Robb College got the better of the reigning premiers in the second edition of the 2014 grand final rematch.

The students were rewarded for a spirited defensive effort against an underdone Blues side, who came into the match on the back of two weeks off, with a gritty 13-10 win.

“It was a nice surprise for everyone,” Robb coach Sam Ditchfield said of the upset win.

“The boys were pretty disappointed with their performance against Albies last weekend.

“They were pretty determined to do better against the Blues.”

Ditchfield said his side also took a great deal out of their first fixture of the year against the Blues, which they were competitive in right up until the final 10 minutes.

“We got a lot of confidence after we played them in the first round, we just didn’t convert pressure into points,” he said.

“We knew after that we could match it with them.”

Robb fly-half Lachie Fletcher opened the scoring with a penalty early on to give his side a 3-nil lead.

Fletcher was involved in the next scoring play as well, but it wasn’t his boot that inflicted the damage.

He sliced through the Blues defence to set up what looked to be a certain try, but his support runner was taken out and as a result Robb were awarded a penalty try to lead 10-nil.

A Blues try against the run of play and another Robb penalty saw the students lead 13-5 at half time.

The Blues scored again early in the second half and carried all the momentum into the dying stages of the match, but Robb were able to hold on to hand the Blues their first loss of the season.

“The Blues finished really strong,” Ditchfield said.

“It took a pretty big defensive effort to keep them out.

“We starved them of possession and controlled the ball well ourselves.”

Fletcher was named man of the match and drew high praise from his coach.

“He is in his third year at Robb and that is the best game I have seen him play,” Ditchfield said.

Prop Wilson McKenzie and flanker Dave Lubeck also impressed.

The other match of the round saw St Albert’s thrash Barbarians 42-14.