Newbie
Bill McLean (32)
Well I also decided to take a trip down to the nation’s capital to watch the rugby on Saturday and to state that I was disappointed would be a huge understatement. Not because of the rugby, on the contrary it was excellent. It was an entertaining display of running rugby. There was the ‘edge of your seat’ result in the Queensland v Barbarians game coupled with a NSW points festival! No, I was bitterly disappointed with the lack of promotion, which I think this tournament otherwise deserves!
I was also very dismayed at the complete lack of information available to those spectators who made (and will make) the effort to attend. Unlike ‘Australian Schools Programs’ (which always supply the relevant information of participating teams and the players – inclusive of game day player sheets, I can unequivocally assure all and sundry that the ‘2015 U/20’s Rugby Championship Program’ did not make its way into my throne room for perusal this Sunday morning. As a keen follower of junior representative rugby I found it disappointing to discover that there were no publically available ‘team run-on sheets’ for the games. Not even a crowd announcement acknowledging the teams. Maybe it was canned altogether because no-one can pronounce the Tongan and Fijian names correctly - lol!
Except for the players I know (and those with red hair – which by the way makes them go faster; just ask Ferrari), I didn’t have a clue as to who was who on Saturday! Very frustrating! I do know that the NSW U/20’s allocated numbers to their 25 player squad, but this was not how they took to the field! For example Jack Redden who played in the centres did not go out in the #16 jersey as announced on the NSWRU website. Better still I was sitting close to a local rugby mad married couple when I heard the wife mention that the NSW #19 Lukhan Tui looked nothing like a stereotypical ‘Scottish’ Hamish Dunbar. She was obviously referring to numbering published on the NSWRU website which she had accessed from her iphone … LMAO!
The ARU at least make the effort of profiling those selected for the Australian U/20’s on the ARU website each year, so pray tell, why NSWRU and QLDRU cannot do the same for their selections? Give these lads some recognition! In my opinion it is a huge honour to represent your state/province at any level of sport, especially a high profile Australian sport such as rugby. Are these same lads not the current generation of future Wallabies? Even the NRL clubs show their U/20’s this courtesy!
I do commend the ARU for inviting the Tongan and Fijian teams. Nevertheless, after speaking to several Tongan gentlemen at the game I am convinced that more could have been done to promote their participation. According to one of these gents Canberra has quite an extensive Tongan population, and he only knew of the Tongan games because he had a nephew playing. He held the view that the organisers could have engaged the local Tongan community who could have turned the Saturday NSW v Tonga game in something of a cultural festival if given the opportunity. I am sure the same would apply to the Fijian community as well.
Maybe I am being too harsh in my criticism, but is the under U/20’s National Championship not the showcase of our elite juniors who are trying to take that next step of trying to impress for a ‘Super Rugby’ contract. Or perhaps even an NRL contract? Did anyone else notice the very ‘conspicuous and keen eyed’ Peter Mulholland, the current ‘St. George Dragons’ recruitment manager, on the sidelines? I am sure he will not be only ‘Dark Side’ recruiter attending. Anyway I have rambled on enough. Here is my view of the games as I saw them!
Queensland v Australian Barbarian
As stated above I only caught the back end of this match, so I am not really in a place to give any feedback or commentary that can hold water. Admittedly by the time I arrived the game was on a knife edge. The last ten minutes were excitement plus as the lead see-sawed! Queensland only just got home in the end which made me consider how good the Baabaa’s could have been without the bruising encounter they had with Tonga not a day or so earlier. As most who have been associated with junior rugby championships in the past would know, it is the team that is able to ‘last the distance’ that eventually wins!
NSW v Tonga
After seeing the Tongan v Baabaas result on the ARU website, I thought it would be worth a trip. And the game didn’t disappoint either. On the back of a glutton of possession the NSW lads were very clinical and methodical in their approach to this game, which was eventually reflected on the scoreboard. The #12 (Redden) for NSW was clearly the ‘Man of the Match’ in my opinion. His vision and deft passing game was outstanding (especially for the #14 who scored like a 100 tries). The QLD and Baabaa’s team management will surely be aware of this aspect if they are smart enough to review the video footage.
