St John’s took the shield with a 27-20 win against their fast-finishing opponents, holding out in a desperate final five minutes to claim the trophy for the first time in its 10 year history, and reversing the result of the 2008 final in the process.

Things looked fairly academic with nine minutes to play when a converted try pushed the Dubbo school into a 27-10 lead, but that notion was soon turned on its head as St Edward’s scored twice in three minutes to re-ignite the contest.

Goalkicking proved an issue for both sides all afternoon, but the Gosford outfit were still in with an outside chance of a converted try to level the scores and when a St John’s re-start failed to make the required 10 metres, St Edward’s were on the attack once more.

St John’s composed themselves though and defended desperately to repel a handful of last-ditch attacking raids on their own line, and it was a relieved coach Greg Steele who lauded his side after full-time.

“With 14-year-old players anything can happen so you are never sure you’ve got a game won, if we take a long kick from that re-start and play the game down their end we probably would have done it a lot more comfortably,” he said.

Earlier on, winger Hugh Cornwell put St John’s in front in the opening minutes before fullback Louis Anderson added to his side’s advantage in the 10th minute.

St Edward’s hit back through fly-half Kirt Anthony but it was the Dubbo school dictating the terms of the match. With half-time looming replacement back Harry Kempston put St John’s 17-5 in front and in full control of proceedings.

A few minutes into the second half, St Edward’s pulled the margin back to seven points through winger Jackson Starling but as St John’s steadied and slowed down the speed of the game, it looked unlikely that there would be any comeback.

Hooker Billy O’Connor added a try to Hewett Haycock’s penalty goal to stretch the score to 27-10 and the game looked a formality before the Gosford team launched their final assault.

A 70 metre dash from centre Brodie Cooper gave them some hope though, and that effort was followed by a strong charge from bench forward Sam Cusick, but that was to be the last scoring play of the game.

Halfback Nick Duffy was outstanding for St John’s and his direction and crisp passing probably proved the difference, while St Edward’s second-rower Oliver Robilliard was his team’s best.