Australian Schoolboys & National Championship 2010

[tranquility]

Is Taumata a QC (Quade Cooper) clone?

 

[Hugh Jarse]

1 minute:
Bugger. Try to Darkness. James Lowe #13. Emery featured as well offloading inside ball in Hingaro tackle. Ruck Turnover 4 hands. Conversion success. Darkness 17 - Gold 3.
4 minutes Try Gold - Browning - Ugly try from Pick and go close in following Holland run down Right touchline. Holland again nearly over. Deceptive speed from this boy. Taumata missed conversion to the right. Score Darkness 17 - Gold 8

Our second lineout stuff up. Not looking too good when we go to the back. Darkness nearly scored but brought back for forward pass. Ref comes back for PK advantage. Perenara kicks Darkness = 20 Gold - 8.

4 phases upfield. Offside to Darkness. 18 metres out in front. Taumata success. Darkness 20 - Gold 11.
Gold sub - missed number but looks like Hooker Roach off for Jed Gillespie.
Try Gold. 11 - F-Sautia 30 metres out break tackle, step another, Under the posts. Conversion. Darkness 20 - Gold 18.

1st scrum 2nd half 14 minutes. Gold Feed.
Subs, Both Gold Front rowers off. Kite on and ??
18 minutes. Another R&M Turnover to Gold (now 7 to Gold 3 to Darkness). Kite not expecting ball knock on. Scrum darkness. Gold pushing too early FK to Darkness.
Try saver from Tom Cusack!. Ref back for advantage #14 lying on ball in ruck 3 metres out. PK success to Darkness 23 - 18.

Sopoangia #6 for Darkness and McGahan#10 looking sharp.

#23 Crock is on for Gold. Must have missed the sub.
Browning playing well making good yards - 9th phase stuffed up by forward pass to Crock. Would have been trytime if it was a fair ball.
10 minutes to go
PK from scrum penalty (Black feed). Gold scrum was strong to force PK. Taumata success with kick 28 metres out 10 metres to the left.
Score 23 Darkness, Gold 21.
Taumata off sub and Killingworth off sub. Connor on & #22 Wyllie on for Taumata
8 min to go.

#11 nearly scored for Darkness. Desperate tackle from Browning just managed to put him out. Lineout lost. Darkness hot on attack. Knockon to Darkness. Scrum Gold feed 8 metres out. FK from Scrum. Darkness call scrum - their feed. Browning on blind side flanker at scrum.

Try in corner to Darkness #21 - suspect game over . Perenara nailed conversion from sideline. NZ 30 Aust 21. 4 minutes to go.
Clinton Dale on for Donlan at #9.

2 minutes to go. PK to Gold 40 metres out. Lineout 22 out to Gold.
#8 Black gets key turnover to stop our pressure. 30 seconds to go.
Game over now. Darkness winding clock down.

Game over : Darkness 30 Gold 21.

 

[tranquility]

keep it up mate, I am following this progress from abroad

 

[PeterPiper]

What can you say, it want as if there was no warning.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Stats and some photos from game to follow.

Credit to the Darkness. Mini-Wobs had plenty of chances to win but Darkness pressure and defence too good. The score was a reasonably accurate reflection of the game, although IMHO a score of about 5 points or less to the Darkness would have been more representative of the play.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

NZ 30
Tries Lowe, Hall, Emery
Conv Perenara (c) 3/3
Pen Perenara (c) 3/4

Aust 21
Tries Browning, Feauai-Sautia
Con Taumata (1/2)
Pens Taumata (3/4)
DK Taumata (0/1)


Ball Control
NZ 44%
Aust 56%
Time in Op 1/2
NZ 42%
Aust 58%
Time in Op 22
NZ 5:52
Aust 6:14
Lineout win Own/opp
NZ 9/2
Aust 10/0
Turnovers won
NZ 14
Aust 16
Penalties won
NZ 6
Aust 7
7+ Phases
NZ 1
Aust 5
Ruck Mauls
NZ 51
Aust 76
R/M Turnover won
NZ 4
Aust 7
Pick and Drive
NZ 17
Aust 33
Broken Tackles
NZ 20
Aust 16
Line Breaks
NZ 7
Aust 2
Handling Errors
NZ 10
Aust 6
Total Kicks
NZ 19
Aust 22

