• Welcome to the forums of Green & Gold Rugby.
    We have recently made some changes to the amount of discussions boards on the forum.
    Over the coming months we will continue to make more changes to make the forum more user friendly for all to use.
    Thanks, Admin.

CAS Rugby 2022

rod skellet

Desmond Connor (43)
As the one and only game of school rugby I watched this year, Knox v Barker, what a cracker. I will say as an old Knox boy and an ex Knox dad, I think Barker were the better team and deserved to win. Their forward play around the edges was exceptional. Barker 13 deserved the red card as it was his 2nd shoulder charge. The Barker 1 and 10 I thought were their best. The Knox 12 & 13 were very good, the 15 had his moments. Congrats to Barker, and if that's schoolboy rugby, the crowds will remain big.
Agree with Axe. The red card was justified. Knox lost their 10 for a take out of a player off the ball. Close to red but a yellow.But otherwise this game was a close as they get. Barker were stronger in the forwards and Knox were superior in the backs. Had to be 3000 to 4000. It was a fitting finale to a great season for both teams.
 

Props are People too

Sydney Middleton (9)
As the one and only game of school rugby I watched this year, Knox v Barker, what a cracker. I will say as an old Knox boy and an ex Knox dad, I think Barker were the better team and deserved to win. Their forward play around the edges was exceptional. Barker 13 deserved the red card as it was his 2nd shoulder charge. The Barker 1 and 10 I thought were their best. The Knox 12 & 13 were very good, the 15 had his moments. Congrats to Barker, and if that's schoolboy rugby, the crowds will remain big.

Agree the Barker 1 had a fantastic game. He was everywhere. The Barker 10 Katoa’s kicking game was a big factor as well. He was incredibly composed at 10. For Knox the 12 McLeod had his best game of the year I think - making metres for fun.

Great crowd and atmosphere, but I must say I didn’t love the Barker crowd booking the goal kicks so aggressively.

Tough for the Knox Yr 12s but for the rest there is always next year.
 

WLF3

Billy Sheehan (19)
Agree the Barker 1 had a fantastic game. He was everywhere. The Barker 10 Katoa’s kicking game was a big factor as well. He was incredibly composed at 10. For Knox the 12 McLeod had his best game of the year I think - making metres for fun.

Great crowd and atmosphere, but I must say I didn’t love the Barker crowd booking the goal kicks so aggressively.

Tough for the Knox Yr 12s but for the rest there is always next year.
Hey Skyblue, imagine that, the Barker crowd booing the goals kicks so aggressively!
 
Full credit to Aloys today
They turned up and never stopped trying and their defence was well drilled and had plenty of sting.
Just a bit out muscled and outclassed.
Cranbrook forwards dominant.
A couple of unfortunate injuries to Cranbrook
 

Albi

Allen Oxlade (6)
Barker lost 14As 29/15. 5 tries to 3. Barkers weaker defense out wide was the difference. Sadly uncontested scrums
Played on Knox 1 which was a great experience for the boys. Barker has some strong players - I’m not a B parent. I have to say though, this CAS age group is far weaker than their GPS counterparts.
 

Props are People too

Sydney Middleton (9)
Played on Knox 1 which was a great experience for the boys. Barker has some strong players - I’m not a B parent. I have to say though, this CAS age group is far weaker than their GPS counterparts.

It’s significantly weaker. Knox went through CAS undefeated but lost to every GPS team except Newo I think, plus a massive loss to Oakhill, who I think are the best in the age group.
 

Snort

Nev Cottrell (35)
I understand that Alex Sherlock of Knox scored again yesterday. That means he has become only the sixth player to score a try in every round of the CAS competition. The list is:

Try in each round of the competition

1947 N Hayes, Waverley (2 v St Aloysius, 3 v Barker, one v Knox, one v Trinity, 2 v Cranbrook)

1953 L Hughes, Waverley (3 v St Aloysius, one v Barker, 3 v Knox, one v Trinity, 2 v Cranbrook)

1955 A Moore, Waverley (one against each of Trinity, Cranbrook, St Aloysius, Barker and Knox)

1961 CK Dickinson, Trinity (2 v St Aloysius, one against Barker, Waverley, Cranbrook, Knox). Dickinson also scored tries in each of the first three matches of 1962.

