Mater Dei Catholic College were again put to the test but found the answers to remain undefeated in the new Super Sixes competition.
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The title favourites faced plenty of pressure against The Riverina Anglican College at Conolly Rugby Complex on Thursday, before coming away with a 20-7 victory.
Not even having key forward Bryce Magnone yellow carded was enough to see them come unstuck in the schoolboys rugby union competition.
Coach Michael Kanck was pleased with the resilience the team showed.
"I think it was a bit of a wake up to the boys that they had to do a bit more work, especially defensively," Kanck said.
"We were pleased the team could rally together and plug the gaps in the defensive line."
Star forward Nathanael Mooney proved to be a real handful as Mater Dei got on top early.
He opened the scoring after kicking ahead for himself and then regathering after four minutes before Mater Dei went further ahead from another
However TRAC stormed back into the contest with a nice try to Ed Wright with 11 minutes left in the half.
Putting Mater Dei under plenty of pressure at the breakdown, TRAC then had a numerical advantage when Magnone was given his marching orders for repeated infringements with two minutes left in the half.
TRAC trailed 12-7 at the break but couldn't capitalise on a number of chances in the second half.
With four minutes to play Mater Dei sealed the win when Hamish Gilmore scored in the corner before a Mooney penalty goal completed the scoring.
Kooringal High School and Wagga High School couldn't be split in the early game, with the scores finished locked at 12-all while Kildare Catholic College scored a 57-10 victory over a much-improved Wagga Christian College.
Kanck believes one of the big pluses from the new competition is the improvement all schools have shown.
"The big positive is each week each team is improving so much so we can't rest on our laurels and have to make sure we're improving as much, if not more, than other teams," he said.
The final round of the competition will be played next week with Mater Dei playing Kooringal High, Kildare faces Wagga High while TRAC tackles Christian College.
The finals will be held the following week with Mater Dei and Kildare on track to clash in the final after only seven points split them in their pool game.
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