Author: Lee Grant

In Round 4 Cranbrook continued their unbeaten run by giving a hapless Trinity team a thrashing, and will be heading for a showdown with Knox next week. Also unbeaten, Knox accounted for St. Aloysius in another game.  In doing so one of the Knox players scored three tries to notch a tally of nine for the season—in four games. And he’s a hooker !! Cranbrook 81 — Trinity 8 by “oldandslow” Cranbrook lowered Trinity’s flag at Rose Bay this afternoon, with an 81-8, 13 try thumping of the men in green. Missing three standout players, Barkley-Brown (15), McClellan (1)…

The Australian Under 20 team beat The GrainCorp NSW Country Cockatoos at Chatswood Oval 53-5 last night in the first of two warm-up games in Sydney. They had beaten Samoa in two warm-up games during their camp at Bond University earlier in the month, but they had more players available to try out against the Country boys. They have one more warm-up game before leaving to compete in the Junior World Championship in New Zealand, next Thursday. The Cockatoos had opened their season well when they retained the Maher Ross Cup against a NSW Suburban side 20-0 at Terrigal last…

After Round 3 there were only two unbeaten teams remaining. Knox were undefeated but the other winning side was not one of the usual suspects. Knox 57 — Trinity 7 On a glorious day at Summer Hill the unbeaten Trinty hosted Knox. Trinity’s oval is compact, and whilst not as imperially majestic as other places, offers comfortable and good viewing in elegant surrounds. Though Trinity was well beaten in the 2nds and 3rds, those sides had shown sufficient heart and spirit to arouse home supporters. And neatly attired and with a joyful enthusiasm, the Trinity boys voiced their support with a…

Riverview beat St. Augustines 25-14 in an inter-assocation game at Rat Park yesterday. It was ony a trial but it was a needle match between the teams fancied to win the competitions of the Sydney GPS (Riverview) and the ISA (St. Augustines). It was a typical trial, or early season match, and there were a number of errors from both teams because skills and combinations were rusty. First half For View 5. Beau Petterson had a couple of rumbles up the middle and once he was in the act of scoring a try when 12. Luke Lough of St. Augustines…

Australian Sevens so close in London The Australian Sevens team wanted to give retiring coach Michael O’Connor the best send-off they could at the London Sevens. They had won the London tournament 2010 and hoped they could do it again when they made the final, but it wasn’t to be. In the pool games Australia beat Fiji 24-12 after being down 12-7 at halftime, and accounted for Spain 36-0 and Japan 28-0. Australia won the semi against England after dominating the Poms technically and individually in the first half. England couldn’t keep the ball and Australia scored three tries. They…

The Western Force kept the pressure on the Brumbies and the Waratahs with a gutsy 23-16 win against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein. Following five losses in a row in South Africa in recent times, the Westerners proved they are the real deal by holding on in an intriguing match. After watching a choking game to the death in the wet between the Brumbies and the Sharks in Canberra, seeing two teams moving the ball around on a dry pitch was like a breath of fresh air. First half A couple of penalty goals were swapped as the Cheetahs were playing…

At the end of Round 2 three teams had won two games which meant that three teams had lost two. Knox, Cranbrook and Trinity got their third victory, but the big game was at the bottom of Bellevue Hill. Cranbrook 29 — Barker 7  The Cranbrook School made an emphatic statement of their intent to be a force in the 2014 CAS competition when they followed up their first round win against St. Aloysius with a convincing victory over Barker College. After an arm wrestle of a first half Cranbrook took control in the second and always looked like…

Round 1 started on Saturday on a bleak Sydney day that tested spectators but the boys warmed to their task and produced some good rugby despite the conditions. Trinity 40 — Waverley 23 by “Snort”” Trinity and Waverley opened their 2014 campaigns on a wintry afternoon at Summer Hill. Waverley had first use of a swirling wind that made life unpleasant for the spectators. First half From the kick-off, both sides aimed to get the ball wide. Throughout the match, there was little kicking in either attack or defence and the fact that both teams tried to keep the…

1. The Sharks have lost their bite Every side is entitled to have a bad day at the office or even two or three, but it was surprising to see the Sharks being so inept at home against the Highlanders, who were the lowest-ranked Kiwi team before the weekend. Nor did they look like competition leaders in their butt-ugly win against cellar-dweller Cheetahs the week before. The Sharks hadn’t had a try scored against them in the first half this season, but the The Clan ran in three of them. Well, one was hardly from a run, because it was…

Every year Super Rugby reveals a crop of promising players and by the halfway mark of the 2014 tournament more gems have been discovered. Here is a list of young Super Rugby players who are on the rise. I have excluded those whose promise has already been confirmed by playing in test matches, and those over 21 years of age (excepting the props, who mature late, and the scrumhalf, because there was no younger candidate.) The players are 21 years old, unless mentioned otherwise. The back three 15. Tevita Li (Blues) When the stocky 19-year-old was at Massey High School…