1995 D Walker, Knox (3 v Barker and Waverley, one against Cranbrook, Trinity and St Aloysius)

2022 A Sherlock, Knox (2 v Cranbrook, one v Waverley, one v Trinity, 6 v St Aloysius, one v Barker)

Sherlock scored 11 tries in the five-round competition, equalling the record for the five-round competition held by Waverley's Ryan Cross in 1997.
 
Last edited:

Albi

Allen Oxlade (6)
The CAS needs to do more to support rugby. The depth is concerning. Aloys and Trinity are struggling to get B and C teams. Even the school that wins the 1sts, Barker, the performance of lower grades (if they have them) is weak. The competition is only as strong as the weaker schools and these schools are sometimes struggling to put B teams on the park.
 

DaSchmooze

Dave Cowper (27)
The CAS needs to do more to support rugby. The depth is concerning. Aloys and Trinity are struggling to get B and C teams. Even the school that wins the 1sts, Barker, the performance of lower grades (if they have them) is weak. The competition is only as strong as the weaker schools and these schools are sometimes struggling to put B teams on the park.
Good point Albi. What would you do if you could fix it?

No gee up here. Genuinely keen to hear your (or anyone else's) thoughts.
 

bring back rucking

Fred Wood (13)
Surely something comes of the CAS survey that was done a couple of months ago. A lot of the questions had an underlying rugby theme. I assume they don’t commission a consulting firm for the fun of it.

I still don’t know which schools were the drivers behind this and what changes they are looking for support on. Unfortunately a lot of people I know who feel passionately about the topic didn’t actually complete the survey for one reason or another which is a shame
 

Snort

Nev Cottrell (35)
I'll bore people who have been here a while if I repeat my views on this. However....

I'm not sure that the CAS needs to do any more than it already does to "support Rugby". Most schools provide excellent facilities and coaching. What's missing in some schools is the player numbers. There are various reasons for that. One is the schools' catchment areas and groups. St Aloysius is the only academically selective CAS school: that, as the history of Grammar and Sydney Boys High demonstrates, erodes a Rugby program over time because it excludes a group of boys that each other school enrols (who are good at sport but ordinary in the classroom). That is a legitimate decision for the school to make: its duties are to the Jesuits who run the school, the parents and the boys, not to one sporting code. Trinity, on the other hand, has struggled for many years because its catchment area included large numbers of first and second generation migrant families (first Greek and Lebanese, now south Asian) with no cultural affinity for Rugby.

On top of that, every school now faces the problem that many parents are reluctant to allow their boys to play a sport perceived as dangerous. The risk has always been there (my mother didn't much like me playing), but it's worse now that significant mismatches exist within the CAS, in both skill and size. When there are 100-kilo boys running around in the under-16s, people are going to get hurt.

The only proper answer to this (as I keep saying) is to abandon (for Rugby) the old school groupings and arrange a three-tiered competition in which schools play against other schools with similar Rugby programs (measured primarily by numbers of teams, though other factors could be relevant). That way, your boy at St Aloysius can still thoroughly enjoy the game, competing against players of his own standard and level of commitment, instead of spending his Saturdays standing behind the posts waiting for another attempted conversion.
 

DaSchmooze

Dave Cowper (27)
Good points there Snort (I dare say some of it cut and pasted from the last time you spoke on the matter!) and I think you're dead right - the only way to make the sport a more enjoyable experience for all concerned is having like for like teams playing each other. Like for like in terms of total numbers playing (making life significantly easier for the sports masters to arrange a draw) and like for like in terms of ability.

It's good to see that at least the CAS is acknowledging there is a problem and are taking steps to address it. Although I hope it doesn't take something catastrophic to finally get all parties to have a serious look at what they are doing.

Its sad to say, but this was always going to happen though wasn't it. If some schools take "great leaps forward" and have programs that offer scholar...., skowla..., shcgolla...., um... "financial incentives" to boys of size and skill and others don't, then this creates more mismatches and greater risk of serious injury.

I actually have no issues with this to be honest, but schools need to start to look at what's more important: The health, safety and enjoyment of your students, or the brand name stamped on the program? The CAS appears to be considering this so good on them.
 

DaSchmooze

Dave Cowper (27)
Surely something comes of the CAS survey that was done a couple of months ago. A lot of the questions had an underlying rugby theme. I assume they don’t commission a consulting firm for the fun of it.

I still don’t know which schools were the drivers behind this and what changes they are looking for support on. Unfortunately a lot of people I know who feel passionately about the topic didn’t actually complete the survey for one reason or another which is a shame
It was an actual consulting firm running the survey? That's good to know
 
Top