Author: Richard Edwards

New Zealand Schools proved too good for Australian Schools, winning 34 to 11, while Australian Barbarians beat Fijian Schools 21 – 20 in a thriller. The matches wrapped up a highly entertaining Tri-Nations series, which the lads and their families and friends will cherish forever. The best side was clearly the ‘baby-blacks’ who just seemed to play with more time and space than anyone else and displayed classic Kiwi support play and counter-attack. NEW ZEALAND SCHOOLS 34 – 11 AUSTRALIAN SCHOOLS By “Rich_E” New Zealand Schools were first to score and from that point never really looked like losing. While…

The Australian Schools and Barbarians sides have been named for tomorrow’s Tri-Nations games. Australian Schools will play New Zealand Schools at 12.50pm and the Barbarians will take on Fijian Schools at 11.00am. Both matches will be played at TG Milner Field and will be streamed live on rugby.com.au and facebook. The Australian v New Zealand Schools match will also be televised live on Fox in Australia and Sky in New Zealand. This match will be followed, at TG Milner, by the NRC game between the Greater Sydney Rams and Fijian Drua. AUSTRALIAN SCHOOLS VS NEW ZEALAND SCHOOLS Earlier this week,…

Australian Schools beat Fijian Schools 29 – 3 but will need to improve to challenge New Zealand Schools, who comprehensively beat the Australian Barbarians 49 – 6. The matches, the first of two Schoolboy Tri-Nations double-headers, were played on a dry track on a warm spring afternoon at Sydney’s Knox Grammar School. The second and final round of games will be played this Saturday at TG Milner Field. MATCHES AT TG MILNER THIS SATURDAY 11.00am – Australian Barbarians vs Fiji Schools 12.50pm – Australian Schools vs New Zealand Schools Both games will be live streamed on rugby.com.au and facebook and…

Two cracking games of international schoolboy rugby will be played this coming Monday and Saturday. Monday’s games, to be played at Knox Grammar School, will see the Australian Schools Barbarians take on New Zealand Schools at 1.00pm, followed by Australian Schools vs Fijian Schools at 3.00pm. Next Saturday, at TG Milner, the Barbarians will meet Fiji at 11.00am and Australian and NZ Schools kick-off at 12.50pm. These matches will then be followed at 3.00pm by the NRC match between the Greater Sydney Rams and Fijian Drua. THE BUILD-UP All four sides played last week, in what provided a great opportunity…

NSW Rugby hosted their 2017 Awards night on Friday night. “Gary Owen III” attended the presentation and has filed this report, which outlines the purpose of the ceremony, key messages from NSW Rugby and the award winners. Thanks “Gary Owen III” and congratulations to all the award winners – well done. 2017 NSW RUGBY AWARDS by “Gary Owen III” On Friday night, NSW Rugby hosted their 2017 Awards night at the Homestead in Centennial Park. This year’s awards were a combined celebration of rugby across both the professional and the community game and represented the vision that Andrew Hore (NSW CEO)…

Some significant and potentially valuable changes will be made to the 2018 GPS, CAS and ISA rugby fixtures. KEY POINTS GPS, CAS and ISA schools will continue to play one round intra-association comps at the end of the season. The extended series of pre-season trial matches will be expanded to include all ISA, GPS and CAS schools. The scheduling of trial matches will focus on ‘grass roots’ needs. These include ensuring more matches are played between teams of similar ability and enabling schools, where possible, to play most of their games at the one venue. An ‘inter-association comp’ is not…

The Australian Schools Rugby Union has announced the additional players who’ve been added to the Australian Schoolboys and Barbarians teams for the Tri Nations series in October. The headline game will be the Test Match between Australian Schools and New Zealand Schools on Saturday 7 October. This eagerly awaited match, which has been won 5 times each in the last 10 meetings, will be broadcast live on Fox Sports and lived streamed on rugby.com.au and Facebook. Also participating in the series are the Fijian Schools team and the Australian Barbarians (previously known as Australia A). Look to both of these…

We thought it appropriate to add some special awards to the main AAGPS Season Review. Although all players were concerned most about contributing to the performance of their team, we thought there were lads who deserved special mention. SUMMARY OF AWARDS Player of the Year: Charlie Rorke (Riverview) Most Valuable Player: Angus Bell (Newington) Rising Star: Johnny Connolly (Kings) Match of the Year: Joeys vs Riverview – Round 5 (12/8/2017) Try of the Year: We’ve two – both finished by Ben Houston (Joeys #4) in Rounds 4 and 5 2017 GPS 1st XV – TEAM OF THE YEAR Here is…

The 2017 AAGPS Rugby Season has come to a close and Scots have won the School Challenge Trophy for the fifth consecutive season. In this season review, a group of regular GPS writers runs through the highlights and puts each teams’ performance under the microscope. A separate report has prepared that contains the Special Awards. THE SEASON By “Crackerjack” The shortened format of a one Round GPS Rugby Season had the effect of making the leading GPS Rugby schools play five mini-‘grand finals’ in a row to determine the 2017 Premiers. A lengthy “pre-season” of trial matches among the GPS…

Scots finished the season as undefeated premiers after beating Shore 45 to 7. But the match of the round (and possibly the season) was played at Hunters Hill. Joeys came from 12 points behind with nine minutes remaining to score three converted tries and claim the most unlikely of victories and 3rd place in the premiership. Kings bounced back from their heart-breaking round 4 loss with a comprehensive 59 to 21 win against Newington to place second overall. We will be publishing a full season review and our special awards later in the week – stay tuned. JOEYS V RIVERVIEW…

