Author: Snort

Going into the final day of the CAS competition, there were three possible results – a win to Waverley, a win to Knox, or a shared title. In the event, the title was shared, and that seemed like the right outcome. Twice, Knox conceded big leads to Waverley and once, they hauled the game back. In truth, they were evenly matched teams, although with very different strengths. . . Knox was a powerful combination, forged from a big, fit and tough forward pack of which second-rower Nick Frost was a critical component, while back-rowers Milan Basson and Hugh Margin were…

On a sodden, windy day only one CAS 1st XV match was played, with Cranbrook visiting Trinity at Summer Hill. The team that beat both its rival and the wretched conditions would stake a strong claim for a top-three finish this season. First half Cranbrook kicked off and Trinity simply watched the ball bounce into touch. There was too much of this sort of thing from the home side – unforced errors at restarts and miscommunication between full back and wingers when the ball was kicked high. The swirling wind, which tended to favour Trinity in the first half, did…

. Barker had a shocker last week and were expected to struggle against Waverley who put Cranbrook away. Aloys, who thrashed Barker, had a sneaky chance against favourites Knox.  Last year’s champions Cranbrook were having a lean season and would have to play their best to beat Trinity who had good moments against Knox. How would Round 4 pan out? Trinity v Cranbrook It is written that the first shall be last and the last shall be first, and so it came to pass at Summer Hill on Saturday. Cranbrook scored first, about five minutes into the game, and crossed…

One of the best things about the Associated Schools Rugby competition is how even it is – over the last seven years, five of the six schools have claimed the Plume Shield. Generally, the schools with the most players and the best resources do well, but any school that can muster a talented group of players in one age group has a decent shot. This year’s competition looks close, too – the kind in which any team can beat any other on the right day. There is, a standout favourite for the title – Knox – but the other sides…

by “Snort” It was 1994 when Cranbrook last got its hands on the Plume Shield. Remember 1994? Paul Keating was Prime Minister; John Fahey was Premier of NSW; Cathy Freeman was a star at the Commonwealth Games; and Australia tried out a new scrum-half, one George Gregan, in a Test against Italy in Brisbane. Twenty years is a long time between drinks but, Cranbrook being Cranbrook, the drinks will be of excellent quality, and they’ll go down even better for having been cellared for a while. There’s an uncharitable point of view being expressed in certain quarters that Cranbrook…

Competition for the Henry Plume Shield opens on Saturday, and since the talent seems to be more evenly distributed through the Associated Schools than it has been in recent years, we are set for a close and interesting competition. In 2013 Barker was the team to beat from the outset and although Waverley furnished a strong challenge, Barker’s premiership surprised nobody. Of those  two teams: Barker looks a little weaker and Waverley is significantly weaker.  Knox, a third contender, has enjoyed an impressive pre-season but it doesn’t look unbeatable. Since the ten-round, home and away competition was introduced in 2009,…

Trinity 30  —  Waverley  22 By “Snort” The scenario Waverley arrived at Summer Hill with a plan that ran something like this – hand out a Rugby lesson to an underwhelming Trinity team, then wait for Knox to upset Barker in the last round for the second year in succession. The outcome would then be a split premiership, with Barker and Waverley both winning nine games from ten. Well, that was the plan. It had just one or two imperfections. First, it relied on Knox holding up their end of the bargain. But also, as I’ve said before, the…

Trinity 23 — Cranbrook 18    by “” Snort”” What a weekend for school Rugby: a critical, top-of-the-table clash between Barker and Waverley, and a titanic meeting of Newington and Scots in the GPS competition. So, naturally, I was at Rose Bay watching third play sixth in the CAS competition. Well, the whole point of grass roots Rugby is to go where you belong, whatever the standard of the play. Also spotted on the sideline was University legend Brian Burnett who, like me, could have been watching his old club’s army of Super Rugby stars put 64 points on…

Our insiders preview of CAS Schoolboy Rugby 2013: we where as the question can Barker be beaten?

