Author: Lee Grant

The last round of the trials for GPS Schools were held yesterday but they didn’t make the forecasts any easier. Going by results and who beat whom, and where, and by how many, five teams could make a case for favouritism. Read on to find out how the six teams played in the last trial. Riverview v Joeys By “Armchair Selector” Riverview and Joeys have a good-natured rivalry. Allegedly this was a trial, but you wouldn’t have known it. First half Eight minutes in, near Riverview’s 22, Joeys #10 Vincent Creagh wrong-footed his opposite number. In space he backed himself…

The first round of the CAS competition started yesterday. The three favourites from the trials were Waverley, Knox and Barker and one of them got a shock. But they were just trials. What would happen when the pressure was on? Barker v Trinity By Rod Skellet Barker scored five tries to three to defeat a very good Trinity side, 31-21. Trinity attacked in the first ten minutes with locks Yazbeth and Driessen giving clean ball to a crisp backline. Their scrumhalf and captain, Chambers teamed well together with 10 Edmed to give the centres Payne and Ilias good opportunities. A…

The BMV Australia Under 20s won their first game of the World Rugby Under 20 Championship when they shocked Wales with their finish to win 24-17. At Tblisi in Georgia, outside centre Izaia Perese broke through shoddy Wales’ defence to break a deadlock with three minutes remaining and left the Welsh lads shattered. First half Australia had a strong wind behind them, but they didn’t use it well. Wales looked slick when flyhalf Dobson cross-kicked for hooker Shipp and he popped the ball up from the ground on the 22 to the flying 12 Lewis, who had nothing but grass…

The Crooked Feed has been quiet lately and the ancient one has been nodding off from watching too many rugby games. But now we can consider happy returns, the way we were, sevens and eights and the House of Lords. Embed from Getty Images Ruan Combrinck chipping for himself to score Happy Returns ●++Kings v Brumbies Rd13 — This was only the second time these teams had played each other; their first meeting was in Canberra in 2013. Of the players in Port Elizabeth, Alexander, Speight, Carter and Kuridrani played in the Canberra game, but none of the Kings did.…

Waverley were finally downed in the last weekend of the mixed NSW Schools trials  yesterday when Riverview had an unexpected win at Lane Cove. There were also some interesting results at North Parramatta and Hunters Hill. Riverview v Waverley By “WLF” The Waves looked more likely to break the game open early and finally Donaldson hit a hole close to the View line and scored. He converted – Waves 7-0. Then the game stalled for 15 or 20 minutes as both teams dropped ball and threw silly passes. Finally, after a poor Waverley clearance from their goal-line, View winger, Cameron,…

There were more crossover NSW Schools trials between GPS and CAS schools on the weekend and whilst neither Association can brag too much, one school is making the running. Waverley is looking like the premier school in the GPS and CAS – but what’s that you say? These are only trial matches? Don’t tell that to the “Waves” – “the Double V” – they’re making every post a winner. Shore v Joeys By “Armchair Selector” It took 30 seconds from the kick off for Joeys to open their account. A line break from the opening ruck saw Joeys #11 Lachlan…

The trials between schools from  different associations continued yesterday and Waverley and Newington were impressive winners against their fancied rivals. Joeys v Waverley By “Armchair Selector” The opening third of the match saw both teams test their opponent’s mettle. Waverley had the better of the midfield contest and Joeys just couldn’t seem to clear the ball from their own half. Ten minutes into the match, a sickening head clash between Joeys #6 Scolari and #12 Everleigh saw both young men leave the field. The smash and bash approach was working for Waverley. After 13 minutes Waverley #4 O’Sullivan crashed over…

The “Crooked Feed” continues with a drought broken and freezing looks, commentators probably getting in wrong, youngsters on the rise, touching moments, and speling misteaks. Rebels v Lions ●++Breaking the drought – When Tom English scored in the 27th minute against the Lions in Melbourne last Saturday it was the first try the Rebels had registered since April 15th when Sefania Naivalu scored against the Brumbies in the 16th minute. Sure there was a bye week during that, but there were 253 minutes of elapsed time between the tries of Naivalu and English. And that’s not counting any “extras” when…

There were more ripping games of NSW schoolboy trials yesterday. They might not have been official competition games but unless anybody told you beforehand, you wouldn’t have known it. Scots v Joeys By “Armchair Selector” It was 2009 when the Joeys’ boys last cheered success over the lads from Bellevue Hill. With a record eleven competition wins on the trot, were Scots to rack up another in a trial game, or were Joeys going to set a platform to launch their assault on the 2017 GPS Premiership? Two minutes into the match Scots declined a penalty shot in front, opting…

After a challenging game against New Zealand yesterday the BMW Australia Under 20s have named a 28-man squad for the World Rugby Under 20 Championship, which starts on 31st May in Georgia. The squad includes six who have played Super Rugby, four who are current members of the Aussie Sevens’ team and three others who were excluded from the Oceania U20 Championship at Bond University. Although the young Aussies did not shine at Bond, ARU National Performance Programs Manager, Adrian Thompson, put it in perspective: We will field a strong team – the Oceania tournament was a chance for the…

