Really glad LG had the note pad out yesterday, i got most of the name down, but didn't recognise some! After watching the garbage last night, i'm glad i got my local fix of NSW rugby yesterday.
The U20's looked very slick after weathering an early storm. You would have to think with the inclusion of Kellaway and Harry Jones out wide, if the NSW forwards can hold up to the likes of QLD and the southerners, the outside backs will be just to good. Kellaway and Jones made the Southern districts outside backs look average on more than one occasion, receiving great service from the 10, and great support from the 12 and 13.
In the forwards, the monster lock (Lukan?) got in plenty of big hits, but was quiet elsewhere, with Sandell being very industrious, supported ably by McCalman. Croke had a ripper of a game, scoring one of the most determined tries in the opposite corner to where i was standing. His Northern Suburbs teammates were very encouraging as he scored right in front of their tent. Kamp the 8 played well, although looks to lack a bit of size, but he certainly goes in hard.
The fluency in the second term was down a bit, with the backs having alot less impact than against southern, however the forwards worked very hard. The replacement 7 (Dunbar) was very strong, but will probably play second fiddle to McCalman, who was very good all day. The replacement lock (Kellaway 2) got through a mountain of work including 2 big midfield breaks, if only he had the footspeed of His brother, he would have been in for 2 long range tries, alas, not to be, but gave great offload ball and was a major pest in that midfield region. Both hookers were strong, and all of the centres played well for the day.
From an end game perspective, i think the coaches will be very happy with the hitout, especially the way the first half side continuously broke apart a very strong souths outfit, i smell a game plan of get it out wide and let the Hutchisons, Kellaway's & Jones' loose on their counterparts one on one! The outside backs from the opposition teams will need to be working over time on these boys, they were very very slick! The back row stocks look very good, the one weakness if you had to find one is the depth and impact the locks will have, with the likes of N Kellaway & Hanigan playing very loose, a lot will depend on Lukan & Williams giving some go forward. the front row look to be able to assist in the tight work with Sandell the man to lead the charge in this department as head of the tight 5.
Very promising stuff, and i imagine some very happy coaches after that one.
On the SS front, Norths need to start worrying now, they looked very out of sorts yesterday with minimal impact in either game, including against a souths team who were backing straight up for a second 40 against a fresh norths team. Not looking good for the shoremen!