Newington College vs The Hills Sports High School

[lincoln]

I think 8 of the team (Eddie Jones, Warwick Melrose, Grant Mould, Darryl Lester?, Lloyd Walker, and Ella x 3) went onto to play first grade. There may have been a Dellamarta in there as well. How many other school teams have produced so many first graders? Lee, some of the Joey's teams from early 90's would come close.

 

[the berries]

Final score 15/9. Latham Park 1976. With Brother Terry Curley the joeys coach dismayed at the outcome. Dwyer was invited down to the game bu Cyril Towers who helped organise the flat attack which changed the attacking aspect of the game as we knew it.

 

[Joe Mac]

This game would be excellent if it ever happens. maybe such games will become permanent fixtures in the future

 

[Lee Grant]

Final score 15/9. Latham Park 1976. With Brother Terry Curley the joeys coach dismayed at the outcome. Dwyer was invited down to the game bu Cyril Towers who helped organise the flat attack which changed the attacking aspect of the game as we knew it.

Very good berries - spot on. Towers (the grandfather of Pat Howard) was the influential mentor of Randwick coaches for decades.

As a player he was regarded as one of the finest centres in the world but he was a prickly character who did not suffer fools gladly and was not always popular with officialdom.

When he was on tour with the 1927/8 Waratahs (the de facto Wallabies team because NSW was the only state playing rugby) he introduced some of the Randwick moves of the time to the team. They were refined and added to by the team during the tour and he took back a mental playbook of flat backline rugby to the Randwick club.

You can see the thread of this play from that tour over 80 years ago to now. Various Randwick coaches used it and principally Dwyer who had the Ella brothers to implement it properly. A member of the Randwick team, who went to kindergarten and Matraville High with the Ella twins then picked up the baton of Towers rugby. His name was Eddie Jones and he used the Randwick system at the Brumbies and the Wallabies.

Gaffney and Cheika have been missionaries of the Randwick way also but the fellow most responsible was old Cyril.

 

[observer]

Expect an announcement soon that the ARU/NSW Rugby will commence a Western Sydney Academy at The Hills Sports High School. Negotiations between the parties have been going on for the last couple of months and it seems a goer.

Hills have great facilities such as state of the art gyms, two swimming pools and an oval. The school will become a magnet for all aspiring rugby kids out west. Expect Hills to continue to be a force in schoolboy competition for years to come.

 

[Iluvmyfooty]

Expect an announcement soon that the ARU/NSW Rugby will commence a Western Sydney Academy at The Hills Sports High School. Negotiations between the parties have been going on for the last couple of months and it seems a goer.

Hills have great facilities such as state of the art gyms, two swimming pools and an oval. The school will become a magnet for all aspiring rugby kids out west. Expect Hills to continue to be a force in schoolboy competition for years to come.

First training day for the new "Academy" is next Tuesday

 

[barbarian]

Thats great news, can you shed any more light on when the decision is going to be made?

Much has been made of the ARU's neglect of the Western Suburbs, but this is massive step to rectify that.

 

[wamberal]

Very good berries - spot on. Towers (the grandfather of Pat Howard) was the influential mentor of Randwick coaches for decades.

As a player he was regarded as one of the finest centres in the world but he was a prickly character who did not suffer fools gladly and was not always popular with officialdom.



Gaffney and Cheika have been missionaries of the Randwick way also but the fellow most responsible was old Cyril.

I knew Cyril's son, Tommy. He played a bit of first grade, but only a few games IIRC. However, he was a really nice, humble guy.


The other thing about Randwick, from the days that I first watched them as a little kid (the fifties, I hate to admit) they would not kick the ball. To me, keeping the ball in hand epitomises the Randwick style more than anything else. Of course, the no kicking rule has long since gone out the window.

Another aspect of the Randwick way, was their use of match-like drills during training - the "Randwick rush" I think it was called - where they ran the ball from ruck to ruck up the field and back again.

 

[observer]

First training day for the new "Academy" is next Tuesday

Looks like you know more than me about this. Can you tell us anymore? I've heard NSW is going to pour coaching and other resources into this.

 

[Lee Grant]

That's wonderful news. The devil will be in the detail but the vibe of it sounds good. I wonder if the same can be done at the Westfields and Endeavour Sports High Schools - and also, though not as importantly, at Narrabeen SHS.

We need schools academy outposts like Hills dotted around the country as a focus for satellite rugby union schools in the region. We also need school rugby missionaries to work out of there.

I wonder if the presence of the Academy at Hills will have any effect on rugby at the school itself. In other words: down the track, will it have the tendency for the lads to favour the union game more than the league game when they leave school?

And if such academies are effected at other sports high schools, will it have any effect on the elite league programmes they have there?

 

[observer]

Hills are the only sports high school in NSW that allows boys on a league TSP (Talented Sports Program) to also play union. If you are on a league TSP at, say, Endeavour, Westfields etc you have to concentrate on that code and that is built into the contract the parent signs with the school. Hills contract is different in that you are available for other sports if selected.

Many of the league boys contracted to Parramatta and Penrith have played union over the last few years. The result is that some of them are now committed to playing union. Some are now contracted to union clubs, Seage and Cummins West Harbour, Skelton to Uni etc

My reading of what is happening is this: The ARU/NSW rugby is using the Hills as a pilot project before extending it to other parts of the greater Sydney region.

I believe the Hills Sports Academy will target good kids out west to go to Hills Sports and that includes kids from Westfields. I expect many of the good kids that were part of Westfields Buchan Shield winning team will be targeted and in the process attend Hills Sports.

Two outcomes of this new academy is that Hills will become a powerhouse in rugby and that rugby as a whole will have a presence in the greater west.