Admittedly there is no such platform to deliver such good ball unless the ‘Piggies’ establish the same with good ‘go forward’ and NSW clearly did this in their game with Tonga. They dominated all the set pieces. I was very impressed with the NSW #6 who was into everything. If it was moving, he was launching into it! I believe it was the #6 who scored that great try in the first half with a marvellous burst through the centre of the field to score under the posts! I also noticed the NSW #2 in the thick of it for a good part of the match. As far as these lads were concerned it was to hell with self-preservation … lol!
Definitely worthy of mention were the NSW #10 (Deegan) and #11 (Jones). Both had solid games. The #10 delivered great ball all day (and even came back on the field at full-back after being replaced to continue his great game). The #11 (who seemed to have adopted a ‘Honey Badger’ junior look) made some good breaks. The ‘Red Headed Ferrari’ of the NSW team also chimed in with a scintillating 40-50m burst which, IMO, eventually led to the #9 scoring the try of the match!
Notwithstanding the good display of running rugby exhibited by the NSW lads they also gave away a fair few penalties, surprisingly some of these penalties were for obstruction while on attack – they kept getting in one and others way! The other penalties were for silly infringements at the break-down.
The Tongans who clearly looked tired from the ‘get-go’, and were interchanging before the ten minute mark of the game, admittedly exposed a few weaknesses in the defence of the NSW lads; especially their #8 who wreaked havoc with the NSW defensive line every time he got the ball. Such lapses generally led to Tongan tries. Admittedly three yellow cards didn’t help the Tongans (the #7 received two) but I am also left to wonder how much the Baabaa’s game took out of their tank? I did notice a few Australian born and/or bred lads among the Tongan team. Fasio Tatola (formerly of the NRL West Tigers and NSWRL U/18 representative) was one such player I recognised.
All in all a good effort from the NSW lads; but with plenty to work on I don’t expect they will rest on their collective laurels before their next hit out against the Baabaa’s tomorrow!
I was also very dismayed at the complete lack of information available to those spectators who made (and will make) the effort to attend. Unlike ‘Australian Schools Programs’ (which always supply the relevant information of participating teams and the players – inclusive of game day player sheets, I can unequivocally assure all and sundry that the ‘2015 U/20’s Rugby Championship Program’ did not make its way into my throne room for perusal this Sunday morning. As a keen follower of junior representative rugby I found it disappointing to discover that there were no publically available ‘team run-on sheets’ for the games. Not even a crowd announcement acknowledging the teams. Maybe it was canned altogether because no-one can pronounce the Tongan and Fijian names correctly - lol!
Except for the players I know (and those with red hair – which by the way makes them go faster; just ask Ferrari), I didn’t have a clue as to who was who on Saturday! Very frustrating! I do know that the NSW U/20’s allocated numbers to their 25 player squad, but this was not how they took to the field! For example Jack Redden who played in the centres did not go out in the #16 jersey as announced on the NSWRU website. Better still I was sitting close to a local rugby mad married couple when I heard the wife mention that the NSW #19 Lukhan Tui looked nothing like a stereotypical ‘Scottish’ Hamish Dunbar. She was obviously referring to numbering published on the NSWRU website which she had accessed from her iphone … LMAO!
The ARU at least make the effort of profiling those selected for the Australian U/20’s on the ARU website each year, so pray tell, why NSWRU and QLDRU cannot do the same for their selections? Give these lads some recognition! In my opinion it is a huge honour to represent your state/province at any level of sport, especially a high profile Australian sport such as rugby. Are these same lads not the current generation of future Wallabies? Even the NRL clubs show their U/20’s this courtesy!
