Kurtley Beale at school

[dobduff11]

Thanks lee, I know of Stapleton he was a winger for the force in Rugby 06, xbox game. He was rapid so i always started him in season mode.

Luke Evans was the TSS 9 wasn't he that came over to the uk for a bit and I think he plays for Cardiff now.

Did anyone recognise the small 9 at 5:38, the one with the rocket pass. Lee how did he not start for the Aus School 1's in 05?

Kurtley looks to be the most dominant schools player of the decade, and I would probably put Rob Horne up there somewhere and pocock maybe.

 

[Lee Grant]

I remember hearing about KB (Kurtley Beale) coming out of the schoolboys a few years back and the Sydney hype machine saying he was the second coming of Mark Ella.

He struggled for a bit, though he played very well in the ARC.

It wasn't until he went to fullback (something I was actually against at the time) that we've seen his prodigious gifts. I'm frankly in awe a bit at how much he and QC (Quade Cooper) have developed in the last season or two. We've got a special pair out there fellas.

Yeah that hype did him no favours and one of the Ella brothers (Gary, I think, if not, Glen) didn't help matters by saying in 2004 that he would be a Wallaby by the time he was 19. Beale could have made it too I reckon because QC (Quade Cooper) made the EOYT in 2008 and KB (Kurtley Beale) was heaps better in the S14 that year than Quade was. But Kurtley was injured in the 2008 Super14 final and when he was healthy again he injured himself in the gym. Quade went on the 2008 tour and scored that try to beat Italy. Serendipity. That started the rise of Quade Cooper IMO.

Yes Kurtley did play well in the ARC and was in fact the player of the tournament - as a flyhalf.

I will not claim that I picked him to be an international fullback. I had seen him play there at school as he often went there on defence. When he was 15 it was to protect him but he showed so much talent at counter-attack when the ball was turned over that they were still doing that in his 3rd year in the Joeys Ones when he was one of the bigger backs.

I will credit my brother in law, a SJC old boy, though, in insisting when Beale was 16 that his best position as a senior player would be at fullback. I objected then because it would mean that KB (Kurtley Beale)'s excellent wide passing game would not utilised fully if he wore the 15 shirt.

Now every time I go to my BIL's place there he is smiling like a rat with a gold tooth asking me if I saw the last test match, knowing I don't miss any.

Yep QC (Quade Cooper) and KB (Kurtley Beale) have developed well recently. I'm not that surprised really. I have often told the story about them when they played together for Oz Schools at Hunters Hill in 2006 against Tongan Schools when KB (Kurtley Beale) was 10 and QC (Quade Cooper) 12. They had a ball and were giggling on the way back to receive the kick off after conjuring a try like the Ella brothers did at Coogee Oval all those years before.

I thought that if they ever play for the Wallabies together it would be in those positions but it's funny how things work out.

Sliding Doors.

 

[Lee Grant]

Did anyone recognise the small 9 at 5:38, the one with the rocket pass. Lee how did he not start for the Aus School 1's in 05?

Kurtley looks to be the most dominant schools player of the decade, and I would probably put Rob Horne up there somewhere and pocock maybe.

Masi Tusitala from Marist College, Canberra had a good pass but he wasn't the footie player in 2005 that Sievert was.

It is a pity that Kurtley didn't play rep footie in his first year in 2004. He was better than Leali'ifano and Lucas, the Oz Schools flyhalves that year, on their best days. But he was injured practising for the GPS Ones in 2004 and missed everything. They could have cherry-picked him into the Oz School side which didn't play until much later but IIRR Br. Boyd, the Joeys coach, provided wiser counsel and Beale played in the U/16 tournament instead.

I would put KB (Kurtley Beale) ahead of those other two if we are talking about a schools player of the decade though. Pocock was in the Oz Schools Ones team once only, in 2005, and Horne was in for 2 years but was in the run on team only one year, 2007. If Beale had been healthy in 2004 he would have been in the Oz Schools starting team for 3 years.

Indeed, the Oz Schools player of the decade.

 

[dobduff11]

Lee I was talking about Willy Genia with his afro playing for Aus A against NZ

I only mentioned Horne because of how dominant he was in the Aus schoolboy tests in 07, could have been man of the match in all three.

Pocock looked good then even when he was playing 12 for Churchie in 05

Other videos I found of KB (Kurtley Beale):
Aus 2006: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Stjf9c8NOw&feature=related
Joey's 06 i think: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNAK8HLerG0

 

[Lindommer]

It is a pity that Kurtley didn't play rep footie in his first year in 2004. He was better than Leali'ifano and Lucas, the Oz Schools flyhalves that year, on their best days. But he was injured practising for the GPS Ones in 2004 and missed everything.

