CAS Rugby 2014

[Slugga]

I can imagine the Barker supporters would be bitching and moaning given they have enjoyed premiership success for the past two years.

I think you’re right and it’s not a good look. As has been mentioned before teams run in cycles. My issue is it detracts from what was a pretty good first up performance for Oakhill with solid wins from firsts to thirds.

It’s also bloody irritating, I had to go up the other end of the park to save embarrassment as I was increasingly tempted to tell some spectators to pull their heads in.

 

[Sadler]

I know it is early... but 1st round predictions?

Aloy's v Cranbrook
Knox v Barker
Trinity v Waverly
Interested to hear what everyone thinks.

 

[Quick Hands]

On their performance against St Augustines, it would be difficult to imagine Waverley winning too many matches.

 

[Rugby Addict]

Having watched the current year 12's play over the years here are my thoughts on this year's CAS comp. Last year's U16's comp was very close with the exception of Waverley who had their 3 best players in the Firsts so the Year 11's should have a similar and significant impact for each school.

1. Knox - probably the best team over the years and added quality such as Watson since u16's. Should dominate possession in most games - 7-9 wins.
2. Cranbrook - Won the last two U16's comps so definately a dark horse to win so long as injuries don't cruel them again - 6-7 wins.
3. Barker - Always have excellent depth and have real quality in Burkett, Smerdon and Kirkby - 5-7 wins.
4. Aloys - Very young team but if they can win 40% of the ball the backs will score tries. Can't have injuries to their top 3 players - 3-5 wins.
5. Waverley - Despite ordinary trial form again this year never underestimate Waverley especially at Death Valley - 2-4 wins.
6. Trinity - This year group caused plenty of upsets and won the 13A's in 2009 - 2-4 wins.

I think this will be a lot closer competition than last year with lots of upsets by the home teams.

 

[TheHitman]

Having watched the current year 12's play over the years here are my thoughts on this year's CAS comp. Last year's U16's comp was very close with the exception of Waverley who had their 3 best players in the Firsts so the Year 11's should have a similar and significant impact for each school.

1. Knox - probably the best team over the years and added quality such as Watson since u16's. Should dominate possession in most games - 7-9 wins.
2. Cranbrook - Won the last two U16's comps so definately a dark horse to win so long as injuries don't cruel them again - 6-7 wins.
3. Barker - Always have excellent depth and have real quality in Burkett, Smerdon and Kirkby - 5-7 wins.
4. Aloys - Very young team but if they can win 40% of the ball the backs will score tries. Can't have injuries to their top 3 players - 3-5 wins.
5. Waverley - Despite ordinary trial form again this year never underestimate Waverley especially at Death Valley - 2-4 wins.
6. Trinity - This year group caused plenty of upsets and won the 13A's in 2009 - 2-4 wins.

I think this will be a lot closer competition than last year with lots of upsets by the home teams.

Why rate Trinity so low? They have a few core players returning in Corias and Barkley-Brown, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe their 16s came second last year.

 

[Brian Williams]

As a EXTREME Rugby enthusiast i like to look at how much depth a school has, particularly a schools 3rd XV. I recently looked into The Knox grammar school 3rd XV. They are looking very strong this year, coming of the back of an undefeated season they have a healthy mix of fresh rookies and Veterans. They will be very tough to beat this year. Will post updates on other schools.

Having watched and reffed a few of the boys who played club in this current year 12 (as they played with my son) from Knox I have watched a few 3rd XV matches. May i say some excellent depth Knox has! Pretty sure a few players from that side played in the a's side until last year?

 

[Rugby Addict]

Why rate Trinity so low? They have a few core players returning in Corias and Barkley-Brown, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe their 16s came second last year.

No real reason other than I have discounted the effect of the Year 11's as they seem to be have been so equal over the years - and I have not seen them play! Agree Corias and Barkley-Brown are excellent players and I think they could easily finish third or fourth.

 

[Pete King]

Nope,don't buy it.
Waverley have been playing Auggies for the past 6 odd years. The difference this year to past years is staggering.
It hasn't been a gradual process,it's like Waverley Rugby has fallen off a cliff.

The Sports master is the Coach and a complete amateur from all reports. Cornish (former) coach was held in high regard

 

[Pete King]

Undoubtedly this year's Waverley opens aren't a vintage rugby group and the smaller numbers won't help with depth. New coaches in the 1sts also need some time to adjust to the demands. It also has to be remembered that co-curricula activities also impact on trials results. For example, Waverley cadets only returned from their camp on Friday lunchtime which meant some were tired, but more importantly none of the teams had been able to train properly (given it's compulsory in Year 8 the 14s hadn't been able to train at all). many were also missing the previous Saturday for the trials against Cranbrook which would have impacted the age groups' results. Still, I believe the 15As won (could be wrong there) and the 16As were down 5-0 with 15-20 mins to go until the game was abandoned due to an injury to at St Augustine's lad. The cadet issue obviously didn't impact on the outcomes, but it would be interesting to see what the results would have been (particularly in the lower age groups) if St Augustine's had a week-long cadet camp for several hundred of their boys, came back on the Friday then had to get up and travel down to Queen's Park to play Waverley teams who were fresh and had trained as a team the previous week. Context is always king.

Being a former student of the great Wav Col I can clearly say to the above what a massive cop out, we are in trouble when we are throwing up cadet camps as a basis for poor results.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Randwick has not been doing all that well in recent State Championships.

