Author: Lee Grant

Shore v. Joeys Joeys beat Shore comfortably in the first round of matches and came close to upsetting Scots last week. But Shore was on the rise—they beat Kings for the first time in 19 years two weeks ago and were competitive against Newington last Saturday when both sides scored three tries. They were the big improvers of the GPS going into this game. First half Joeys [SJC] started with all the ball and moved it wide whenever they could but it didn’t translate into points because they were going east to west instead of south to north. Shore couldn’t…

There was a thriller at TG Millner between St. Stanislaus and Oakhill, which was won after the siren. Oakhill were there in force with 300 rowdy but well-behaved girls and boys cheering on their team and the St Stanislaus’ (Stannies) boys replied with equal vigour. Oakhill v. St. Stanislaus First half The game started with Stannies of Bathhurst, all over Oakhill College of Castle Hill. Stannies was ten points up at twelve minutes after an overlap try to 14 John Monk and a conversion and penalty goal kicked by 12 David Donato. Oakhill couldn’t get out of their own half…

Cranbrook v. Aloys     by “Rugby Addict” It was a magnificent day at Cranbrook’s home ground, Hordern, for the final round game between Cranbrook and St Aloysius. Cranbrook were looking to secure their first Henry Plume Shield since 1994 and Aloys were looking to spoil their party. Unfortunately Aloys captain Rory Vevers did not recover from injury when forced to leave the field last week at half time against Waverley and this left a significant hole for Aloys to fill. First half Aloys kicked off and did most of the attacking for the first ten minutes and declined to…

The GPS started its second round and there were some cracking games. Scots v Joeys Scots had beaten Newington 101-0 two weeks ago and last week Newington beat Joeys. It was going to be a blood bath when Scots arrived at Hunters Hill, right? First half Joeys kicked a penalty goal early then they dropped the ball from the restart . 9 Theo Strang orchestrated a move that ended with 5 Ryan McCauley bursting over the line for Scots. Another penalty goal to Joeys’ flyhalf Connor O’Shea, this time from 40 metres out, made the score 7-6 Scots after…

Super Rugby was full of surprises in 2014; here are just five of them. 5.  The Reds and the Cheetahs would have such a poor seasons The Reds had a good record in the last four years having won the competition in 2011 and finishing either fifth or sixth in the other three years. Their fall to 13th place was unexpected. They started the season well enough and surprised the Brumbies with their ardour up front in Canberra. They lost the next game against a rampant Waratahs team in Sydney, but that was looked upon as a bad day at…

Who were the best coaches in Super Rugby this year? It is not easy to pick who the best coaches of a competition are and sometimes you have to stir the tea leaves. But a big clue is how a team improves from one year to the other. 3.  Michael Foley  (Western Force) Foley didn’t have the best start as head coach with the 2012 Waratahs and he resigned after they won just four games in the season: their worst record in five years. When the Force took him on he said he wanted to relaunch the team which had…

It was cold and windy on all grounds in Sydney on Saturday but there was some hot rugby. It looked like the Scots juggernaut was about to be stopped at View; Newington was looking for a comeback after a thrashing last week, but the feelgood game of the weekend was the third game—between Shore and Kings. Shore v Kings   by “The Spaceman” Shore win in a gutsy performance in front of an ecstatic crowd A blustery day at the War Memorial Playing Fields led to scenes of euphoria as Shore secured its first win in an astonishing…

Trinity v. Baker by “Snort” Bear with me. This intrepid writer was crippled yesterday by a massive bout of food poisoning, and the egg and bacon sandwich I got in the morning at another ground was undoubtedly the culprit, as it was the only thing I ate all day. It’s odd, though, how much actually leaves your stomach compared to how much goes in, when you get a dose of whatever it was I got yesterday. I feel mean writing this, because the kindly folk who cooked and sold the offending sandwich were friendly, good-natured volunteers. I’m sure…

There were some dynamite recruits this year in Super Rugby and I don’t just mean local players being awarded Super Rugby contracts and confirming their promise. I’m talking about players from outside the system being brought in—the kind that would have had other coaches slapping their foreheads by the end of the season and thinking: why didn’t I think of him? And pity the coach that let a 2014 star go. 5. Shane Christie   (Highlanders) A late bloomer, the 28-year-old qualified builder and openside flanker was with the Crusaders last year but Matt Todd started in every game but…

In Round 8 the unbeaten team, Cranbrook, was tested by a team it thrashed in the first round; Knox continued their good form—and Waverley performed the biggest turnaround of the season. Trinity v Cranbrook by “Snort” It isn’t often that a team gets to play a return match against a school it’s beaten 81-8, and Cranbrook will have approached this game full of confidence. Its motivation was to take another step towards a first Plume Shield in 20 years; Trinity, on the other hand, its shallow resources exposed by injuries, was playing for pride. A dismal wet morning cleared…