Wasn't it agreed Kurtley wouldn't play senior reps in 2004? But he did play in the 16s tournament for NSW Schools that year, they beat Sydney Juniors 8-3 in a mudheap at Riverview. Kurtley engineered a break at the death, drew the fullback and passed to Rowan Kellam for the match-winning try. My wife works with the mother of one of the SJs that day and, try as she might to not get caught up in the KB (Kurtley Beale)-mania, she had to admit he was "OK". Kurtley was injured for a GPS match played at Weigall in 2005; a large crowd, including then ARU president Peter Crittle, turned up to watch Kurtley only to find him missing.

Here's tthe link for the 2004 under 16s tournament: http://aru.rugby.com.au/news/nsw_sc...shi,21354.html/news/archive/section/21893#NSW Schools

 

[Jnor]

Ha, I go to uni with Rowan, seems a bit odd to be hear of him here. Anyone know of his rugby days, as far as I knew he was in the Brumby academy but pulled out to concentrate on the study (law) here at Usyd? I'm pretty sure he doesn't play for Uni either, except for an interfaculty law game or two against Qld Uni earlier in the year...

 

[Lee Grant]

Wasn't it agreed Kurtley wouldn't play senior reps in 2004?

Kurtley was injured for a GPS match played at Weigall in 2005; a large crowd, including then ARU president Peter Crittle, turned up to watch Kurtley only to find him missing.

He was chosen for GPS in 2004 but was injured in practice. That 2005 game you mentioned between GPS and CAS at Weigall was actually in 2004. In case you think old Lee's memory has gone bonkers, as it often does, I still have the programme with his name in it. The 2005 GPS v CAS match was at Knox. [Interesting to see the name of the fullback for the 2004 GPS IIIs - Lachie Turner, who had another year to go at school.]

I went to that 2004 match looking forward to watching Kurtley play in his first rep game also but there he was on crutches and he told me what had happened.

I was at the 2004 U/16 tournament we both mentioned too and he showed a youthful ability to play in the awful conditions you get at View when it's wet, especially in the cricket pitch area. 2 years later he had to get the Joeys team home at the same ground in the same conditions. He had the best defensive game he ever had for Joeys that day.

Interesting to see some of the names in the 2004 NSW U/16 team with KB (Kurtley Beale): B.McCallman, P.McCabe and C.Alcock. He was the youngest one in the team as he was eligible for U/16s the following year also - but they used him elsewhere.

There were some handy Queenslanders at the tournament too: D.Pocock, W.Genia, Q.Cooper and W. Chambers. I wonder what happened to them?

 

[Lee Grant]

Lee I was talking about Willy Genia with his afro playing for Aus A against NZ

I didn't recognise him and thought it was the other bloke.

As to why Will wasn't in the Oz Schools Is - he was only the 4th ranked scrummie by Oz Schools in 2005. We have talked about Will as a schools player in Grassroots and when I said that he didn't rate him highly as a schools player, meaning compared to the other fellows, I was taken to task. My protagonist said that he was brilliant for BBC in the Qld GPS so what was I on about. But being from Sydney I had seen him just in the 2004 U/16 tournament and the 2005 Open tournament.

I guess the selectors thought the same, but he did get to play from the bench in that famous victory of Oz A Schools v NZ Schools at Victoria Barracks in 2005 - my favourite Oz Schools match ever. Just typing those words out now reminds me of his afro hair do - and come to think of it Tusitala had a short haircut - so I should have recognised him.

He didn't do enough to get picked for the EOYT to the UK and Ireland and even when Sievert was injured they flew over the other Joeys scrummie, Schwagger.

Look at him now though.


PS Dobber - thanks for posting all those UTube videos. I really didn't want to be reminded of that Shore victory thank you very much. It was an amazing win by the visitors who didn't have the highly rated players that we had and their coach had done a fantastic job in preparing them with a good plan that his lads stuck to.

I was there and the best part when it was all over was the generous applause of the Joeys crowd when the Shore boys came into the sheds.

You've gotta love schools footie.

 

[Albert]

He didn't do enough to get picked for the EOYT to the UK and Ireland and even when Sievert was injured they flew over the other Joeys scrummie, Schwagger.

Lee / Topo, I've heard around the traps that Matty Schwagger has picked up an Academy gig with the Brumbies. Does anyone know if this is correct? If so, it is a good reward for the bloke. He's a quality player, who has battled away in the Uni program for a few years now. He was great at school, just happened to be in the same generation as Seivert, who was a gun.

 

[topo]

Lee / Topo, I've heard around the traps that Matty Schwagger has picked up an Academy gig with the Brumbies. Does anyone know if this is correct? If so, it is a good reward for the bloke. He's a quality player, who has battled away in the Uni program for a few years now. He was great at school, just happened to be in the same generation as Seivert, who was a gun.

Haven't heard that, Albert. I'll check with my sources. He's a good player and they could do a lot worse. Still has one of the best and longest passes going around.