Good morning all and I hope we all enjoyed the Rugby at Ballymore yesterday.What a pity the caterers ( I guess that's what they thought they were ) couldn't match the quality of the games.In their defence though,not too many of them are aware that the quality of food at Boarding Schools has improved over the years ( remember the Finals haven't been in Qld for some time ) and they wrongly assumed that you can serve anything up to kids and they will devour it.Gee,the Head of Catering at TSS was head-hunted to supervise the food at the Athletes Village at Beijing so maybe they should speak with him !!
Can one of you learned men/women out there help me to understand why I can access this site and get the Oz Schoolboys team but when i go to the Oz Schoolboys web-site I can't find it anywhere!!! Maybe they are de-briefing the cooks??
Back to the footy and there were some great moments yesterday.I thought the Qld wingers were very good,some great finishing from the Qld 11 in the Qld 2 team(did he make the Scholboys Team ?),not too many outstanding performances,perhaps apart from that last try by Crook when he absolutely "scorched " the NSW defence,the light-stepping #10 from NSW,the Qld 2 #11 scoring the winning try in th ecorner,great determinationand pace.I guess the "stage" that these boys are playing might inhibit heir natural skills ( the fear of failure rearing its head) adn we don't get to see their "real" talents on show.Perhaps it also has something to do with playing instructions.I was fortunate enough to watch the trial match between Brisbane State High and The Southport School ( no I don't have a son there),and it was probably one of the best games I have EVER had the pleasure to watch.It was counter-attack after counter-attack from both sides and running the ball from deep in defence.Yet,at these trials and many others,you will see boys kick the ball from a scrum/ruck/maul in their own 22 even though they may have a considerable overlap and the opportunity to run! Oh well,,there are big stakes on offer I suppose.
Having said that,well done to all the boys that participated,to those that were chosen for higher rep honours and I hope that the lads ( all those shoulders !!) that sustained injuries have speedy recoveries.
A plea to all now.It has been enjoyable contributing ( as little as I did ) to this forum and I hope that now the Championships have concluded the same level of sensible comment can be maintained throughout the rest of the relevant scholboy comps.
Good luck to all