SJRU team numbers are down. Assume that Randwick team numbers in SJRU are down proportionately.

Many of the Randwick boys attend Waverley.

Is the current Waverley "issue" linked to a more general problem with player numbers in Junior Rugby in the East?

 

[Pete King]

Randwick has not been doing all that well in recent State Championships.

SJRU team numbers are down. Assume that Randwick team numbers in SJRU are down proportionately.

Many of the Randwick boys attend Waverley.

Is the current Waverley "issue" linked to a more general problem with player numbers in Junior Rugby in the East?

Not sure, generally past the 14's guys back in the day would concentrate just on school footy and Randwick would be made up of Randwick Boys and Marcellian college.

 

[John Munroe]

Having watched and reffed a few of the boys who played club in this current year 12 (as they played with my son) from Knox I have watched a few 3rd XV matches. May i say some excellent depth Knox has! Pretty sure a few players from that side played in the a's side until last year?

Hey Brian,

I agree, i recognise some players from past A squads who show potential. just like to ask you what positions/ players you think have stood out so far? The only other school i see with the same depth has been barker.

 

[Brian Williams]

Hey Brian,

I agree, i recognise some players from past A squads who show potential. just like to ask you what positions/ players you think have stood out so far? The only other school i see with the same depth has been barker.

Not too sure on names, but they have a strong inside back line for the moment especially for a 3xv/social 1sts side. Once again not sure on name but blue headgear was playing well against Joeys and once again 'gainst New.

My predictions this year for the comp, is:
Knox- Strong All round team
Cranbrook- Persistently strong throughout the last few years
Barker- Had the depth last year, sadly not as much this year.
Trinity/Waverly/Alloys- These teams are still fairly unpredictable, Pre-season has been interesting for all these teams. Unfair to say the last three as it'll be a dogfight for them in my opinion.

 

[matt dunning]

does anyone know where schools like barker,Cranbrook, Waverly are going on tour?

 

[SonnyDillWilliams]

Yes interesting re observation on randwick juniors impact. Easts wallaroos are strong ... Take a look at some of their current red teams. Close ties with scots. I think it is their under 11s coached by a scots teacher

And the easts teams have a fair quota of cranbrook kids ... So agree a weak randwick juniors impacts waverley

However,
it is not even that randwick is that weak... Have seen some south coogee kids (under 10s?) that are exceptional
...and certainly some talented kids in randwick feeder clubs

But easts is definitely feeding talent into scots and now surprisingly cranbrook

 

[BRUMBIEJACK]

does anyone know where schools like barker,Cranbrook, Waverly are going on tour?

No tour for Waverley.

 

[BRUMBIEJACK]

Randwick has not been doing all that well in recent State Championships.

SJRU team numbers are down. Assume that Randwick team numbers in SJRU are down proportionately.

Many of the Randwick boys attend Waverley.

Is the current Waverley "issue" linked to a more general problem with player numbers in Junior Rugby in the East?

Not sure what the 'issue' quite is that we're talking about. The last three years with no scholarship players, less resources than most of their opponents and with teacher coaches the school came runner up in 1sts. And we haven't even started the CAS comp yet !

By the way, a significant number of the boys are from down the shire so, while eastern suburbs rugby may have a flow-on effect I'm unsure exactly what that would be.

 

[BRUMBIEJACK]

Being a former student of the great Wav Col I can clearly say to the above what a massive cop out, we are in trouble when we are throwing up cadet camps as a basis for poor results.

The only group I saw were the 16s, who haven't trained as complete teams yet given the cadet absences, and this was the first game they had everyone on the paddock. So far the As beat Cranbrook solidly and were down 5-0 to Augies when the game was called off. The Bs lost 3 tries to 2 to Cranbrook and were 3 tries all with Redfield 16s (uncontested scrums at Redfield's call which negated Waverley's good scrum). The 16Cs got whacked by Augies Bs and their game against Cranbrook was cancelled. So I think it's a pretty good result given the impact of cadets on this age group. As for the Opens, I saw Waverley 3rds play Redfield 1sts and I can say that Waverley were good for the first 10 and then really awful. I think it's just that the playing cattle in the Opens aren't great this year but hope to be proven wrong.

PS. I have never seen a ref take so long to set and re-set scrums in my life - and they were unopposed !!!! It was quite bizarre.

 

[rtd32]

I think you’re right and it’s not a good look. As has been mentioned before teams run in cycles. My issue is it detracts from what was a pretty good first up performance for Oakhill with solid wins from firsts to thirds.

It’s also bloody irritating, I had to go up the other end of the park to save embarrassment as I was increasingly tempted to tell some spectators to pull their heads in.

We've all been there. I've seen some pretty ugly, I'll-tempered, immature, and downright bizarre behaviour from crowds in the past. My approach to it is to simply accept that people are going to be that way. There's always a sore loser, or an unkind winner - even from as good a school as barker (no bias). On one occasion two parents went for each other right in front of me in the cranbrook stand at an under 15s game. You don't want to be the idiot that tries to educate the bigger idiot because at the end of the day you only end up looking as stupid as he is.

My personal exceptions to this rule are instances of racism, direct and consistent abuse to a child/student, or instances of violence but thankfully they're rare.

 

[Quick Hands]

I did have to tell a bloke to pull his head in once at a 9s match. They guy thought it was acceptable to scream abuse at a 12 year old referee. After 5 minutes I couldn't take it any longer.