AllCatsandNoPussy
Bob McCowan (2)
I saw Hopoate on the bus to Wynyard yesterday morning and he had a full leg knee immobiliser splint and was getting around on crutches. Do you know what happened to him? Looks to me like he tore his ACL
ISA 2018
- Thread starter Jim Belshaw
- Start date
O
Oak_Wood
Guest
Injured playing for Manly's SG Ball League team.
Patsboy1998
Frank Row (1)
Prediction for 2018:
1. Auggies
2. Stannies
3. Pats
4. Kinross
5. Oakhill
6. Gregs
7. Pius
1. Auggies
2. Stannies
3. Pats
4. Kinross
5. Oakhill
6. Gregs
7. Pius
Any predictions for U/15s? it was a tough , hard comp last year. Stannies are looking very competative again...Oakhill and Auggies will be tough
Alexander Parnell
Bob McCowan (2)
I follow the ISA with great interest.
Watched the Knox (24) v stannies (13) game. Again unfortunate score not reflecting the game for the boys from bathurst with Knox scoring some lucky tries. I was impressed with the Knox backline looking very dangerous out wide with a menacing 13. Stannies found structure in the 2nd half and showed some aggressive rugby. Forwards don't have the size of last years pack however appear very conditioned. The back line looks like the same as last years. Rematch at Knox later in the year. Apparently the ssc draw includes GPS powerhouses like Scots bellevue hill, kings and Riverview. They're known to be tough so will be good to hear how they go against schools triple their size.
Any scores from the other ISA schools trial games?
Watched the Knox (24) v stannies (13) game. Again unfortunate score not reflecting the game for the boys from bathurst with Knox scoring some lucky tries. I was impressed with the Knox backline looking very dangerous out wide with a menacing 13. Stannies found structure in the 2nd half and showed some aggressive rugby. Forwards don't have the size of last years pack however appear very conditioned. The back line looks like the same as last years. Rematch at Knox later in the year. Apparently the ssc draw includes GPS powerhouses like Scots bellevue hill, kings and Riverview. They're known to be tough so will be good to hear how they go against schools triple their size.
Any scores from the other ISA schools trial games?
Tah123
Herbert Moran (7)
@AllCats... no need for the f-bombs - keep them for school yard, not here or the moderators will delete your posts. You seem to have some good things to say, so would hate to see you banned.
This year will be a battle between Stannies and Auggies - both have strong U16 ('17) cohorts coming through.
@Ibis Ryan knows something about Kinross the rest of us don't - 3rd would be a great year for the boys from Orange.
Gregs and Oaks will battle out for 3rd and 4th.
Pius, Pats and Kinross for the bottom 3 positions.
This year will be a battle between Stannies and Auggies - both have strong U16 ('17) cohorts coming through.
@Ibis Ryan knows something about Kinross the rest of us don't - 3rd would be a great year for the boys from Orange.
Gregs and Oaks will battle out for 3rd and 4th.
Pius, Pats and Kinross for the bottom 3 positions.
forruckssake
Bob McCowan (2)
Just watched St Pats play against their second Canadian touring school, with only their Opens squad running on.
Overall, a good game of running rugby to watch with many meat pies being bagged, final score 41-15 to the boys in black. However, a bit more rugby discipline would have done the job, with many penalties being given away by Pats.
Their fullback (who I believe has played 1st XV since Year 10) seemed to have a good run out there, big runs and good defense. Expecting a great year from this big fella. They also do have a handful of big boppers in the forward pack too!
Overall, a good game of running rugby to watch with many meat pies being bagged, final score 41-15 to the boys in black. However, a bit more rugby discipline would have done the job, with many penalties being given away by Pats.
Their fullback (who I believe has played 1st XV since Year 10) seemed to have a good run out there, big runs and good defense. Expecting a great year from this big fella. They also do have a handful of big boppers in the forward pack too!
AllCatsandNoPussy
Bob McCowan (2)
Yeah mate, the f-bombs just come naturally to me. I drop em a lot, suppose i just have slipper fingers aye. I'll make sure to tone it down from here on out.
Anyway; does anyone know how many opens teams Sydney grammar is putting forward this year? I'd be interested to know, because if they can't match Pats (in terms of number of teams) then who will the Pats play in the lower grade trials?
AllCatsandNoPussy
Bob McCowan (2)
Did you see the Canadian number 13 pin Mal Obrien from St Pats down and start laying punches into him? That certainly got the boys going. A couple lads ran in and threw some hands, but the ref managed to calm it down. Apparently the Canadians play Stannies in the next week or so; any stannies boys wanna do their st pats brothers a favour and lay into these canadian lads? They threw some dirty punches, but only after players were already on the ground. Buncha grubs if you ask me.
AllCatsandNoPussy
Bob McCowan (2)
Can I ask why you've put Kinross so high on the ladder? I'm interested to know what edge you think these boys'll have this year that'll get them sitting so high on the board.
On another note, I'm a bit disappointed by how dead this thread is at the moment. Hopefully it picks up soon.