Stats courtesy of NZ Rugby Channel

 

[Informer]

Great effort by all the boys, a lot closer than the AB's thought it would be. We definitely had our chances and I actually thought our forwards outplayed the kiwis. Mid field defence was probably our weakness plus a bit of aimless kicking early on, with our pressure at the breakdown our biggest strength. The back row worked well together, I was impressed with Wells who has taken every opportunity after playing GPS thirds. Browning was absolutely outstanding as was Holland. The centre combination simply did not gel either in defence or attack, with Apo missing a number of tackles and caught with the ball in hand too many times. I would love to have seen Sautia get the ball, the kid can motor.

 

[ikaletahi]

HJ - fantastic coverage. Any word on any standouts from Ozzie or players that provided most impact?
apologies if you have already mentioned this...

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Man of the Match

Man of the Match was Tupou Sopoaga from Wellington College NZ.

Apparently plays #8 but was open side today for the Darkness. I wonder if he is related the last years Darkness #10 Lee Grant has previously warned us about.

This kid impressed me in the interview. "I will take things as they come. I just want to focus on getting into university" .

My MOM from the Australians was Browning.

 

[I like to watch]

Informer, agree with most of what you say. There were a few missed tackles in the 10 12 channel, however I believe the 2 selected were the best defenders in these positions.Apo played his normal game. He can't be criticised for playing the same style that got him selected into the side.It is just not as effective as the standard rises.
All the kids should hold their heads high, I really can't think of 1 kid that played poorly.They came close to beating a very good football side.
good luck to all those coming back to the HSC.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Australian Tries

Credit for Browings try goes to the Holland burst down the Right Wing.

F-Sautia try was solo effort from 30 metres out after sustained Aust pressure.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Apologies to anyone who's name I have typed incorrectly. Not intentional.

I thought our lads played with distinction, and never really gave up. The stats show how close the game was, and in many respects could have been won by the Golden ones.

If I have one criticism, I think we seemed to lose a bit of cohesion when the bench came on. Front row subs seemed to work Ok although Kite took a bit to warm up, but made good contributions after that. Back row subs needed to be made because the starters worked themselves to a standstill.
Back line subs seemed to take a bit too long to settle down.

Very hard to single anyone out, but Browning, Cummings, Holland, Killingworth, Cusack, Donlan seemed to have good games.

Lots of great work in the tackle contests, rucks and mauls by the Golden Piggies.

 

[skullring]

Browning most impressive forward- plays like Schalk Burger, Holland most impressive back. The stats show that the boys may have been a bit unlucky today, as they had the better of the kiwis in territory and posession, and halftime whistle blew when they had been camped on the Black's 5m line for quite some time, but that's rugby for you.
NZ just seemed more skilful in the backs in general, running the ball just appeared to come so naturally to their whole team, and by golly wasn't that long haired number 3 a big whopper of a boy. Makes it seem all the more impressive that our scrum seemed to get the better of theirs, apart fro m the odd loose ball at the back.
Their captain, the halfback will no doubt make super 15 in the next 2-3 years.

 

[observer]

Great effort by all the boys, a lot closer than the AB's thought it would be. We definitely had our chances and I actually thought our forwards outplayed the kiwis. Mid field defence was probably our weakness plus a bit of aimless kicking early on, with our pressure at the breakdown our biggest strength. The back row worked well together, I was impressed with Wells who has taken every opportunity after playing GPS thirds. Browning was absolutely outstanding as was Holland. The centre combination simply did not gel either in defence or attack, with Apo missing a number of tackles and caught with the ball in hand too many times. I would love to have seen Sautia get the ball, the kid can motor.

