Author: Lee Grant

The GPS season was to be decided on a hot spring day. Two teams had not been beaten in the previous nine rounds, except once to each other. If they won on the final day, and the other team lost, they would win the premiership outright. Scots 43 — Joeys 18 Scots was one of those two teams that had to win, and they would not take Joeys lightly. The boys from Hunters Hill had them on the rack in their first meeting this season and Scots were lucky to get the winning lead just before the end. Joeys had…

There was a likely season-defining game at Bellevue Hill in Round 9, a major battle for minor placings at North Parramatta and a possible spoiler for the likely bronze medallists at Northbridge. On a beautiful spring day in Sydney, rugby was the winner. Kings 48 — Joeys 31 Joeys showed up at JS White Oval at Kings determined to get their mojo back after two heavy defeats. But Kings had a good win in Round 8 and were determined to repeat the performance in their last home game of the season. The scoring Joeys looked the better team at the…

St. Augustine’s College won the Waratah Shield for the fifth time in six years at Forshaw Rugby Park yesterday. Coach John Papahatzis, who had previously taken St. Edmunds College to five consecutive titles, achieved the distinction of coaching teams to tournament victory ten times in eleven attempts. St. Augustine’s College 64 — Oakhill College 21 It looked like it was going to be a long afternoon for Oakhill when they fumbled the ball several times after the kick-off.  This pinned them down in their own half and 7. Johnnie Walker made them pay the price when he charged through them…

At the end of Round 7, the GPS 1st XV competition was in the same situation as the 2012 season finished:  all the teams were beating teams below them in the table, and it followed that (except for the unbeaten Scots XV) that all were losing to the teams above them. Would that trend continue in Round 8? Newington 58 — Joeys 21 Joeys, who have a proud tradition of winning, were expected to bounce back from their big loss last week – but to their chagrin they suffered another hiding. The scoring Newington struck early when a Joeys’ pass…

On a windy day in Sydney three thrashings were dished out in Round 7 of the GPS, and whereas two of them were expected, the third was not. Riverview 45 — Joeys 20 These meetings are always a feature of the GPS season whatever the standings of the two sides. Some say they are religious wars between the Catholics – adherents of the Marist Brothers and the Jesuits – but in these secular times they are more contests between the GPS schools that have the greatest depth, year after year. The scoring It looked like it would be a long…

 The CAS competition finished last weekend and the outcome was unexpectedly tight. “Elfster” reviews the season and gives his appraisal of the six teams, nominates their best players, and gives his outlook for 2014 CAS Round-Up by “Elfster” Barker retained the premiership by being a class above other sides. They were a well balanced team: potent in attack, good in defence and very fit. Waverley did enough and ensured that the final result was not known until the final round. Playing Waverley is always hard; playing them at Queen’s Park terribly so. They performed with an edgy uncertainty…

The Waratah Shield is reaching its final stages and the four semi-finalists met at Granville Park yesterday. Oakhill College (ISA) met Knox College (CAS), and St. Augustine’s College (ISA) played Marist College from the ACT. For those who don’t know, the Waratah Shield is a knock out competition open to all schools from NSW and the ACT. Lower ranked teams play in the Waratah Cup, and the winner and runner-up enter the Waratah Shield for the quarter-finals. Oakhill College 31 — Knox College 19 Knox got off to a horrible start when they tried to clear their line with short…

The second half of the GPS home-and-away First XV Championship started and whilst there were no surprises in the results there was a standout match at Northbridge which had supporters of both sides buzzing about how good schoolboy rugby can be. Joeys 32 — Shore 21 At Northbridge both teams had players missing and whereas Joeys had layers of strength below the main side, Shore’s depth was thinner. Shore would have to rise above adversity to be competitive and they did themselves proud in doing just that. The scoring Both sides had opportunities at the start but could not…

With only two rounds to go in the CAS competition for the Henry Plume Shield, Barker had to win against Trinity, and Waverley against Aloys, to make their match next week a Grand Final. But as Elfster reports: there was another match – at Cranbrook Knox 25  —  Cranbrook 14 by “Elfster” On a glorious winter’s day, I popped out to Rose Bay to see Cranbrook take on Knox. Cranbrook’s oval has a more suburban ground feel to it than other places , with the spectators on the sidelines close to the action. The playing surface looked excellent, auguring…

Round 5 marked the end of the first half of the new home-and-away First XV competition, which is proving to be a big success. At the end of Round 4 Scots was the undefeated team but were facing Joeys who are always tough at Hunters Hill.  Newington, who lost to Scots last week had to beat Shore to keep in touch, but they had been troubled by them at Northbridge before.    To get out of a rut Kings had to beat a young View side, who were playing beyond their years. Newington 37 – Shore 20 by “George…