Warringah Rats vs Parramatta Two Blues It didn’t look like a great night for Magners Shute Shield rugby with fine and not-so-fine drizzle during the night, but both teams had a go. Parra, playing with the drizzle started the scoring with a Tom Woods penalty goal but a snipe by Rats scrummie, Josh Holmes, had defenders looking at each other as he scored. When Hamish Angus converted it was 7-3 to the Rats. Woods slotted another penalty goal for the visitors midway through the half to bring the score to 7-6, but his team wasn’t taking full advantage of the…

Gareth Anscombe will start at first five-eighth for the Chiefs this weekend after their rainmaker Aaron Cruden broke his thumb against the Cheetahs in Round 8. The Rebels will be sniffing at this apparent weakness and be quietly confident of getting their first overseas win after coming so close in Dunedin in Round 8. The Form The Chiefs played listless rugby against the Cheetahs in the first half last week and got the bullying they deserved. Before the break they could muster only 38% possession, could not apply any pressure and missed 16 tackles. The Tribe stank and were behind…

The Waratahs sunk the Stormers to the bottom of the Super Rugby table in front of their home crowd at Newlands, by beating them 22-11 in the the last game of Round 8 last night. In doing so they got to within one point of the Australian Conference leaders, the Brumbies, with a game in hand. The Stormers played well in the first half but they kicked away too much ball during the game—even the Newlands’ faithful  were groaning. It would not have been so bad if the kicks had been executed properly but they invariably found grateful Waratahs…

The Stormers are in disarray with their worst tour results for 16 years and their club in turmoil at home. The Waratahs are at the crossroads and have to win this game after losing two out of their last three otherwise they will be way back in the pack. The form The Stormers have won only one game out of six and that was by one point. Last week they played with a depleted team but although they scored two tries to one, some inexperienced players kept making the same mistakes. Although they got close at the end they lost…

This will be the match of the round as both teams look like strong contenders to be the Conference champions of their respective countries. Last week After four wins at home the Sharks lost their first game of the season, which relaxed their stranglehold on the South African Conference. The Bulls got sweet revenge for Round 1 by shocking them after the break at Ellis Park with two cracking tries in five minutes. The Waratahs beat the Rebels handily in Round 6 although they had no rhythm in the first half. However coach Michael Cheika was happy at half-time with…

An improving home team is playing an unbeaten side of visitors who just happen to have won the Super Rugby title twice in a row. Can the home side get the win for the most faithful fans in Australia—or will they be brought back to cruel reality? The Force will not be fazed by the arrival of the Super Rugby champions. The Chiefs are in cracking form but the men from the west have been giant-killers before and will run onto “Force Field” with the form of first-ever consecutive bonus-point victories. The first win was earned in a magic…

Australian rugby will take a big step forward when the first National Under 20 Competition starts in Canberra on Saturday 22nd March. Three Australian teams: NSW, Queensland and a Southern States side, will play games against each other and an invited nation, Tonga. The players will want to rack up the wins for their teams, but from a national perspective the important thing is to find out which of the young men can perform under pressure in big matches. Green and Gold Rugby asked the Head Coach of the Australian Under 20s team, Adrian Thompson, a few things about his…

Rebels v. Crusaders      AAMI Park, Friday 14th March  7:40pm (AEDT) The Rebels will be reeling after the Force ran in four tries in half an hour against them last week and kept them scoreless until the last play of the day. It was their own fault: they had made six changes to their side which had been impressive in beating the Cheetahs the week before. Coach Tony McGahan said he was interested in looking at other players, but one suspected that he fancied beating the Force with whatever side he dished up; so why not kill two birds…

The Junior Gold Cup competition has passed half-time and is well into the second half, but you know already that it is kicking its goals. The Junior Gold long-term development programme, has been going on since November 2011. It covered rugby skills, strength and development, and life skills, in 24 centres throughout the country. It was a good programme and families talked up its benefits for their little Johnnies, but there was an elephant in the room. Or rather, there was no elephant in the zoo—there was no darn competition. These lads were training their backsides off and toeing the…

On Friday there was a rugbyfest of four games at the David Phillips Sports Field in Daceyville. The day started with a Pacific Rugby Cup game between the NSW Gen Blue team and the Argentina Pampas XV, which was followed by a trial game for the NSW Colts Under 20 squad against an Australian  Barbarians team. Then, under the lights, came Under 15 and Under 17 Junior Gold Cup games between Sydney South and South Australia—and some of the best rugby of the day was played by the youngsters. Pampas XV 36—Gen Blue 16 The Waratahs reserve players and invited…