The Senior Student’s Speech at the Rawson Cup Victory Dinner:

I’m going to touch briefly tonight on a few stand out moments from our Rawson campaign this year and moments that defined the entire outcome of the Rawson Cup and are the very reason we are sitting here tonight. While I raise a few toasts to some deserving teams and individuals, I’d like you to keep in mind that we are joint holders of the Rawson cup this year, meaning that we finished on the exact same point score as St Andrew’s. Had even a single game in a single sport not gone our way, we would not have won.

Firstly, I would like thank and congratulate all of the Rawson athletes who have dedicated themselves to their sports. We have had over 100 Rawson athletes compete this year, it truly has been a team effort. Of all the individual contributions to the campaign, there are a couple of standout performances that demand our recognition.

And what better way to start off than with the embodiment and personification of hard work pays off – the rowing team. Rowing training this year has consisted of 8-9 sessions per week, morning starts were at 4:55 with 40km on the erg and 60km on the water each week for the first 8 weeks of semester which was eventually enough to bring home our 5th consecutive rowing victory. This is unbelievable commitment. Their dedication laid the solid foundation upon which our campaign has been built, and without their hard work and sacrifice we would not be enjoying our time here tonight. Could everyone please raise a toast to the rowing team, to their hard work and to their sacrifice—to the rowers!

The Rawson soccer campaign was successful for the 6th year in a row, securing the repeat 3-peat. Reliable as always, the team was strong across the board, however there were 2 moments in particular that defined the campaign:

• We were playing Wesley on our home turf. They’ve gone up 1-0 late in the second half and things are looking dire. Little did Wesley realise, St Paul’s had just flown Matthew “The Magician” Leijer back from France on a 22 hour flight that morning. Enter Matty Leijer, a header in the dying minutes of the game to secure a 1-1 draw which proved crucial for winning the soccer and as a result, the Rawson Cup,
• The soccer campaign had a second highlight. Paul’s needed to win the final against ‘Drew’s, not just draw, to secure the Rawson Soccer victory. Had we drawn, we would not be having our dinner tonight. We were up 2-1, it was back and forth and could have gone either way, but big game players step up in the big games. Nick Efstat put Paul’s on his shoulders late second half, teammates were screaming at him to pass, he beat 2 defenders, struck from the edge of the box and put home what was the defining goal of the match which we ended up winning 3-2.

In Nick Efstat’s own words: “I got the ball, touch backwards, … spun around, beat two men, beat one man beat another, Sam Andrews was … yellin at me to pass it, … saw the goal and took my shot, nailed it”. Thank you Nick for your enlightening take on what was another crucial moment that defined our Rawson campaign. I would like to raise a toast to our Rawson Soccer Champions and their repeat 3-peat—to the soccer team!

The basketball campaign followed, and I think we all know where this is going. Game 2, Paul’s down by 1 with 8 seconds on the clock and Hugh Jordan pulls the trigger. 3 in the bag, thanks for coming, Paul’s win 53-51 over John’s. Again, I would like to emphasise that if a single moment of the campaign had not gone the way it did, we would not be here tonight. A little more or a little less on the shot and we wouldn’t be Rawson Cup champions. I know there was a lot of hard work that went on behind the scenes from our basketball team. I would like to thank them all, however on this occasion the toast goes to the game winner himself. I would like to propose a toast to Hugh Jordan—To Hugh Jordan!

This takes us to athletics. The equation is simple, Paul’s must beat Andrew’s to clinch the Rawson cup. ‘Drew’s have an Olympian who just competed at the Paris Olympics and made the triple jump final, coming 12th in the world. 12th out of 8.2 billion people isn’t bad, and the competition doesn’t get much easier. ‘Drew’s have a state runner and two elite sprinters. On paper a stacked roster. The only thing they were missing was a team. Across the board Paul’s stuck in the fight, scraping out 1sts, 2nds and 3rds where we shouldn’t have even been allowed to come close. Finally, we get to the last event of the day, the 4x400m relay. The ‘Drew’s state runner is running the final leg for their relay, but Gus Gregg had just pushed him to his limits in the 5km immediately beforehand. The ‘Drews state runner was knackered and had nothing left. Tom Collins, Jesse Cochrane and Nick Efstat laid the foundations of our 4x400m relay race and put us in a close 2nd place. They gave the baton on to Gabe Scott and he put the College on his shoulders. Coming into the final 100m, the ‘Drew’s state runner was gassed, the 5km against Gus Gregg taking its toll at the critical moment. Gabe took the lead and the race for Paul’s, securing the athletics victory and bringing home the Rawson Cup. I would like to propose a toast to the entire athletics team and their underdog win—to the athletics team!

And that brings us to tonight, we are here because of all the countless hours that have been laid down by our Rawson athletes in the pursuit of victory. The Paul’s Rawson campaign this year exemplified dedication and commitment, and cemented the old adage: “hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard”.

I would like to finish by raising a toast to the entire Rawson team, and the entire College. We are all now Rawson Cup champions—to St Paul’s!

Ed Taylor