Everything Informer has said I wanted to say. I was proud of the Aussie effort today - particularly the forwards who outplayed the NZ 8. I was going to criticise the selection of Wells but I'm glad I held fire because the boy played a blinder. But so did the rest of his mates in the pack. Cummins played the best game I've seen him play. Killingworth at 7 was outstanding. The work at the breakdown was technically correct and absolutely ruthless. Scrums was good - lineout ordinary.

Wasn't it a shame we could not have made better use of all the ball we had? We seemed to be deprived of any fluid backline movement of the football. Shame really as Holland looked on fire as did his mates catching a cold on the wing.

 

[Lee Grant]

That was a good display by the lads from both sides and all their connections should be proud of them.

Some random thoughts on the game, mostly from an Oz point of view, and in no order of importance:

• We should always be circumspect about assessing our players too highly, and also the Oz Schools team, until they play the Kiwi lads as they will ever be the benchmark. We see the All Blacks reveal weaknesses in the Wallabies all the time but with the schoolboys, with new crops of lads each year, it is a bit of a shock to those of us who watch schools rugby on a regular basis, to see some of the lads, or units of the team, found wanting.

• The defence of the Oz midfield was deplorable as slippery Kiwi 13 Lowe and his successor in the position were either running around Oz 12 Apo or inside 13 Hingano - in fact Mali missed two tackles in one move. The centres, who I thought would be the strength of the team, had a few good individual moments on attack but it's a game they won't remember with fondness. Quite a few of the 17 missed tackles at oranges were attributable to them.

• The throwing to the lineout of 2. Roach was the worst I have seen from him. He will be disappointed with his game but he is too good a player to be down too long methinks.

• It's a pity that Oz got to the line a few times and were stopped in the last gasp, but to be honest the score could have blown out if the passing of the Kiwis was better. The ball work of both teams was below the average of these contests.

• It was good to see the work of the Oz boys at the breakdown , and not just from the backrowers. I wish their elders could counter-ruck as well.

• I am glad that folks who don't watch much schools rugby got a chance to see winger CFS score that try with some degree of insouciance as it is typical whenever he gets the ball, which is not enough. He was just as good playing 13 in the Open tournament this year by all accounts. This is the lad who was the starting wing for Oz Schools last year at age 15. Watch this space.

• 15 Holland had a top game also, so watch this space on him being in the Brumbies stable soon. If you think he's a good fullback he is a top 13 as well.

• Lock Cummins had the best game I have seen him play. The commentator sad the Oz skipper was 205cms and 110kgs. I'm not sure that he's that tall but he's a terrific talent and was already playing 1st grade Colts for WH in his spare time.

• The other lock Browning was the best Oz player IMO. I wrote about him extensively last year when he made Oz A Schools at 15 years old. Expect to see his name as the no.8 for the Reds in a few years time. Putting pressure on the young bloke? He doesn't know what it is. His only bad moment was an inaccurate pass from the top of the lineout which led to a NZ try IIRR, but otherwise he was class. [PS - have just read skullring's remark about him playing like a Schalk Burger. It's spot on.]

• It was good to see 3. Kite get a run from the bench. Hard bastard. He had been injured and missed out on the original Oz Schools team but got a run in the President's XV and was dynamite.

• I saw Glen Jackson referee in the ITM Cup last weekend and he was good today too. It's a great idea for NZ rugby to fast track ex-players. Used to like a chat though Glen; so I wonder how he will cop it.

• When I wrote about the U/20 final this year I mentioned that the Oz team had some good dogs in their team but the Kiwis had wolves. When the provinces get hold of the Kiwi schoolboys we saw today you won't recognise them in a couple of years time - and they will likely have more lads who didn't make their national schools team, as our selection process is better. Our lads will improve also but typically they don't make the same progress.

The sooner Oz rugby can bridge this gap in the transition of players to senior rugby, the better.

But I digress.

