CAS 2019

[Snort]

Logic says Knox should beat Cranbrook. But here’s the thing. I don’t think Cranbrook can win the competition but I do think they have an upset in them. It could be quite a night.

 

[Retired FootyHead]

I know it's only early in the week and teams/injuries haven't been publicised yet. But. My tip is that coming off last weeks huge win for Knox, they will be more than ready to towel Cranbrook up under lights and send a message to the rest of CAS that they aren't here to lick stamps and sent postcards. With Cranbrook having such a light pre-season, I'm not too sure how they will handle the boys in Black and Blue come Friday Night.

As far as match-ups go, IMO Knox's front row as a collective is certainly something that Cranbrook will have to keep an eye out for, with all three players (1. McDonald, 2. Grobler, 3. Kablau) being not only big, but extremely physical. Quite frankly, I'm not all too sure if Cranbrook will be able to keep these three from busting holes and doing damage around the breakdown, which will allow their notorious backrow (6. Cheal 7. Breden 8. Gratwicke) to wreak havoc at the breakdown and constantly keep the boys from Bellevue Hill on their toes. Knox's forward pack will be the difference between going home empty handed, and taking it all due to how strong their set piece is, with one of the the most powerful packs in Sydney Schoolboys Rugby, their scrum is almost untouchable, and all are strong runners and ferocious in defence.

Hopefully it isn't a blow-out because I'd love to see a repeat of the Waverley match, solid footy right up until the final whistle but unfortunately I can't see it happening.

Prediction: Knox by 20+ due to the sheer power of their forward pack as a whole, and the slickness of their backs which I don't think Cranbrook will be able to match.

"J Dog Fenton"

 

[WLF]

Actually there is a race-based comment in this discussion that I thought would cause uproar. Why aren’t all the Waverley Irish up in arms about the designation “backgrounds other than English”?

Snort, my future defense of you is over, the gloves are off!

 

[WLF]

I know it's only early in the week and teams/injuries haven't been publicised yet. But. My tip is that coming off last weeks huge win for Knox, they will be more than ready to towel Cranbrook up under lights and send a message to the rest of CAS that they aren't here to lick stamps and sent postcards. With Cranbrook having such a light pre-season, I'm not too sure how they will handle the boys in Black and Blue come Friday Night.

As far as match-ups go, IMO Knox's front row as a collective is certainly something that Cranbrook will have to keep an eye out for, with all three players (1. McDonald, 2. Grobler, 3. Kablau) being not only big, but extremely physical. Quite frankly, I'm not all too sure if Cranbrook will be able to keep these three from busting holes and doing damage around the breakdown, which will allow their notorious backrow (6. Cheal 7. Breden 8. Gratwicke) to wreak havoc at the breakdown and constantly keep the boys from Bellevue Hill on their toes. Knox's forward pack will be the difference between going home empty handed, and taking it all due to how strong their set piece is, with one of the the most powerful packs in Sydney Schoolboys Rugby, their scrum is almost untouchable, and all are strong runners and ferocious in defence.

Hopefully it isn't a blow-out because I'd love to see a repeat of the Waverley match, solid footy right up until the final whistle but unfortunately I can't see it happening.

Prediction: Knox by 20+ due to the sheer power of their forward pack as a whole, and the slickness of their backs which I don't think Cranbrook will be able to match.

J Dog,

I was very upfront about how well Knox played v the Waves and well and truly deserved their win, no question at all.
But IMO the Waves played their worst game all year, and of course you play as well as your opposition let you, but in many cases the opposition had nothing to do with it.

This Knox team is pretty good but no where near as good as the winning teams in 2017 and 2018, nor the Knox team of 2017.
This is NOT a juggernaut team by any stretch.
I do believe the Barker pack, in particular, will probably prove too good for Knox, so careful about 1 win.
Can Cranbrook beat Knox, don't know, probably not, and maybe that's due to a weak pre-season.Time will tell.

Across the board I believe there have been much stronger teams in recent years, not that it matters now, except that this comp is still wide open, imo.

 

[Snort]

Snort, my future defense of you is over, the gloves are off!

WLF, back in the day, if you accused the Murphys and O'Connors at Waverley of being English, you were asking for trouble! You even had a Lebanese school captain who also managed to be a red-haired Irishman!

 

[Snort]

Across the board I believe there have been much stronger teams in recent years, not that it matters now, except that this comp is still wide open, imo.

If I ever bet on Rugby (and I don't) I'd be looking at the odds of a three-way shared premiership and dropping a few lazy dollars on it. I think Waverley can win the rest of its games, and I think Barker can beat Knox.

 

[WLF]

WLF, back in the day, if you accused the Murphys and O'Connors at Waverley of being English, you were asking for trouble! You even had a Lebanese school captain who also managed to be a red-haired Irishman!

Yep Snort, one of my oldest and still best mates, now that's multiculturalism at its best!

 

[WLF]

If I ever bet on Rugby (and I don't) I'd be looking at the odds of a three-way shared premiership and dropping a few lazy dollars on it. I think Waverley can win the rest of its games, and I think Barker can beat Knox.

For a non punter Snort, that's a shrewd bet imo, get on it!

 

[WLF]

Actually there is a race-based comment in this discussion that I thought would cause uproar. Why aren’t all the Waverley Irish up in arms about the designation “backgrounds other than English”?

WLF, back in the day, if you accused the Murphys and O'Connors at Waverley of being English, you were asking for trouble! You even had a Lebanese school captain who also managed to be a red-haired Irishman!

Refer back to post 859!