I do commend the ARU for inviting the Tongan and Fijian teams. Nevertheless, after speaking to several Tongan gentlemen at the game I am convinced that more could have been done to promote their participation. According to one of these gents Canberra has quite an extensive Tongan population, and he only knew of the Tongan games because he had a nephew playing. He held the view that the organisers could have engaged the local Tongan community who could have turned the Saturday NSW v Tonga game in something of a cultural festival if given the opportunity. I am sure the same would apply to the Fijian community as well.
Maybe I am being too harsh in my criticism, but is the under U/20’s National Championship not the showcase of our elite juniors who are trying to take that next step of trying to impress for a ‘Super Rugby’ contract. Or perhaps even an NRL contract? Did anyone else notice the very ‘conspicuous and keen eyed’ Peter Mulholland, the current ‘St. George Dragons’ recruitment manager, on the sidelines? I am sure he will not be only ‘Dark Side’ recruiter attending. Anyway I have rambled on enough. Here is my view of the games as I saw them!
Queensland v Australian Barbarian
As stated above I only caught the back end of this match, so I am not really in a place to give any feedback or commentary that can hold water. Admittedly by the time I arrived the game was on a knife edge. The last ten minutes were excitement plus as the lead see-sawed! Queensland only just got home in the end which made me consider how good the Baabaa’s could have been without the bruising encounter they had with Tonga not a day or so earlier. As most who have been associated with junior rugby championships in the past would know, it is the team that is able to ‘last the distance’ that eventually wins!
NSW v Tonga
After seeing the Tongan v Baabaas result on the ARU website, I thought it would be worth a trip. And the game didn’t disappoint either. On the back of a glutton of possession the NSW lads were very clinical and methodical in their approach to this game, which was eventually reflected on the scoreboard. The #12 (Redden) for NSW was clearly the ‘Man of the Match’ in my opinion. His vision and deft passing game was outstanding (especially for the #14 who scored like a 100 tries). The QLD and Baabaa’s team management will surely be aware of this aspect if they are smart enough to review the video footage.
Admittedly there is no such platform to deliver such good ball unless the ‘Piggies’ establish the same with good ‘go forward’ and NSW clearly did this in their game with Tonga. They dominated all the set pieces. I was very impressed with the NSW #6 who was into everything. If it was moving, he was launching into it! I believe it was the #6 who scored that great try in the first half with a marvellous burst through the centre of the field to score under the posts! I also noticed the NSW #2 in the thick of it for a good part of the match. As far as these lads were concerned it was to hell with self-preservation … lol!
Definitely worthy of mention were the NSW #10 (Deegan) and #11 (Jones). Both had solid games. The #10 delivered great ball all day (and even came back on the field at full-back after being replaced to continue his great game). The #11 (who seemed to have adopted a ‘Honey Badger’ junior look) made some good breaks. The ‘Red Headed Ferrari’ of the NSW team also chimed in with a scintillating 40-50m burst which, IMO, eventually led to the #9 scoring the try of the match!
Notwithstanding the good display of running rugby exhibited by the NSW lads they also gave away a fair few penalties, surprisingly some of these penalties were for obstruction while on attack – they kept getting in one and others way! The other penalties were for silly infringements at the break-down.
The Tongans who clearly looked tired from the ‘get-go’, and were interchanging before the ten minute mark of the game, admittedly exposed a few weaknesses in the defence of the NSW lads; especially their #8 who wreaked havoc with the NSW defensive line every time he got the ball. Such lapses generally led to Tongan tries. Admittedly three yellow cards didn’t help the Tongans (the #7 received two) but I am also left to wonder how much the Baabaa’s game took out of their tank? I did notice a few Australian born and/or bred lads among the Tongan team. Fasio Tatola (formerly of the NRL West Tigers and NSWRL U/18 representative) was one such player I recognised.
All in all a good effort from the NSW lads; but with plenty to work on I don’t expect they will rest on their collective laurels before their next hit out against the Baabaa’s tomorrow!