There were some surprises in the GPS this week: mainly in the scale of the victories. Scots were joint champions last year with Newington and have looked rampant this season—could Newington rise to the occasion and compete how they did last year? Riverview had won three out of three and were expected to have no trouble against Shore who looked likely to take the wooden spoon.  Could Shore give them a game? Joeys had competed well across their whole programme in 2014 but their 1st XV had lost their mojo for many years.  Kings played well last week and were…

There were some exciting players who appeared in Super Rugby for the first time this year. Some of them were youngsters but others were mature players—one got his first test cap in 2010 and another made his international Sevens debut in 2011. I was going to name just five, but folks may think that some of the mature players are not “real rookies”. Therefore I named ten players and people can make up their own minds as to whether they are “real rookies”, or not, and consider just those they think are. Although six made their test debuts in June…

Cranbrook kept on track for an unbeaten season; Knox had a big win over Trinity with hooker James Widders-Leece scoring four tries in the process. And Aloys put on a top performance against Barker. Aloys v Barker by “Rugby Addict” It was a cold and windy day for the St Aloysius versus Barker clash at College Oval, Willoughby. St Aloysius were near full strength whereas Barker were missing CAS I’s halfback Steve Kirkby, which was a big out for Barker. First half Aloys won the toss and chose to run with an estimated fourteen-point breeze at their backs. They immediately…

The two teams that were unbeaten at the start of Round 2 won today but there was a bit of a surprise in the third game. Kings v Newington by “Anonymous George” JS White Oval, TKS, North Parramatta Saturday, 19 July 2014 This was an exciting and close fought game of schoolboy rugby played by two (mostly) willing sides, won by the more enthusiastic of the two. First half Newington was captained by NSW rep and hooker Matt Serhon , in the absence of the injured Australian Schools prop Vunipola Fifita.  They took the field as favourites. Newington kicked…

Two undefeated teams from two different Sydney schools’ associations met in a non-competition match last Saturday. Cranbrook School was from the CAS group and The Scots College was from the GPS. Cranbrook had been CAS easy-beats in recent years but had gone through the first round of the 2014 tournament with five wins out of five. They had smacked both Barker College, the 2013 champions, and Knox College, the runners-up. Scots shared the 2013 GPS premiership with Newington and looked well on the way to another flag having handed out two hidings out of two in the GPS. Cranbrook is…

For the second year in a row the two NSW teams contested the final. NSW I 38 – NSW II 24   by “umbrella_defence” A stunning first-half blitz from the NSW I [N1] boys left many in attendance disappointed that NSW II [N2] didn’t have more to offer with players like Guy Porter (#15), Angus Crichton (#8) and Lachlan Anderson (#7) all impressing for the Ones. However, an unexpected resurgence from N2 in the second-half added some respectability to the scoreline, with captain James Lough (#8) leading from the front with the tough stuff, while the two unrelated, Wrights…

There was a surprise result on Day 3 [Div I] of the Championships when NSW II played their best game of the week. NSW II  23 — QLD I  21   by “umbrella_defence” NSW II win a thriller to crush any hopes of a Queensland presence in the finals. NSW II showed grit, passion and a determination that simply could not be matched by the boys from up north. From the get-go it seemed as if Queensland had underestimated their opposition, and they later suffered for that confidence. NSW dominated in the forwards and backs, though Queensland showed brief…

Day 2 of Division One was full of exciting rugby and the best game was a nail-biter. The last game of the day was a cliffhanger; but even some of the other matches were interesting as the two top teams of the competition took some time to express their superiority and their opponents threatened to cause some cheek early.. NSW I  27 — Combined States  0   by “The Spaceman” NSW were in an expansive frame of mind in Round 1 and scored some brilliant tries, but would they be able to duplicate that effort against a Combined States’ team…

Day 1 of the Australian Schools Rugby Union National Championships started on Monday at St. Ignatius College at Riverview. There were some tight games and some exciting rugby but the boys were up against it in the cold windy conditions in Sydney. NSW II 18 — ACT 17 by “Lee Grant” It was easy to see the effect of the conditions as lineouts became a lottery unless the ball was thrown to the front. First half NSW looked ready for a good day at the office when they were down near the ACT line after a scrum penalty. After a…

Five thoughts about the Wallabies I was at the Sydney test match and these stray thoughts came through: 1. Will Skelton can be fitted in He showed enough that he can be used to start in Rugby Championship games. He took a couple of lineout throws and could probably get three of four in a game at the front. He is so tall that he can jump up with no lifter and get above a prop marking him. Sure, it’s less valuable front-of-the-lineout ball, but it adds to the variety that is needed. Will Skelton – a good fit #450969712…