Newington and Scots, the two undefeated teams, met at Stanmore in Round 4, but two other schools gave notice that they were still the the race – just. Riverview 38 – Shore 15   by “George Smith” Weather – Sunny with a cross breeze. The game had the intrigue and anticipation of a schoolboy match that everyone wanted. Thanks to the demographics shared by each school nearly every player had played with or against each other for club or school, or both. Following the spirited precursor, where the visiting school got up with some great scrummaging and astute kicking, the…

The GPS competition recommenced yesterday.  After two rounds in Term 2, and the NSW trials and Australian Championships in the holidays, the lads were back playing for their schools. Kings  35 — Shore  10  by “George Smith” Kings v Shore at Gowan Brae Weather: sunny with a 20pt NW wind Crowd: 2100 With both teams entering the match desperate to kick-start their respective campaigns after forgettable Term 2 matches. Kings laid the foundation with all teams commanding an undefeated record on the JS White oval for the day. The scoring Kings, kicking into the wind, soon put pressure…

NSW I was playing NSW II in the final for the first time since 2002 and with the state rivalry taken out of the equation the emphasis was in the pride of two undefeated teams and the individual contests for Australian honours. NSW I  20 – NSW II  12  — by “George Smith” Day 4 – Sunny but chilly with wind at 8 knots from NW. The players from both teams had the misconception that they were playing for final Australian selection and that made for a somewhat dour and unimaginative game. What happened was that the head…

Day 3 is usually an exciting one because it is the day that teams play pool opponents who are seeded closest to them. As part of that NSW I (seeded first in one pool) always plays Qld II (seeded second), and likewise Qld I always plays NSW II in the other pool. Usually the higher seeded team wins, but there was a surprise today. Combined States 24 — Western Australia 19 This was a cracker of a rugby match and all the lads should be proud of themselves for the rugby they produced. WA ran into a strong northerly wind…

There were no surprises on Day 2 but there were periods when the favoured team had to work hard to get going. NSW II  33 – ACT 10  — by “George Smith” Day 2; 9am; sunny and the ground soft but firm. With all 8 reserves running on to start the game for NSW allowed the ACT lads to take the game up to them. This they did with over 65% of possession for the first 30mins. Time and time again the ACT pack were driving forward near NSW’s goal line only to be thwarted at the last effort…

After days of heavy rain in Sydney the 39th Novotel ASRU Championships started yesterday at St. Ignatius College, Riverview in Sydney. In the bad old days the cricket pitch area would have been a quagmire but the Riverview people did a great job in moving the field the the east so play wasn’t affected, and they erected some portable stands for the patrons. The field was still wet underfoot but it was a marked improvement over what it might have been. Well done Riverview. On Day 1, on-paper stronger teams are matched against on-paper weaker teams and there were no…

The Australian Under 20 team had another undistinguished tournament this year. After placing eighth in 2012, their worst result ever, they finished one spot better in 2013. As they did in 2012 they won only one pool game in the Junior World Championship [JWC], against the worst team in the pool, and lost the other two. As in 2012 they lost their first ranking knock-out game and had to contest the play-off for seventh place; but this year, they won it. The pool matches Ireland 19 – Australia 15 — The Aussies were not far off in individual natural talent…

The NSW Schools Open trials concluded today at Knox Grammar School’s Curagul Field. There were some lop-sided scores in the six games involving teams from the AICES, Country, CCC, ISA, CHS, CAS and GPS school associations, but at least the lads got a chance to show what they could do in front of the NSW Schools’ selectors. Correspondent “George Smith” pulls no punches in his match reports of the two main games held at the end of the day (last game first). Brief reports of the earlier games and the list of players chosen to represent NSW I and NSW…

GPS beat CAS in the 1st XV and 2nd XV matches at Knox Grammar School yesterday but the result in the main game was a lot closer than most people expected. GPS 1st XV  29 — CAS 1st XV  14 The rain during the earlier Twos’ match held off for most of the main game but the water was on the grass and the ball was slippery. Both sides had trouble with the wet ball and a lot of the play was scrappy. The scoring After six minutes of high-paced rugby GPS were in the CAS 22 and put…

In Round 6 Barker continued its winning ways by beating Cranbrook and in controversial circumstances St. Aloysius upset Trinity and Knox beat Waverley. Aloys v Trinity by “Snort” Aloys 19 – Trinity 14 When the full time whistle went at College Oval on Saturday afternoon, the St Aloysius 1st XV celebrated as though they had just won a grand final. And they deserved it. I always respect a team that works out a game plan and sticks to it. St Aloysius did that on Saturday and they won through a combination of clever planning and highly committed…