Search results

I like this idea - and as you mention GS, the U/15 and U/17 JRU comps straddle the existing Oz Schools U/16 championships. The lads who play only for their school get their pathway through the various school association rep games and the national championship, and the best get in the two Oz...

wj I saw Gaff coaching the backs at Victoria Barracks in closed sessions a few times whist Foley was doing lineout drills and he, Gaffney, was also doing generic stuff near The Loop with the backs. Hardly any of the sessions of either were high class stuff at VB. I noticed the lineouts in...

I wonder if Gaffney was not a Randwick man, as Cheika is, and didn't have some history with him, if he would not be out also. The players like the grumpy backs coach but he didn't get the backs playing well in 2012 did he? Let's see though. .

They are all good Sydney club players. Manu has the most promise having just turned 22 and able to play on both heads, at least in club rugby. It was a coup to keep him in the EPS but if he is as good as I think he is, he will have to get a full contract in 2014 or the Force will lose him...

I can't answer that - and I don't know why they stopped the state U/19 games either. I've got an old team sheet from 2005 and Higginbotham, Beau R and Dennis played in it - and a few weeks earlier NSW U/19 had played Canterbury and Otago. That's the kind of programme you want at the tail end...

He was hurt before that a lot wasn't he Ron - or perhaps I am mistaken.

etc etc Bardon - you have done some outstanding writing on the HC in this thread. I wondered why you never gave credit to the source of the preview posts you did and it finally dawned on me that it was original stuff. The match reports are terrific too. I have just had time to view all the...

It's the luck of the draw for Oz Schools players: they have a Europe tour every 4 years. Apart from that they have a Pacific tour every 2 years but it doesn't coincide with the Europe tour year. When there is not a Pacific tour, NZ and another team comes to Oz: last year it was England and...

So Salesi Manu, the 2012 Force rookie of the year, does not have a full contract and yet they got to keep him in the west? That's a good trick and good luck to the Force for pulling it off because I rate him at his age - though it won't be until a few years down the track that we can assess him...

That's a good CV for a physio - let's hope the Force are saved from a butcher's bill. The Force seems to have recruited some good coaching and support staff. The best appointment may be "Chook" Fowler: he is exactly the type of off-sider that Michael Foley needs.

Top player; I thought that the Oz Schools goose was cooked when he and Rorke got crocked and couldn't tour to NZ this year. I have had high hopes for other Oz Schools centres in recent years, but things haven't turned out as I thought; but Foketi looks like someone who can make his mark after...

Some good stuff in that post stoff, and I have quoted just a portion of it. I think that Melbourne's recruitment disadvantage will be diluted over time but that Perth will always be affected by the Nullabor factor. The Brumbies will always have access to Sydney players and they won't stay in...

Yeah - the Wagga lad is a country member of the forum. Wasn't as quick of the mark as touchie at Hunters Hill back in the day - he was deceptively slow. .

Good idea, but I would give it a wrinkle. Ignoring the dispensation that the Rebels have with foreigners, for the moment, I would give the foreigner quotas of the 3 other teams to the Force and the Rebels for a period of 5 years and see how that works; then renew it if appropriate Thus the...

Lucas is in the EPS and will be 3rd string behind McKibbin and Hart. Ostensibly the EPS fellows should be used behind healthy contracted players in front of them but last year Rafferty's Rules seemed to apply. Whatever - squads are reluctant to use EPS players if contracted players aren't...

Exactly right speckie. Lucas' backups Lewis Holland and Allan F are not at his level, and good playmakers who are not already nabbed by Super teams are not queuing up at Centrelink. I'd like to see some young scrummie like Tim Donlan and Waldo Wessells in Sydney given a go, but have no idea...

That was a poor 1st half by the lads against Argentina and most of the problems were unforced. Some of the same guys who played well earlier in the calendar year would not be happy with their skill level on Day 2. This team has some deficiencies as mentioned earlier in the thread but if they...

You missed the point: you said: I have heard ... which was hearsay, literally, and indicated that you did not have first hand knowledge. If you did have first hand knowledge you should have said so, or said you heard from a player; you wouldn't have had to mention a player, or some players, by...

Yeah - all born in Wellington Hospital. Good one Lindommer - my ploy of mentioning Auckland, making folks think of NZ, did not work..

A pity that Kenya beat Oz this afternoon. Our lads didn't play that well and you could see that the reserves when they came on were not at the same level as the starters. In the first Kenya try Allan F, who has been playing well on attack came in for a 2 on 1 tackle instead of keeping on his...