ACTJRU & ACT Schools XV - 2011
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BrumbiesPolynesian
Fred Wood (13)
Eddies Lost to Grammar? When was the last time that happened?
angrydog
Jimmy Flynn (14)
A long time ago I'm sure. Marist losing to Vikings, whats doing there? Since when have club sides been stronger than the schools down there? It seems the schools need to pull their finger out and improve their standards. I imagine that most of the Vikings players attend Erindale College or St Mary Mackillop and those schools cant be bothered to organise sides to enter in the comp.
FTS
Billy Sheehan (19)
Eddies lost to Grammar earlier in the season, and grammar did beat them last year which was a huge upset though. I think around 2005, Eddies beat grammar 120-0 and regularly put 100+ points on them.
Majority of Vikings players do attend Erindale, with a few at Mackillop, and a few out of school although still being u18 years of age.
angrydog
Jimmy Flynn (14)
Do you watch these games FTS? There seems to be something odd going on down there with Vikings leading DIV1 and Royals leading DIV2. When I played in the ASC years ago we only played clubs in the juniors and then in trials in the opens. Frankly, they were always crap. What is the cause of the improved standards of these clubs and the drop in standards of the schools (particularly Eddies and Marist)? Do you know any reason why Mackillop, Radford and Burghmann cant bring themselves to muster a 1st XV of some quality to make up a strong schools comp? Radford seems to have dragged the chain for years and seemingly refused to improve their standards which is very dissapointing. I would have thought it would be in the interests of clubs like Wests and Gungahlin to try and get into those schools and foster some promising players for their grade ranks later on. Any clues as to what is going on down there????
FTS
Billy Sheehan (19)
I do catch a lot of the first 15 games. I can't really account for why the schools have dropped their standards, but i will say that Vikings have been blessed with a very good player roster over the last 2 years from local public schools, also helped by being backed from Erindale College and Tuggeranong Vikings senior club. I think the reason why those schools can not get teams up and running is they have never been Rugby focused schools, and have no traditions and history, so starting a rugby culture would be a tough ask as it seems the rugby schools in the ACT are set and established.
Empire
Syd Malcolm (24)
As much as I'm dissapointed by the fall in standards by St Edmunds and others, credit should be given to Vikings for developing and expanding rugby in their local area.
St Edmunds was in need of a culture change, when I was there the attitude to aspects within the school other than rugby could be feral. As someone who enjoys books as well as footballs, I'm glad there is a greater focus on a schools bread and butter per se, but as mentioned the degradation of the Rugby programme is disappointing.
St Edmunds was in need of a culture change, when I was there the attitude to aspects within the school other than rugby could be feral. As someone who enjoys books as well as footballs, I'm glad there is a greater focus on a schools bread and butter per se, but as mentioned the degradation of the Rugby programme is disappointing.
This annoys me. Most of all because I play for Uni - Norths Under 16's in Division 1/1st Grade comp. We are currently coming 2nd place with 6 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss. 1 point off Marist for 1st place. We have scored the most points in the competition with 344, which equates to 43 a game and have conceded 86, which equates to 10 a game. As you can see we can score points and we can keep up with the private schools. The Top 4 at the moment of our competition is 1. Marist 2. Uni Norths 3. Eddies 4. Dara.
So think before you speak and try to say that we are undermining the tradition and what not. Who are you to say that kids shouldn't be able to play Rugby Union if they don't have the money to go to a private school?
I hope this changes your opinions of club teams.
For anyone who is interested here is links to the ACTJRU ladder and highlights of our Under 16 games on YouTube (you may not like the music):
http://actjru2.leaguerepublic.com/Index.do?division=6105046
vs Wests.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYKYSlIwNgQ&feature=channel_video_title
vs Trinity.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOceCbda0sE&feature=relmfu
vs Dara.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcJ3XpN1-jw&feature=relmfu
vs Vikings.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30g2l_RQsAQ
angrydog
Jimmy Flynn (14)
I did not say that kids who do not attend private schools should not be able to play rugby union. You comments dont change my mind at all. The private schools should play their own competition with each other and work together to make sure it is as strong as possible. This should be the case, especialy, at the U18 level. This is formerly how the competition was structured and it worked very well. As far as traditions that exist in private schools....well if you dont attend one then your not really in position to comment on those traditions.
Anybody who has followed ACT junior rugby for a long time would see very clearly that the standards of all the private schools is lower than it once was. My opinion is, despite your side seemingly being very succesful in their own division, that this decline in standards is due in part to playing against clubs sides on a regular basis that provide a lesser standard of rugby. I know people will argue that the clubs in recent years have been very succesful and knocked off the private schools. I would put that down to the fact that the schools standards have dropped as opposed to the culbs standards rising. You may disagree, I can live with that.
