Brisbane State High flyhalf Seamus Boakes kicked a clutch penalty goal after the full time siren to hand an impressive Ipswich Grammar outfit the school’s second successive heartbreaking defeat. 

A week after falling just short against BBC, Ipswich looked to have beaten State High when the visitors kicked a penalty goal in the final minutes to claim a 22-20 lead. 

But with seconds remaining, State High regained possession off the restart and earned a penalty soon after. 

Boakes calmly slotted the match winner to extend his side’s unbeaten start to the GPS season and send Ipswich home empty handed for a second straight week. 

“It was another heartbreaker for our boys unfortunately, they deserved a lot more than that because I think it was their most complete performance in a number of years,” Ipswich first XV coach Russell Todd told Rugby News. 

“Ultimately, we’re just really proud of them. They gave it a good crack but tight games are won on key moments and we lost a few of those towards the end. 

“If a few of those moments had of gone the other way, maybe we would have finished on top.”

Chasing the school’s third straight win, State High jumped out to a 12-0 lead after 20 minutes but Ipswich fought back, scoring three tries through flanker Tanner Baker, No.8 Ezalle Matautia and fullback Amaziah Murgha to take a 19-15 lead to the break. 

State High battered Ipswich’s line for long periods of the second half but struggled to find a way through the visitor’s impressive goal line defence. 

The competition frontrunners eventually scored in the 65th minute to claim a one point lead but conceded a penalty soon after. 

Ipswich then claimed the lead and lost the lead in a matter of minutes in a thrilling but ultimately heartbreaking end to the round four clash. 

“The resilience and the fight the boys have shown all year has been great,” Todd said. 

“We conceded two early tries against State High and last year, that probably would have been the end for us, but they bunkered down and fought their way back into the match again and again. 

“Even to get to that penalty kick that we thought might have won us the game, the boys held the ball for 22 phases and that came after close to 20 minutes of defending in the second half. 

“To have the composure and mindset to control that situation, it was super impressive and it’s another great learning experience for our boys.”

Ipswich are seventh after the opening month of the nine round competition but are a much better side than their ladder position suggests. 

“The draw hasn’t been kind to us, we’ve probably played three of the top contenders in the first four weeks,” 

“We’ve got a bye this week and that has come at a really good time for us. It’ll allow us to reset mentally and physically. 

“After that, we probably just need to play with a little bit more composure when we’re attacking in key moments of the game.”

In the weekend’s other matches, Nudgee claimed a big win over Brisbane Grammar, BBC beat TSS 46-38 and Churchie were too good for Toowoomba 31-22. 

Nudgee and State High lead the competition after four rounds and are both undefeated. But Todd said he wouldn’t be surprised to see a number of upsets throughout the second half of the season which could give a number of sides a shot at the GPS premiership. 

“When you look at a guy like (State High forward) Roman (Siulepa), if he turns up against a Nudgee or someone like that, he could easily score a handful of tries and turn a result. 

“BBC and Nudgee still have to play as well so if those three start knocking each other off, who knows what could happen.”