Saturday 18/9 University 47 – 17 Eastern Suburbs
Yesterday s first final between Easts and a resurgent Uni was not as close-fought an encounter as some might have predicted.
The possibility of a Wallaby-esque lead capitulation aside, the Students had the game well and truly sewn up at half-time.
They ran into the sheds up 29-3 after dominating almost all facets of the game for the first 40 minutes.
The return of Dean Mumm, Luke Burgess and Berrick Barnes to Uni ranks for this final was a significant boost, with Barnes making good use of his first starting performance in blue and gold.
Barnes may be lacking some creativity in 5/8th compared to Quade Cooper but he certainly knows how to cement control with clever positional kicks, some incisive running and an accurate place-kicking boot.
Controlled backline play came off the back of a strong forward pack that worked cohesively in scrum and line-out and was also damaging in open play.
Mumm and hooker Nathan Charles made consistently good yards, ably supported by Dave Dennis and captain Tim Davidson.
Easts started the second-half with some enterprising (if unstructured and sometimes ugly) play, which resulted in an early try to Will Brock.
But they were destined to score just once more before the 60 minute mark from a pushover try, the conversion forcing Easts halfback Brendan McKibben from the field.
Both he and 5/8th Matt Toomua visibly hobbled during the game and could not contribute as effectively as we have come to expect, no doubt contributing to the lack of backline structure.
In the end Uni proved too strong and despite having to play their first week-one final in some years will be difficult to beat in the next one (or two) matches of finals rugby.
Robbie Deans was a notable spectator at both games this weekend, and his Waratahs counterpart Chris Hickey joined him at T.G. Millner Field for the clash between Randwick and Manly.
While Deans may have been looking at players like Randwick’s Ben Mowen to take on the EOYT, he said “those players with the benefit of test background” would remain in the frame as much as possible.
But he says “the moving target over the next couple of weeks is injury and settling on the number of fit tourists to be taken.”
He ruled out the chances of James Horwill, Digby Ioane, Wycliff Palu or Tatafu Polota-Nau joining the squad while Ben Alexander will be back and “the only other possibility is Rod Davies, who is back running but hasn’t played any rugby .”
Green and Gold Rugby can reveal that Deans would like to take as many as 37 players on tour this year, given the “development opportunities” provided by mid-week games against Leicester and Munster and the chance to be able to train with the Wallabies squad.
A replacement is yet to be finalised for the departing Richard Graham, with short-term choices limited due to contractual obligations.
Randwick 29 – 25 Manly
The second final of the weekend was a much closer affair than the first and also provided an upset victory to Randwick.
Along with the Students, the Wicks proved that a dominant forward pack that is strong in the set piece will go a long way to providing the platform for a win.
This was best summed up when the ground announcer called the biggest meat tray in Sydney club rugby just as Randwick set about monstering Manly in one of the first scrums of the afternoon.
Sekope Kepu was instrumental in the Wicks scrum work and proved his versatility with ball in hand as well while the Greens spent a long time in both halves camped on the Manly try line.
Randwick held the lead for almost the whole game but the Marlins proved deft at finding ways to counter, looking dangerous in broken play and recycling the ball with speed.
Both teams managed to spread the ball wide and regather quickly from the breakdown, but an overly attractive spectacle was prevented through numerous handling errors and almost countless penalties awarded by referee Steve Walsh.
Randwick halfback and captain Patrick Phibbs had a strong game, as did his opposite number Chris Cottee.
The solid performance of University’s Nick Phipps yesterday should mean strong competition for Robbie Deans attention when selecting the third halfback spot for the EOYT squad.
Manly scored three tries to two but failed to capitalise on several penalty goal chances and also threw away possession at the line-out after getting into good attacking positions.
It was this failure to convert pressure into points that kept the Marlins on the back foot for most of the game while Randwick kept T.G. Millner s scoreboard ticking over through five penalty goals of their own.
The final 15 minutes proved Randwick’s dominance while they kept the ball in hand, denying Manly a chance to run at them while the Marlins were down 26-25.
Another penalty awarded five metres out from Manly’s line with under a minute to go allowed the Wicks to take the kick and seal an assertive win after the bell.