Anybody who has followed ACT junior rugby for a long time would see very clearly that the standards of all the private schools is lower than it once was. My opinion is, despite your side seemingly being very succesful in their own division, that this decline in standards is due in part to playing against clubs sides on a regular basis that provide a lesser standard of rugby. I know people will argue that the clubs in recent years have been very succesful and knocked off the private schools. I would put that down to the fact that the schools standards have dropped as opposed to the culbs standards rising. You may disagree, I can live with that.
So how are they supposed to play Rugby Union if they cant afford a private school? What make their own competition with 3 clubs.. Keep dreaming
.We're first place in Division 1 ahead of Marist, Eddies, Daramalan, Trinity, Grammar at the moment, and I'm hoping that we can stay like that..:yay
angrydog
Jimmy Flynn (14)
Thats exactly what should happen. There are more than three clubs and they would be able to run their own competetion without any problems at all. As far as not been able to afford these schools and all that rubbish, mate, seriously most people who play for the clubs attend the public schools either by choice or they attend other private schools like Mary Mackillop. Costs of these schools, with the exception of Grammar are not that high that they are unaffordable. Dont let this issue bother you so much, I have my opinion and you have yours. Good luck to you and your team in the semis. I just know that the old ASC comp was extremely strong and the schools produced far more Aussie schools reps etc etc between them than they do today. The ACT was very competitive at the state champs as opposed to these days where they are almost a second division standard.
We ended up losing our Semi to a great St Edmunds team 22-14. They played really well and got the better of us on the day. They did win the grandfinal in the end in a tight match with Dara 19-17 which is annoying seeing we beat Dara 36-21 in the regular season. But for the first time in a while i think Norths will have a 18 DIV 1 team next year so ill keep you posted.
For the grandfinal results over the weekend
15 DIV 1 : Eddies 29-19 Marist
16 DIV 1 : Eddies 19-17 Dara
18 DIV 1: Eddies 20 - 17 Marist
Merrow
Arch Winning (36)
schools sides vs club sides
The reason that the school competition merged with the club competition is that the headmasters of the private schools wanted more competition, after all it's a bit boring playing the same old sides week in, week out. I agree that Club sides are not as strong as they could be, but this could be due to the fact that some of the schools (who shall remain nameless) take the easy option of poaching the best players from the clubs, offering reduced or free school fees, while not developing their own players. The schools then complain that the clubs don't develop their own players enough to match the school sides. One of our club sides lost half their team to a school this year. Makes it hard to develop when this happens. I agree that the schools should have their own competition, but how about letting the kids from the private schools play for club sides where they started on the weekend. This might just raise the standard of rugby in the ACT.
The reason that the school competition merged with the club competition is that the headmasters of the private schools wanted more competition, after all it's a bit boring playing the same old sides week in, week out. I agree that Club sides are not as strong as they could be, but this could be due to the fact that some of the schools (who shall remain nameless) take the easy option of poaching the best players from the clubs, offering reduced or free school fees, while not developing their own players. The schools then complain that the clubs don't develop their own players enough to match the school sides. One of our club sides lost half their team to a school this year. Makes it hard to develop when this happens. I agree that the schools should have their own competition, but how about letting the kids from the private schools play for club sides where they started on the weekend. This might just raise the standard of rugby in the ACT.
angrydog
Jimmy Flynn (14)
The reason that the school competition merged with the club competition is that the headmasters of the private schools wanted more competition, after all it's a bit boring playing the same old sides week in, week out. I agree that Club sides are not as strong as they could be, but this could be due to the fact that some of the schools (who shall remain nameless) take the easy option of poaching the best players from the clubs, offering reduced or free school fees, while not developing their own players. The schools then complain that the clubs don't develop their own players enough to match the school sides. One of our club sides lost half their team to a school this year. Makes it hard to develop when this happens. I agree that the schools should have their own competition, but how about letting the kids from the private schools play for club sides where they started on the weekend. This might just raise the standard of rugby in the ACT.
Could not agree with you more about schools poaching kids from clubs. Thats is simply wrong and should not happen at all. As far as I know, and I may be wrong, only one school is in this practice and has been since I was at school years ago. Cant see how the school kids will ever get to play for their clubs as that would mean the schools comp would have to be played during the week which will never happen. They all go back to their clubs anyway when they leave school which is a good thing. I still maintain that ACT rugby was at its strongest when the private schools played in the ASC and the public schools/clubs in the CSC. They all played in the Waratah Shield (they were the days...before a certain unnamed school ruined it for everyone by poaching players and stacking their sides to the extent that NSW rugby did not want a bar of any ACT school ) and the ACT schools side was regularly strong at the state champs and produced many Aust schools reps. I think I am just old and the age of professionalism does not agree with me when it comes to rugby. It has its advantages but places like the ACT which have limited players bases any way have not benefited like the bigger states. The Brumbies have been great but how many juniors play or them, or get passed on to other states where they seem to flourish.
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