 

[Rothschild]

On a side issue, there are serious murmurings about a TSS v Kebra game in the near future, not to settle any 'who is best' syndrome but to lay a foundation for integration and future matches.
The concept as told looks at least intriguing with a mixture of league rules and rugby laws depending on where the play is at any particular time.
Unfortunately by the time it happens TSS's current yr 12 crop will be outa there. Crook will be at the Brumbies as of Monday week so he won't be back and the others I am sure will be more interested in getting pissed and/or laid at schoolies.
T'was to be this week but on the backburner for now.
I also hear that Dion Taumata is NSW bound - no info on club or whether Waratah influence.

 

[Lee Grant]

observer - thanks - I didn't know any of that and assumed that the other sports high schools were the same as Hills SHS. I didn't know anything about them either except the stuff I had picked up from your posts. [Pardon my ignorance but what comp does the school Ones team play in apart from the Waratah Shield?]

I like these parts:

My reading of what is happening is this: The ARU/NSW rugby is using the Hills as a pilot project before extending it to other parts of the greater Sydney region.

Two outcomes of this new academy is that Hills will become a powerhouse in rugby and that rugby as a whole will have a presence in the greater west.

The part I am not sure about is whether or not targeting kids from Westfields is a good idea in the bigger picture of things. Westfields have had some good teams over the years, or at least some good players have come from there, and it may not be good to weaken them. Is there any rebuttal to this vague thought?

As for Hills becoming a powerhouse: it would be good for them to be in a comp that reflects that ability. The dream comp would be the GPS to take up the bye caused by the withdrawal of Sydney High. There is precedence for teams outside of the GPS group of schools playing in the GPS comp. [Also, though probably not the the point: Brisbane State High School, obviously not a private school, plays in the Brisbane GPS.]

Hopefully Hills will the first of many such school powerhouses established by the same method and they can eventually have an elite comp of their own.

 

[Iluvmyfooty]

The ARU is not targetting kids to go to Hills Sports. They are just using the facilities at Hills to do their training. I believe the "Academy" is simply part of the NGS (previously NTS) that will take place out west to ease the travel burden on kids having to travel into Moore Park three afternoons a week

 

[observer]

My information is that it is more than than simply having NGS training sessions at Hills. The Director of rugby out there is a very shrewd person. As for competitions I think Hills will dominate the Waratah Shield, CHS and NSW selection over time. We will see.

 

[the berries]

I attended the first training sesson at Hills Sports. Sad to say the footy field is a discrace, it is inviting injury, uneven pot holed grassless expanse of danger. Watched the kids go through there drills , the learning of these drills is testing some. then that is a good thing. The West needs a facility to supply the technical aspects of this game. This was apparent with the evolution of HSHS this year compared to last season. More technical especially the forward work. This I hope will build / Think of a 10 year plan as KEEBRA did with their league development. The winner will surely be Aussie Rugby.

PS HSHS has a state of the art all weather field on the top square

 

[Iluvmyfooty]

hills to dominate? didn't someone say that at this years chs selection and end up being flogged by ISA and GPS? who do hills have coming back next year?

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

Expect an announcement soon that the ARU/NSW Rugby will commence a Western Sydney Academy at The Hills Sports High School. Negotiations between the parties have been going on for the last couple of months and it seems a goer.

Hills have great facilities such as state of the art gyms, two swimming pools and an oval. The school will become a magnet for all aspiring rugby kids out west. Expect Hills to continue to be a force in schoolboy competition for years to come.

Please excuse the profanity but ABOUT FUCKING TIME. Hopefully this will be the first of a few. May I suggest my old school. St Gregorys College Campbelltown. A traditional League school that has been dabbling in Rugby since 2003. They have the facilities to run quite a good program if given the right incentive. The current Headmaster is also a Rugby man.

Western Sydney has been neglected for far too long. Its only a small presence but having a Academy developing talent in the area will benefit Rugby immensely. Great news.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

WCR, I have been to St Gregs on a number of occasions. Some of the Junior Jarses have played in PSSA mungoball championships there. Awesome facilities, plenty of space, boarders, everything needed for a sports culture.
I understand that some mungoball clubs may place some of their up and coming NSW country kids there on scholarship to get an education, and consequently they count plenty of first grade mungoballers amoung their alumni.

Could St Gregs rival Joeys in years to come as an alternative rugby powerhouse for country kids, and city kids looking for a change?
Joeys seem to be moving away from an all boarder arrangement.

St Gregs already play in ISA sports competition. Same as St Augustines.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

It's very unusual for anyone in the 1st XIII not to be contracted to a club. If you don't and they you're good or valuable enough they'll find you one. I was offered one from Cronulla (via an ex-teacher and coach who doubled as a Sharks recruiter) to play in my final year(was going to but the teacher who convinced me to play had a falling out with the head coach so I turned it down. I'm not too keen on League to start with and only intially agreed out of respect for the guy). At the school you are virtually a professional footballer.

Mate, the school has some fanastic sporting facilities. Their is a great onsite gym, Olympic sized swimming pool (recovery) open spaces with plenty of fields and accomodation. The ARU could easily organise an arrangement for the school to accomodate a number of talented Rugby players. The Headmaster has been quite publicly venting his distain for a lot of the negative culture that regularly bares it ugly face in League and has been steadily pushing Rugby more and more. They are playing in the 1st Div of the ISA but I can tell you they wouldn't be taking it seriously. Well, not as seriously as say St Auggies and co. would. If they did with all the natural advantages my answer (which now thinking about it has been rather protracted) is yes. If Gregs ever took Rugby seriously they would quickly compete against the top schools. Winning is a culture and its an intergral part of Gregs identity.