Author: Conor McLeod
SA Rugby 2014 Grand Final: 20/09/2014, Victoria Park So that’s it SA Rugby fans. Over the weekend we were treated to a feast of highly competitive action. There were some truly intense matches, a number of historical results and just some awesome rugby all round. At the end of the day, South Australian Rugby crowned its 2014 Coopers Premier Grade champions, the Old Collegians Rugby Union Football Club. Coopers Premier Grade Grand Final Review: Old Collegians 41 def Burnside 19 The winds of change were blowing, as on Saturday SA rugby saw its first Premier Grade final not featuring Brighton…
The Perth Spirit ands Greater Sydney Rams battled out their round 3 NRC match in Adelaide this week, with conditions perfect for the 1500 strong crowd. The supporters weren’t disappointed, with a see-sawing match providing some memorable highlights. The Match The match lived up to its promise of high quality, fast paced and skilled rugby. A confident Perth team entered the contest with a narrow loss on their memory, while the Rams were still searching for that elusive first win. Early on it was Greater Sydney who were looking the sharper team, as they looked to run the ball through…
With the first two rounds of the NRC done and dusted, the brand new competition is starting to take some shape as the Perth Spirit and Greater Sydney Rams come to South Australia this weekend. After a couple of wildly entertaining matches, two of the competitions highly touted teams will venture to Adelaide to play their round three fixtures. The Perth Spirit will do battle with the Greater Sydney Rams at Adelaide Airport Oval as part of South Australian Rugby’s epic round one of finals action. Although we only have two rounds of action to look at, the signs indicate that…
Round 16 of the South Australian Coopers Premier Grade has come and gone with some impressive, if unexpected results. Old Collegians proved why they are the runaway leaders of the competition, Port Adelaide won bragging rights for the year and Brighton bounced back into some impressive form. With finals just around the corner, things are getting interesting. Not only that, but the National Rugby Championship kicks of this weekend. South Australia is set to host round 3 of the newly formed competition on September 6th at Adelaide Airport Oval, so make sure you’re following as 3rd tier rugby comes to SA.…
There’s a huge amount of exciting action coming to South Australian Rugby in the coming weeks, as the increasingly competitive finals races across all grades draw to a close. With only 3 or 4 matches left for each club, those in finals contention will be busy plotting how to consolidate their spot, jump a few places or even just how to scrape in to the top four. On top of that, the newly founded National Rugby Championship will be bringing a match to Adelaide this year, during week one of finals action. This competition, formed as a bridge between top-level…
Round 12 saw a few pretty competitive games take place across the Cooper Premier Grade league. Brighton were put to the test by Woodville, Old Colls blew off the cobwebs against Port and Burnside sharpened their play against Souths as the top four attempt to consolidate their finals berths. Round 12 – 19/07/2014 Matches: Brighton 25 def Woodville 12 Brighton took on Woodville down at Gleneagles Reserve this week, in a highly competitive match-up. Last time the two teams met it was Brighton nabbing a much-needed win with a desperate last minute try at home, the only question was could this…
Part Two of the split round this week saw our first draw of the Coopers Premier Grade, in addition to some close games. While the results were mostly expected, the action was still pretty entertaining. With the finals race heating up even further, every game from here on out becomes vital. Round 11b (Split Round) – 12/07/2014 Match of the Week: Onkaparinga 17 draw with Woodville 17 It was another incredibly tight match that leads the round this week, as the battle played out between Onkas and Woodville down at Wilfred Taylor Reserve gave us our first draw of the…
Round 10 – 29/06/2014 Match of the Week: Brighton 34 def Old Collegians 30 An absolute nail biter led the round this week, as Brighton snagged a desperate win against a previously undefeated, top of the table, and supremely confident Old Collegians side. To top it off, the boys from the bay won at Old Colls home ground, Tregenza Oval. It was an awesome game for the fans of both sides, as the two teams went score for score for the majority of the match. With little to separate the clubs, this one seemed destined to go down to the…
Just a quick word of Good Luck to the lads leaving on the Under 18s School boys national championships trip. Head Coach Tyrone Tepaiho and Team Manager Peter Garden have done a fantastic job organising the squad after a number of last minute withdrawals due to injury. South Australia will face the Northern Territory, Victoria 2 and Lloyd McDermott National Indigenous. Schoolboys representative Liam Hamilton recently completed work experience at SA Rugby and has compiled a brief write up on each of his team mates: Mark Masefield is a well all rounded player, with good skills, hard running lines and a…
This week saw SA Rugby host ARU and Super Rugby referee Andrew Lees, for the Coopers Premier Grade Referees Round. The day was designed to recognise and appreciate the work of the referees who give their Saturdays over to SA Rugby. It’s a pretty tough job, with little thanks and a lot of criticism, so for the boys and girls in white it was great to get some recognition. To top it off, Andrew oversaw a pretty excellent game of rugby. Round 9 – 21/06/2014 Match of the Week: Burnside 28 def Port Adelaide 21 Round 9’s Game of…