Im not sure if Stannies are playing a Canadian touring squad but rest assured the country lads wont be putting up with any cheap shots if they do
Patsboy1998
Frank Row (1)
I think the Canadian boys might be playing All Saints rather than Stannies
forruckssake
Bob McCowan (2)
I heard the Pius boys are playing the Grammar lads up at Oxford Falls this arvo.
Someone post the result and report of this game?
Someone post the result and report of this game?
AllCatsandNoPussy
Bob McCowan (2)
Just because there isn't much going on at the moment, I though I'd talk about a couple of things that were touched on last year that are probably worth mentioning again. Hopefully this sparks some sort of discussion, and this post does something to revive this thread.
I'd like to start by pointing out that, unfortunately, there aren't many people watching or contributing to this thread at the moment. If you compare the number of posts as of today (34 as of March 31) to last year (55 as of March 31) it's clear to me that their is a growing disinterest for rugby within the ISA. Its even worse if you consider that the GPS and CAS have 9 and 13 pages worth of submissions respectively as of today. To me this indicates one thing; The ISA is losing supporters and we just don't care about rugby anymore.
Honestly I think this speaks to the nature of the ISA, we're so used to being sidelined by the CAS and the GPS that we've developed a culture of 'nearly good enough is good enough'. The ISA has been conditioned to believe that because we'll never be as 'elite' as the GPS and CAS that we may as well not even try. I mean, when's the last time you went to an ISA game where the whole school came out to support dressed in full school unifrom. My guess is never, because ISA schools have made absolutely zero effort to build a culture of inter-school competitiveness and school pride. Don't forget that there was a time where Stannies and All Saints were GPS schools, and Pats and Pius were parts of the CAS. You'd think this would fuel the fire, drive our desire for greatness, but rather it has been a source of bitterness and defeatism. Rather than restore the dignity and pride of the schools within our association, and build our own rugby programs to be as strong as other associations, we've taken the back foot; we've admitted defeat, we've sat down and said 'they treat us unfairly no matter what we do, so we may as well give up'. We need to break this culture, and it starts with us; supporters and players. We need to start showing up to games, and showing interest in the results of our former schools; show the adminsitrators of the ISA and school executives that we do care, that there is passion here. From there its up to them to foster it, to make home game support compulsory etc.
Let us not forget that in 2016 the ISA came out on top of the CAS team, and as of 2016 at least FIVE ISA schools have been listed by the ARU as 'Great Nurseries of Australian Schoolboy Rugby' based on number of Schoolboy and Wallaby team members produced. That is astounding for a competition as young as ours. As a competition we have great potential to be the strongest rugby competition in NSW, but potential is worthless without results.
So what are we doing wrong? I honestly don't have all the answers to this question, but I think it comes down to more than just our dwindling rugby strength (which we often point at as a reason for our lack of support from the rugby community). For real, I'm not going to beat around the bush with this one, its hugely about ELITISM and POLITICS. Teams like SHORE, Grammar, SBHS, Aloys and Cranbrook don't get way with being in their respective competitions by having 'strong rugby fraternities' or particularly strong sporting inclinations. We all know that these schools have pretty poor standards of football, so why are they still in their respective associations? Lets not kid ourselves, these associations are only 'Athletic' and 'Sporting' in name, but are purely political in nature. All these schools have one thing in common, their prestige (built on bastions of history, tradition and achievement -- which the ISA is lacking atm). For either the GPS or CAS to ever seriously consider merging with us, we seriously need to do something about our brand. This comes back to culture, as I metioned above; it needs some serious changing.
We need to seriously consider what the ISA is about, and which schools (school?) could be a serious hindrance to this redevelopment of culture within our own competition.
It's also worth mentioning allocation of resources, and i gotta be quick cause im about to go to work, but some schools (looking at you st pats) seriously need to start reconsidering how they allocate their time and money to the development of players and teams across all sports offered at the school. Sport is a great part of a holistic education, and the development of the whole individual; it builds character and identity, yet schools sideline for academic results.
Not sure where to go from here, hopefully the conversation picks up.
/end rant
I'd like to start by pointing out that, unfortunately, there aren't many people watching or contributing to this thread at the moment. If you compare the number of posts as of today (34 as of March 31) to last year (55 as of March 31) it's clear to me that their is a growing disinterest for rugby within the ISA. Its even worse if you consider that the GPS and CAS have 9 and 13 pages worth of submissions respectively as of today. To me this indicates one thing; The ISA is losing supporters and we just don't care about rugby anymore.
Honestly I think this speaks to the nature of the ISA, we're so used to being sidelined by the CAS and the GPS that we've developed a culture of 'nearly good enough is good enough'. The ISA has been conditioned to believe that because we'll never be as 'elite' as the GPS and CAS that we may as well not even try. I mean, when's the last time you went to an ISA game where the whole school came out to support dressed in full school unifrom. My guess is never, because ISA schools have made absolutely zero effort to build a culture of inter-school competitiveness and school pride. Don't forget that there was a time where Stannies and All Saints were GPS schools, and Pats and Pius were parts of the CAS. You'd think this would fuel the fire, drive our desire for greatness, but rather it has been a source of bitterness and defeatism. Rather than restore the dignity and pride of the schools within our association, and build our own rugby programs to be as strong as other associations, we've taken the back foot; we've admitted defeat, we've sat down and said 'they treat us unfairly no matter what we do, so we may as well give up'. We need to break this culture, and it starts with us; supporters and players. We need to start showing up to games, and showing interest in the results of our former schools; show the adminsitrators of the ISA and school executives that we do care, that there is passion here. From there its up to them to foster it, to make home game support compulsory etc.