 

[smithandwesson]

Thanks WLF - all the boys who played today can be proud.

with Knox V Cranbrook on Friday night set to be another solid tussle.

what time is kickoff?

 

[Jason_phillips_Knox]

Knox Lineup:

1. K McDonald
2. E Grobler
3. W Kablau
4. L Pratt
5. O Hughes
6. O Cheal
7. D Breden
8. T Gratwicke
9. T Constable
10. D Fitzgerald
11. O Evans
12. S Rechner
13. M Stewart
14. S Nicholi
15. O Griffiths

Cranbrook Lineup:

1. H Hayman
2. L Christopher
3. P Tagg
4. J Ryan
5. P Tasker
6. L Bible
7. O Carroll
8. A Oreilly
9. T Smith (c)
10. W Clunies-ross
11. D White
12. A Pakutoa
13. J Taylor
14. P North
15. A Kourembanas

Both sets of 15 looking like a strong team, depending on Rechner's game in my belief will decide the game. If he is playing well then he will definitely shutdown the centres (Taylor and Pakutoa) of Cranbrook. Based of videos watched of Cranbrook games thats where there defence is at the weakness. Especially if Rechner can link with Griffiths then they will be hard to stop.

With saying that, Cranbrook are a more than capable side and am interested to see how they go against the number 1 contenders

 

[Bolivia]

Kick off times on Friday for Cranbrook v Knox @ Woollahra 1
2ndXV - 530pm
1stXV - 7.00pm

 

[Schooey Schooey MoiMoi]

Kick off times on Friday for Cranbrook v Knox @ Woollahra 1
2ndXV - 530pm
1stXV - 7.00pm

Thats right! Free entry, a heap of cover if it rains and most importantly.... Beers will be flowing!

 

[WLF]

Kick off times on Friday for Cranbrook v Knox @ Woollahra 1
2ndXV - 530pm
1stXV - 7.00pm

In the possible chance that we get washed out, council call, what time are your 16as on at Hordern?

Are your 1s a real chance, I think so?

 

[runningrugby1]

Will try and get out to Woollahra tomorrow night, but I believe it'll be a clinic from the Knox team. Would love to see them lose to someone, but won't be this weekend.

Cranbrook have been talked up, were the only team coming through the age groups to beat this Knox side I believe. But after they seemed to dominate Waverley, I believe Knox have had an amazing off season putting on size and strength and will be very hard to stop.

Might be putting myself out there, but I'd say Knox can put 50 on Cranbrook if their backline shows up. Not saying Cranbrook are weak, just think Knox are a cut above this season.

 

[axel]

In the possible chance that we get washed out, council call, what time are your 16as on at Hordern?

Are your 1s a real chance, I think so?

16A's are on at 11am on Hordern

 

[P. Parker]

Will try and get out to Woollahra tomorrow night, but I believe it'll be a clinic from the Knox team. Would love to see them lose to someone, but won't be this weekend.

Cranbrook have been talked up, were the only team coming through the age groups to beat this Knox side I believe. But after they seemed to dominate Waverley, I believe Knox have had an amazing off season putting on size and strength and will be very hard to stop.

Might be putting myself out there, but I'd say Knox can put 50 on Cranbrook if their backline shows up. Not saying Cranbrook are weak, just think Knox are a cut above this season.

I wouldn't say that Knox dominated Waverley runningrugby1 - every time Knox scored some points, Waverley came back at them, to be just 4 points shy at the end. It was a great contest.

What was interesting was that Knox changed their game plan against Waverley, compared to the other games they have played this year, keeping it in the forwards more. It will be interesting to see which gameplan they bring this Friday.

 

[WLF]

16A's are on at 11am on Hordern

Thanks Axe. Will be there if ours cancelled. Are you going?

 

[SonnyDillWilliams]

Lamens out?!

Cranbrook lose a lot without their normal 15.

Knox seem closer to full strength.... although would have to be a few niggles... not convinced Rechner is 100%.

Really struggle to see Brook beating this team ... then again it's schoolboy rugby.

Where Brook could win it ... through Tas Smith (9) and testing Knox on the edges ... and running the big Knox pack into lumbering mode. Who is the referee?

Where Knox should win ... just too big in the forwards ... and if Cranbrook get on the backfoot, it could get ugly... in terms of scoreboard.

 

[J Dog Fenton]

J Dog,

I was very upfront about how well Knox played v the Waves and well and truly deserved their win, no question at all.
But IMO the Waves played their worst game all year, and of course you play as well as your opposition let you, but in many cases the opposition had nothing to do with it.

This Knox team is pretty good but no where near as good as the winning teams in 2017 and 2018, nor the Knox team of 2017.
This is NOT a juggernaut team by any stretch.
I do believe the Barker pack, in particular, will probably prove too good for Knox, so careful about 1 win.
Can Cranbrook beat Knox, don't know, probably not, and maybe that's due to a weak pre-season.Time will tell.

Across the board I believe there have been much stronger teams in recent years, not that it matters now, except that this comp is still wide open, imo.

I think we can all agree that there won't be a team as good as the 2017 Waverley side for a long time. It's interesting you mentioned that the class of '19 isn't as good as '17, but 2017 came 3rd overall purely due to having no go about them whatsoever, and lacking consistency throughout the team. That team had a few stars (Cutrone, Pavlakis, Woodcock, Frost), but the rest were average, even having 5 of the '19 boys play 1st XV that year aswell to give them a helping hand. I genuinely think that if Knox show up, they have the potential to put 20+ on all CAS schools. IF.

I guess only time can tell how the results will play out