First, a little history… The Athletic Association of the Great Public Schools formed in 1892. Its members, by April 1892, included King’s, St Ignatius, St Joseph’s, All Saints Bathurst, Shore, Sydney Grammar, Newington, St Stanislaus, St Patrick’s Goulburn and the finest school in all of Lithgow, Cooerwull Academy. Scots joined in 1893, the Armidale School in 1897, and Sydney High in 1906. Over time, the country schools dropped out (except for TAS) — Cooerwull shut down altogether because, legend has it, all of its staff enlisted to serve in the First World War. By the end of the First World…

Thought I was done for the season, but one or two people have commented that my reports haven’t dealt evenly with every school. Which is true. So here, as evenly as I can, is my end of term report for the Associated Schools competition. Barker Rating: 9 snorts out of 10. Premiers with just one defeat. Star: Tom Wilson. Mobile, aggressive hooker, who didn’t shirk his job in the tight or in the set pieces. Presentable goal kicker. Well-deserved selection for Australian Schools. Best moment: Grinding out a 25-15 win over Trinity in the Hornsby mud – a victory over…

And so Barker stumbled at the last hurdle, dropping a comfortable half-time lead to lose to

Saturday’s closing round of the Associated Schools competition is a classic dead rubber. Barker could get pounded insensible by Knox (they won’t) and still be the premiers. Nothing can dislodge Waverley from second place. Cranbrook play St Aloysius to see whether the wooden spoon will be held by both of them or just by Cranbrook. So, on the surface, nothing to get anyone very excited. And yet, and yet. Look a little closer and you’ll see plenty of interesting possibilities. Barker/Knox is a local derby which always arouses strong partisan feelings. Barker will be working to keep its unbeaten record…

Barker clinched the 2012 Henry Plume Shield with a clinical 32-5 win over a sadly depleted Trinity at Summer Hill on Saturday. Barker 32 def. Trinity 5 Barker’s five-tries-to-one victory maintained its unbeaten record in the competition and, with one round to play, put it beyond the reach of second-placed Waverley, despite Waverley’s romp to victory over St Aloysius. Saturday’s game was a showcase for the qualities that have earned Barker a thoroughly well-deserved premiership. The team’s two great strengths were control of the breakdown and tremendous defence. At every tackle, Barker had forwards present in numbers. There are more…

On Saturday, there was only one place to be if you were a disinterested rugby follower with an eye on the Associated Schools competition. Unbeaten, top-of-the-table Barker was at home to its last plausible challenger, Waverley: a classic battle between a disciplined forward pack and a dangerous backline. But rugby supporters, even when we’re objective, aren’t disinterested. We don’t look at fixture lists and ask, what’s the best game on this afternoon? We go to watch people run around who wear the same socks we used to wear. How else to explain all those hours I spent on the sidelines…

If you’re old enough, you’ll remember the frustration of watching the Wallabies in the early 1980s. The Wallabies had a dream backline (Carson or Cox at half, Mark Ella, Hawker and O’Connor in the centres, Moon and maybe Grigg on the wings, Roger Gould at full back). They actually didn’t play together all that much, but they were good enough to take apart anyone in the world. If they got the ball in their hands. And that was where the frustration came in, because although the back row was always good (Poidevin, Loane, Shaw, Cornelson) the tight five was often…

What to make of the season so far? Mention 1964 to any baseball fan and at once they’ll mention the Phillies. The Phillies didn’t win the 1964 World Series – in fact. they didn’t even get there. But with ten games left in the regular season, they led the National League pennant race by six games – a virtually unblowable lead which, of course, they managed to blow, thereby writing themselves into history as the most incompetent finishers of all time. Unless Barker were to lose the Plume Shield this year, in which case we would have a new contender.…

The word before the game was that Knox was under-strength, without captain (and Combined States hooker) Sam Kitchen, NSW Seconds centre Liam Creeley and flanker Andrew Seton. The pack was reshuffled, with Angus Bownes coming in as hooker and Brett Van Zyl coming up from the 16As. No8 Oliver Nutbeen stepped up as captain. But actually it was Trinity that had the really serious injury problems. From the regular side, prop Junior Satiu (NSW 2nd XV), second rower Malaki Tiumalu-Afele and No8 Ola Moala (both CAS 2nds) were all missing. Why, I don’t know (like I said, this isn’t where…