Let us not forget that in 2016 the ISA came out on top of the CAS team, and as of 2016 at least FIVE ISA schools have been listed by the ARU as 'Great Nurseries of Australian Schoolboy Rugby' based on number of Schoolboy and Wallaby team members produced. That is astounding for a competition as young as ours. As a competition we have great potential to be the strongest rugby competition in NSW, but potential is worthless without results.
So what are we doing wrong? I honestly don't have all the answers to this question, but I think it comes down to more than just our dwindling rugby strength (which we often point at as a reason for our lack of support from the rugby community). For real, I'm not going to beat around the bush with this one, its hugely about ELITISM and POLITICS. Teams like SHORE, Grammar, SBHS, Aloys and Cranbrook don't get way with being in their respective competitions by having 'strong rugby fraternities' or particularly strong sporting inclinations. We all know that these schools have pretty poor standards of football, so why are they still in their respective associations? Lets not kid ourselves, these associations are only 'Athletic' and 'Sporting' in name, but are purely political in nature. All these schools have one thing in common, their prestige (built on bastions of history, tradition and achievement -- which the ISA is lacking atm). For either the GPS or CAS to ever seriously consider merging with us, we seriously need to do something about our brand. This comes back to culture, as I metioned above; it needs some serious changing.
We need to seriously consider what the ISA is about, and which schools (school?) could be a serious hindrance to this redevelopment of culture within our own competition.
It's also worth mentioning allocation of resources, and i gotta be quick cause im about to go to work, but some schools (looking at you st pats) seriously need to start reconsidering how they allocate their time and money to the development of players and teams across all sports offered at the school. Sport is a great part of a holistic education, and the development of the whole individual; it builds character and identity, yet schools sideline for academic results.
Not sure where to go from here, hopefully the conversation picks up.
/end rant
WLF
Arch Winning (36)
ACNP,
I think you will find there are many people on the GPS and CAS threads who applaud the involvement of a solid ISA thread.
I for 1. I think the fact that some of the ISA teams like Stannies, Auggies and Pats are playing games against these 2 other associations is tremendous as many have have always known that many of the ISA schools are serious rugby schools.
It is now up to you guys to populate your thread and provide good info weekly, it will be read and commented on.
P.S. Pats and Pius have never been officially part of the CAS competition, I know this has been mentioned before but it is not true, but so what!
Jim Belshaw
Bob Loudon (25)
There is a timing issue here. Up to last year I sat in the GPS pond. Well, really that little side pond that was the GPS thirds, constantly trying to get some water from the bigger pond. Then last year in the pre-seasons I had to follow both CAS and ISA. When the pre-seasons finished I kept following! My core focus remains the GPS thirds sides pond, but this year with the bigger pre-season its even more important (and interesting) to follow ISA and CAS. That was the reason I ended up starting the ISA 2018 thread as an outsider because I was getting frustrated with lack of ISA info.
I said a timing issue. I know things will pick up as games start, both CAS and GPS have been slow too, but I am very keen to see ISA info. As WLF said, interest from outside as well as inside will then follow. There are quite a few people now following all three. This will also promote rugby, something we all want!
forruckssake
Bob McCowan (2)
Well said NoCats, let's hope the ISA in general starts to pick up more traction.
In regards to this, what do you all speculate the lineups are going to be for the ISA Representative Teams this year? Will history repeat again with Auggies backs and a Stannies pack? Drop in your predictions!
AllCatsandNoPussy
Bob McCowan (2)
Technically true, I’ll give you that; they were never officiated, but they participated for numerous years none the less and they were members in every sense other than on paper.
Let’s not forget why they were never allowed to officially join though; Knox and Barker spearheaded the campaign to cut Pats and Pius off from the CAS because they didn’t wanna play with anymore dirty Irish Catholics than they already had to. They politicised school sport, they poisoned rugby with their dogmatic bull$h%+, and as a result two schools full of young players that just wanted to have some fun were left in the dust.
That was pretty damaging for some young players at the time.
For the most part I’m glad we’ve managed to move on from this, and get over it, but I still know some people that still get incredibly salty at the whole thing and I honestly think it’s fed the culture of defeatism at schools like St Pats. This is the culture that needs to change.
But yeah, like you said, we were never ‘official’ members but the reason for that was pretty messed up.
WLF
Arch Winning (36)
Being a member would mean competing in all CAS sport carnivals, not just Rugby, ie Athletics, Swimming etc etc, which did not happen.
However that is not important now, what is very disappointing was the treatment you outlined behind the scenes.
I guess/hope now that being a member of a strong ISA comp has allowed both schools to find there feet and have happy boys.
Playing some GPS and CAS schools should add to everyone's enjoyment.