In the eighth version of the “Crooked Feed” we discuss things you don’t see every day, referees who got things right, trivial rubbish and the sayings of “Sumo”. You don’t see that every day ●++Kings v Rebels – The Rebels used four scrumhalves against the Kings last weekend. They took only two specialists on their tour to South Africa: Stirzacker and Mick Snowden. Unfortunately “Zacker” got hurt the night before the game; so Snowden got his first Super Rugby start. He lasted only 26 minutes before injuring his ankle. Will Miller came on and attended the next lineout as scrummie,…

The BMW Australia Under 20s were fortunate to beat Fiji in the second round of the Oceania Under 20 Championship at Bond University yesterday, winning 32-24. After a jittery first half they were even worse in the second and could have lost the game had Fiji kicked at goal better. The Fijians improved noticeably from their loss against New Zealand last Saturday, partly because their opposition was easier but also because they played some good rugby. First half The Aussies looked shaky from the start. Three of their first four lineouts were botched by poor throwing, being skewed or too…

The pre-season trials of Sydney private schools continued and a mix of CAS and GPS schools, plus some from other Associations, fought it out. There were players missing from all the sides but this did not stop winning teams claiming bragging rights from the other Associations. Here are reports of some of the games. Knox v Riverview By “Waratahs to win” Can the CAS teams compete against the strong GPS teams? Is the new system of trials and then a one-round competition a good idea? As the 2016 CAS Champions (Knox) met the 2016 GPS runners-up (Riverview) all the talk…

The BMW Australia Under 20s had a patchy 43-20 win over Samoa Under 20s in their first game of the Oceania U20s Championship which started at Bond University yesterday. In rainy and windy conditions the young Aussies commanded the set pieces and scored seven tries to two. First half After a dominant scrum winger James Ram was in at the corner and scrummie Ryan Lonergan kicked an excellent conversion from wide out across the wind. But Samoa crossed after choosing to take a scrum option and getting the ball out just in time, then wrong-footing a defender, who slipped. They…

A few years ago we started up this series of rugby notes from recent games. The “Crooked Feed” was based on some posts I did in the “Not set-pieces” thread in the Green & Gold forum back in the day. They are snippets of stray thoughts, non-expert opinion, and a bit of sheer rubbish – and written sometimes when I had a 4 litre case of cheap wine to start with to give me clarity, or should that be clarety? Nice touches ●++Waratahs v Kings – When replacement prop Angus Ta’avao came on from the Waratahs’ bench at the 50th…

It was a bad weekend for Irish club rugby. Munster was bundled out in the semi-finals of the European Rugby Championship by Saracens, the 2016 Cup winners, in front of virtual home crowd in Dublin, on Saturday. By contrast a French home crowd lifted Clermont when they were jittery in the nail-biting second ERC semi-final against Leinster in Lyons on Sunday. Embed from Getty Images Joy for Clermont Munster 10 – Saracens 26 First half Saracens had six of the 2017 Lions and Munster just two, but it was all Munster at the beginning and was for most of the…

The Western Force will be aiming to get their third win in a row at home for the first time in three seasons but they will be up against it with a list of injuries which looks like a butchers’ bill. It must have been difficult for the players to concentrate of the job at training when they found out, for sure, that they were the team of choice to be dumped by the ARU after SAZAAR confirmed earlier that Australia had to lose one team next year. Nor was there any mitigation knowing that the Force had issued a…

The BMW Australia Under 20s have named a 29-man squad chock-full of talent for the 2017 Oceania Rugby Under 20 Championship starting on Friday, 28th April, at Bond University on the Gold Coast. The Championship This will be the last series of lead-up games for the young hopefuls before they travel to the 2017 World Rugby Championship to be held in Georgia, from 31st May to 18th June. In a sense it will also be a selection trial because some Super Rugby and Sevens players will not be available for the Gold Coast event but will be able to play…

Two Irish teams stormed into the The European Rugby Champions Cup semis-finals as they had emphatic wins at Aviva Stadium and Thomond Park on the first day of the ERC finals series. On Day 2 the 2016 Champions, Saracens, and French powerhouse, Clermont, also won their home quarter-finals by convincing margins. Leinster 32 – Wasps 17 This was between the leaders of the Pro 12 and the Aviva Premiership. The Wasps weren’t fazed about visiting Dublin: they brought some high rollers to town including lock Launchbury, fullback Beale, centre Daly, winger le Roux and flyhalf Cipriani. Leinster were without injured…

The 2017 RBS Six Nations is over and we look at the players who helped to turn it into best test match tournament in the world, as they do every year. No regard was paid to how many players were chosen from each country, nor did we try to squeeze the best 15 players into the team by giving them a jersey number they didn’t usually wear in the series. Nor were we choosing a team to play the Rest of the World, which would have needed balance—we just picked the best players in the positions they played in so…