucky I guess," Ollard said.
"He (Thomas) got to the side of me and the ball got in the right spot and I just grabbed it, just lucky."
Ollard was overlooked by Titans scouts earlier this year with the teenager set to head to the Sharks in 2009.
"They didn't want me," Ollard said when asked if he had considered signing with the Titans.
"I signed up with Cronulla for next year, playing (Toyota Cup) is definitely a goal of mine, hopefully it will work out."
Ollard's performance overshadowed that of boom teammate Jordan Rankin, who earlier this year became the youngest player in 72 years to make his NRL debut when he lined up for the Titans against Newcastle.
Down 12-6 at the break after being held up over the line twice in the first period, Rankin produced his own magic moment when he grubbered and regathered to tie up the scores, his four from four with the boot the difference in the end.
Palm Beach Currumbin coach Rod Patison said he was confident his side could get back in the contest after struggling early against the defending champions, and predicted big things for some of his charges.
"I always thought if we could show a bit of tactical maturity we'd get there," Patison said.
"It was an amazing play (by Ollard) wasn't it, it shows you how much they wanted to win.
"I'm sure you're going to see half a dozen of these boys play NRL one day."
Capping a great afternoon Currumbin lock Ryan James took out the Peter Sterling Medal as schoolboy player of the year.
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