For 'Father' Jim Belshaw (Father of the 3's Comp), I have it that the time for 3's trialling is now at an end, and their 2017 Round 1 is this Saturday, 27/7:
Iggies v TAS
Kings v Scots
Joeys v Grammar
High v Shore
With New sitting this one out, no Bye rounds for any of the 8 teams.
Good that one of the Comps is getting underway for some chocolates!
With resumption of normal transmission, I thought that I should accept Crackerjack’s implied invitation to comment on the first round of the GPS thirds competition. The extended trials across CAS and ISA schools sometimes played in multiple combinations of schools and levels makes for a complex set of results. I spent multiple hours, hours that I fear I will never recover, trawling though various forums to try to get a complete set of results for the top grades. Even now gaps remain and I am sure that there are errors. Corrections gratefully accepted.
There is only one question this year. Can anybody beat St Joseph thirds? During the preseason, Joeys beat Barker Firsts 35-22. Trinity Firsts 27-22 and Waverley Seconds 38-12. I’m inclined to say no, although I look forward to being proved wrong!
Iggies v TAS
In the pre-season, Iggies lost to Kings Thirds 22-5, Newington Thirds 13-10 and, I think to Scots, although I could not find the results. TAS lost to Kinross Firsts 35-9 and then defeated High 41-0 followed by Farrer 64-0. Earlier, a reportedly under strength Newington Firsts defeated Kinross Firsts by around 38-5, suggesting a 60-70 point gap between TAS Firsts and Newington Firsts.
Based on these results, TAS is likely to be competitive, but the team has not really had hard game play in the lead-up to this first competition match and remains something of an unknown. We won’t know until the match. TAS to win, but …
Kings v Scots
A key match. With preseason wins against Iggies (22-5), Shore (19-0) and Knox Thirds (21-0), Kings looks strong. I couldn’t find all the Scots scores. I think Scots defeated Knox Thirds 17-7 and also Iggies Thirds, but also lost to Joeys’ Fourths 21-5.
Kings to win.
Joeys v Grammar
This is another interesting match for it will give us a first indication of Joeys’ absolute strength within the Thirds competition framework.
Grammar has had a fairly torrid start to the season, losing to Trinity Firsts 28-8, Cranbrook Firsts 22-12. Aloysius Firsts 54-15 and St Pats Firsts 28-8. On the other side of the ledger, Grammar defeated Barker Seconds 24-7. Since Joeys defeated Trinity Firsts 27-22, Grammar’s loss to the same team suggests a gap of around 25 points between the two teams.
Grammar will start the sentimental favourite and by all accounts hassome good players, although the team hasn’t quite jelled yet. However, Joeys’ has to be strongly favoured to win.
High v Shore
High has something of a miserable start in the preseason games, loosing 41-9 to TAS Firsts and then 80-0 to Aloysius Firsts in a match called off in the 47th minute. I think High is stronger than these results would suggest, but it’s not a good start.
Shore is another team that I don’t have full results for. Shore lost to Kings Thirds 19-0, but then drew 17-7 with Joeys Fourths, the team that had previously beaten Scots. On the results to date, Shore has to classed as favourite in this match.