After an interrupted couple of weeks, Rugby in SA came back in a big way. There were quite a few comprehensive wins this week, as a number of competitors made big statements. Let’s get straight into it. Round 8 – 14/06/2014 Match of the Week: Burnside 62 def Woodville 21 In this one it was second-place Burnside taking on a Woodville team still desperately searching for their first win of their season at Parkinson Oval. Despite the rain from the previous few days, the game was a spectacle of attacking, fast rugby, albeit with quite a few mistakes from both…
A few words on the recent South Australian State Rugby Trip to the ACT Provincial Championship, with information and analysis provided by SA Rugby’s Mark Dobson. The State Men’s Team has recently returned from the ACT Provincial Championship in Jindabyne. After the disappointment of the New Zealand and Northern Territory trips not going ahead, it was fantastic to see a state men’s team embarking on a good old fashioned rugby tour. The mix of players, coaches and helpers made for a great team dynamic that was full of energy, support and mate ship. Despite the gruelling bus journey the players were…
To all readers and supporters of rugby in SA. Unfortunately the report this week is going to be a bit of an abbreviated one. I was unable to attend any of the matches due to illness, and a lot of my sources were unable to provide me with any solid information for various reasons also. As such, rather than speculate on the games, I think it’s better just to state the facts and look forward to next week. Hopefully I’ll be able to do a short catch-up on each of the games next week. Thanks, Conor. Also, a quick mention…
We’ve got all the action from round five of the Coopers Premier Grade right here, right now. Round 5 – 24/05/2014 Match of the Week: Port Adelaide 27 def Brighton 25 After just beating out Woodville last week by a mere 3 points, Brighton had to face a confident Port Adelaide team looking to make a push back into finals contention. The Tiger’s run of close, competitive matches continued here, as an extremely tight, physical game ensued. The game was played with plenty of force and on more than one occasion it threatened to boil over as the crowd fuelled…
We’ve got all the action from round four of the Coopers Premier Grade right here, right now. With Old Collegians clearly the team to beat, it must be asked whether they will be able to maintain such a blistering run. Unfortunately there may be memories of the last three years, where the team started strong only to fall short at the final hurdle. Meanwhile Burnside and Brighton are looking like strong finals contenders as we start to see some separation appear, with each continuing to improve in form. Finally it will be interesting to see who pushes for the fourth…
We’ve got all the action from round three of the South Australian Coopers Premier Grade right here, right now. Round 3 – 10/05/2014 Match of the Week: Brighton 28 def Burnside 25 This week’s best match saw a Brighton team looking to continue building their season against an up and coming, plucky Burnside. The tightly contested game was played at Parkinson Oval and saw a number of tries to both teams. After a come from behind victory in the first round of the Bartercard Cup, Burnside were confident that they could challenge the reigning premiers. But with a number of names…
We’ve got all the action from round two of the Coopers Premier Grade right here, right now. Round 2 – 03/05/2014 Match of the Week Onkaparinga 26 def Woodville 22 In this round’s match of the week it was Onkaparinga taking on Woodville down at Gleneagles in an awesome day of rugby. There was more to the day than just the game however, with a legend of SA Rugby being honoured in playing his 350th game. Black Falcons and Woodville stalwart Matty Connor is currently one of the most capped active players in South Australia; as well as being one of the…
SA Rugby kicked off with a bang this week. There were upsets, there were big wins and there were some spectacular tries scored. Lets take a look. Match of the Week: Anzac Day Memorial Game, Old Collegians 30 def Brighton 19 In the annual Coopers Premier Grade Anzac Day Memorial Game, reigning premiers Brighton took on Old Collegians under lights in a rematch of last year’s grand final. Despite Brighton just prevailing in 2013, it has been a different story this year. Old Collegians were the victors in an outstanding game. Led by back rower Gary Mann, who won the…
Ladies and Gentleman, its time to get excited. Put the remote down, get of the couch and prepare to throw yourself back into the world of Rugby union. Its that time of year again. South Australian Rugby has returned! And along with it comes a brand new year of fast paced, hard-hitting action. You can expect bone-bruising tackles, sublime skills, unbelievable upsets and thrilling finishes. And that’s only in the first round… After an awesome few weeks of Bartercard Cup action, Old Collegians came away undefeated and victorious in the Cup Final, after battling it out against Burnside for a…
The SA pre-season action culminated in a good day of rugby over the weekend, as two big rivalries squared off in the finals of the Bartercard Cup. In the Cup final, the big one, it was Burnside and Old Colls going at it, while the plate final consisted of Port vs Woodville. It was a solid day of rugby, with some exciting action leading into the season proper. For those who missed it, we’ve got all you need right here. PREMIER GRADE CUP FINAL: OLD COLLEGIANS 36 DEF BURNSIDE 19 In the Cup Final of the pre-season competition, the two…