 

[en_force_er]

A few points:

• Feel free to disagree but I thought the reffing was just terrible, wrong and missed calls everywhere. Little knock-ons aplenty and there were a whole heap of high tackles that weren't called even though the ref saw fit to call one at the start of the game. It's probably more the assistants' fault then Jackson's but I still felt it was sub standard and the Aussies got the worst of it (bad luck I guess).
  
• That Curtis character is something special, I know the Qld schools system is a year younger then the other states so what is he doing next year? He obviously needs to make a switch to 6/8 or front row (like Tilse). To be honest, playing him at lock this long is probably impeding his developement.
  
• That Holland guy is awesome, clearly a bit behind the 8 ball in terms of size though. Get him into a conditioning program fast or like many late physical developers he will slips through the cracks of the Aussie rugby system.

 

[en_force_er]

• The other lock Browning was the best Oz player IMO. I wrote about him extensively last year when he made Oz A Schools at 15 years old. Expect to see his name as the no.8 for the Reds in a few years time. Putting pressure on the young bloke? He doesn't know what it is. His only bad moment was an inaccurate pass from the top of the lineout which led to a NZ try IIRR, but otherwise he was class. [PS - have just read skullring's remark about him playing like a Schalk Burger. It's spot on.]

He certainly has the build and aggression to make a good prop as well as a loosey.

I haven't seen enough of his games to understand why he found himself at lock, was it as an excuse to have a 4th loosey in the side or was it because he is too slow for the loose forwards?

He found himself scrummaging on the TH side of the locks so I can presume he is rated as a scrummager which might lend itself to a conversion to the front row but then again his lineout work was for the most part impressive.

 

[Lee Grant]

In the last 2 years Qld school rugby has been short of tall timber so he had to play lock for them last year and this. I believe it was the same at his school BSHS who used him in the 2nd row in the interest of getting all the good players in the pack, and lo and behold it's the same in Oz Schools this year.

Everybody and his dog knows he's going to be a senior 8, or at worst a 6, and I wouldn't worry about his playing in the 2nd row impeding his development; he will be on a fast track. If anything, I believe his schoolboy time as a lineout jumper and TH lock will do him no harm at all.

As for Holland: I am sure that the Brumbies have a programme for him - and have had at least as early as last year when he was carving breaks as a 13 for ACT Schools.

 

[PeterPiper]

There has been a bit of criticism of the 12/13 combo and I also previously have said as much. This is a game we not only could have won but should have won - had we played to our strengths. In strengths I mean the four very capable and may I say electric outside backs of CFS, petaia, Crook and Holland.
Every training session has involved wide expansive play involving all of these players and at training there is no sign of Apo's predelection for taking it alone, however from the very first game the warning bells were ringing very loudly. The ball was simply dying with him and he rarely actually broke the line with significant gain.
Today as was the case last Saturday against Tonga he simply refused to pass the ball or acknowledge there are capable players outside of him.
This is something that the coaching staff should have tackled from the get go and today we saw what might have been. Every time Apo was cut out or not in the line - the ball went wide and when it did we actually looked more than capable of doing something positive.
Sadly, it was not to be and I hope that somehow a reminder bell can ring next year whenever they look at the players - not what they do but what the impact of doing what they do has on the rest of the play. For 7 games now that one single player has shut off a very potent attack.
Significantly today in the crowd finally the Aussie supporters were getting vocal and the calls were loud - 'cut him out' or the perennial 'pass it'. Even the Kiwi supporters were dumbfounded as to why he crashed it up ALL BUT TWICE - that's it folks - 2 passes from him all game and one was forward.
Yes we can blame him for a bit hole in the attack but we also blame the coaches for not doing something positive about it from the start.

 

[Lee Grant]

Yeah he was greedy with the ball wasn't he? You find this a lot with elite schools inside centres who are used to having more time to act for their school but playing against Kiwi schools they get ball and tackler at the same time unless they are light handed. Hingano didn't get much good ball and nether did the wings.

Before the NSW Ones team was picked I doubted that Apo and Mali could combine well as their play seemed likely to be unsuited to one another. It turned out they were picked in different NSW teams but my fears have been realised for Oz Schools.