We thought it appropriate to add some special awards to the main CAS Season Review. Although all players were concerned most about contributing to the performance of their team, we thought there were lads who deserved special mention. SUMMARY OF AWARDS Player of the Year: Ben Donaldson (Waverley College) Most Valuable Player: Finn Wright (Waverley College) Rising Star: Billy Pollard (Barker College) Match of the Year: Barker vs Waverley – Round 3 (22/7/2017) We must also make special mention to the CAS 1st XV coaching group of Scott Coleman (Waverley), David Telfer (Aloysius) and Andrew Cleverly (Cranbrook) for orchestrating one…

The 2017 CAS season saw some cracking games, big defeats and everything in between. A group of regular CAS writers run through the key season highlights and how each team performed. They also make a bold prediction for season 2018. A separate report has been prepared that contains the Special Awards. SEASON OVERVIEW By “William88” 2017 saw the CAS rugby competition change back to a five week structure. While the competition embraces the change there was a continuation of some of the disparities of strength between schools we have seen in previous years. Knox, Waverley and Barker continued to put…

Waverley beat Knox 47 -17 to finish the CAS season undefeated and outright winners of the Henry Plume Shield. Barker claimed second spot, beating Cranbrook 63 – 10 and Trinity won a close fought match with Aloys 21 – 19. WAVERLEY V KNOX By “Waratahstowin” A classic, and much anticipated match-up loomed at Death Valley between Waverley and Knox. The result would determine whether the Henry Plume Shield would be shared by Waverley, Knox and Barker, or secured by Waverley alone. There was a solid crowd of approximately 5,000-6,000 surrounding the ground with a blustery breeze blowing from the South.…

Scots beat Kings 24 to 21 in a cliffhanger at Bellevue Hill to claim their fifth consecutive ‘School Challenge Trophy’ with one round remaining. Joeys played some scintillating rugby in their 47 to 24 disposal of Newington at Stanmore. Riverview beat Shore 47 to 21 at Lane Cove. Riverview now sit tied with Joeys in third place, setting up a cracker of a match this Saturday at Hunters Hill. SCOTS V KINGS By “Crackerjack” The penultimate match of a one round comp; a ‘decider’ for the only two undefeated teams; the chocolates all on the line; the stage perfectly set…

Kings and Scots won their respective round 3 matches and their round 4 clash, next Saturday at Bellevue Hill, will decide the premiership. But both teams had to work hard to ensure they remain in contention for the title. Scots only lead by three points with 10 minutes remaining, but came home strongly to defeat Newington 41 – 24 at Stanmore. Kings resisted a late Riverview revival to win 27 – 14 at Lane Cove. Joeys chalked up their first win for the season in a 10 try romp at Hunters Hill where they beat Shore 66 – 28. SCOTS…

Barker beat Knox 29 – 24 in the upset of the year that has really thrown the cat amongst the competition pigeons. In other games, Aloys beat Cranbrook 45 – 7 and Waverley accounted for Trinity 52 – 17. Waverley’s win puts them in outright first place and sets up an epic finish to the competition next week, when they host Knox at “Death Valley”. A win for the “Double Vee” of Waverly next Saturday will see them win the Henry Plume Shield as outright undefeated premiers. But a Knox win would see Knox share the premiership, three ways, with…

Barker and Waverley played an epic game that will be talked about for ages. In the end, only one point separated these two competition heavyweights and the victors, the “Double-Vee” from Waverley, now sit tied with Knox, at the top of the CAS table with two rounds remaining. In other matches, Knox beat Aloys 50 zip and Trinity stormed home in the second half to record a 31 – 10 win over Cranbrook. BARKER V WAVERLEY By Rod Skellet Two of the best teams in NSW schoolboy rugby put on a showcase today. This game was the epitome of how…

Kings and Scots remain undefeated after two rounds of the AAGPS competition. Kings claimed a hard-fought win over Joeys 22 – 18 at North Parramatta, while Scots ran in 11 tries to rack-up a 71 – 20 victory over Riverview at Bellevue Hill. Newington were just too good for Shore, winning the Northbridge clash 51 – 28. KINGS V JOEYS By “Armchair Selector” JS White field was in pristine condition for this highly anticipated encounter between Kings and Joeys. First half Joeys opened scoring courtesy of a Jack Quinn (8) penalty goal 2 minutes in. The Kings defence was penalised…

ACT won the Australian School Rugby Championships yesterday, beating Queensland II 30 – 11 at Sydney’s St Ignatius’ College. The title was the first for ACT since 1988 and only their fourth in the 43 years the tournament has been running. Queensland I beat NSW I in the third place playoff 29 – 24 in a thriller. Combined States claimed fifth place by accounting for NSW II 22 – 12 and WA’s 48 – 17 win over Victoria grabbed them seventh spot. Quick links Squads announced for Australian Schools and Australian Barbarians Schools Library of photos from Waverley Sports facebook…

ACT and QLD II have booked their place in Saturday’s final of the Australian School Rugby Championships after finishing top of their respective pools. ACT topped Pool B after winning all three preliminaries, while Queensland II won two from three and snuck into the big dance with an upset win against NSW I in their last Pool A match. Full details on all of yesterday’s games follow this schedule of Saturday’s playoffs. SATURDAY’S PLAYOFFS 8:45am WA vs VIC (7th place playoff) 8:45am Combined States vs NSW II (5th place playoff) 10:00am QLD I vs NSW I (3rd place playoff) 11:30am ACT vs QLD II (1st…