We thought it appropriate to add some special awards to the main CAS season review.
Although all the players were concerned most about contributing to the performance of their team, we thought there were lads who deserved special mention
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2016 CAS Awards
CAS Team of the Year
Player of the Year – James Armstrong (Knox).
Most Valuable Player – Liam Rasch (Trinity)
Rising Star – Luca Moretti (Waverley)
2016 CAS XV – Team of the Year
Here is the Green & Gold Rugby CAS Team of the Year based on play for their school in the 2016 CAS competition, and paying no regard to who was picked for rep. games or even the national teams.
No thought was given to balancing a side for a fictitious rep game; nor was any regard given to how many players were chosen from any school. We considered injured players so long as they played in half of the games. In one case, for good reason, we picked a player who played one position for his school, and another in rep rugby.
The selectors were “Backsaresmarter” “Elfster”, “oldandslow”, “rod skellet”, “Rugby Addict” “sidelineview”, “Snort” and “Tahmen”.
CAS 1st XV
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1. Tim Anstey (Barker) *
2. Matt Coghill (Barker)
3. James Wayland (Trinity)
4. Nicholas Frost (Knox)
5. Liam Rasch (Trinity) *
6. Hugh Margin (Knox)
7. Josh Kemeny (Cranbrook)
8. Milan Basson (Knox)
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9. Tyzac Jordan (Waverley)
10. Tom Woodcock (Knox) **
11. Jackson Mohi (Waverley)
12. Jordan Morris (Trinity)
13. James Armstrong (Knox)
14. Zac Carr (Waverley)
15. Ryan Longville (Trinity)
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Notes:
* Also chosen in G&GR’s CAS 2015 Team of the Year
** Chosen as G&R’s 2015 CAS “Rising Star”
Player of the year
James Armstrong (Knox)
by “Elfster”
I chose Armstrong because he shone in both defence and attack. Though not large, he was strong and could often use brutal force to get through a tackle.
However he could also use and speed and footwork to get through tackles. A tenacious defender, he often caused an opposing team’s attack to falter. A good reader of the game he also could set up his team mates to good effect. He was the only CAS player chosen in the Australian side to tour Samoa and New Zealand. His selection was well-deserved.
Most Valuable Player
Liam Rasch (Trinity)
by “oldandslow”
To decide the winner of this award we thought about what “value” meant. To this end we thought who would be missed most by his team if he was not available. We didn’t mean his team would win if he was there, or lose if he wasn’t, just who would be missed the most if he was absent.
The award for CAS MVP in 2016 goes to Trinity’s blindside flanker and skipper, Liam Rasch. He was mobile enough to play in the back row and big enough to play lock, where he was selected for representative sides this year.
A monster at the set piece, reliably winning line out ball, Rasch also accrued good run meters and was a workhorse in defence, where he rarely missed a tackle. Reminiscent of a young John Eales, Rasch used his big frame to play strong, dominant, high-work-rate and mistake-free rugby – game in and game out, in 2016.
Rising Star
Luca Moretti (Waverley)
by “Anonymous Al”
This award was given to the most promising player who is returning to school in 2017 and was not chosen for a major rep. team this year. In that case he would have already risen.
Waverley’s young gun no. 8, Luca Moretti, was voted as the CAS Rising Star for 2016.
A regular 1st XV player this season, his first achievement was making the Waverley team ahead of other good players.
Selected to represent the NSW U16s team, Moretti is big, fast and strong and was not intimidated by his 1st XV opponents. In fact, he became one of the most dominant forwards in the CAS competition.
His impressive ball-playing skills; his powerful tackling style and his ability to cover ground quickly in defence make him a worthy winner.
The main 2016 CAS Wrap-up is here
