ItsNotPink
Darby Loudon (17)
3rd XV Round 2 – 3 June
Round 1 gave us early insight in who will be challenging for the shield in 2023. Wins for Riverview, Scots, Shore and Grammar were an excellent start to the season while Kings, Joeys, TAS and High have work to do after first round losses. Round 2 has a couple of clear favourites and potentially a couple of very close matches.
Riverview 3rd XV v Grammar 1st XV
It will be a great top-of-the-table clash at Leichhardt Oval this Saturday so there should be a big crowd on hand to watch a great game of rugby. Riverview had a big win over TAS last week in Armidale for a great start to their season and they will want to continue that run here.
Grammar also opened their account last week with a hard fought 11-10 victory over Joeys at Rushcutters Bay. They showed that they will be contenders for the shield this year with a strong forward game and plenty of speed out wide. It's almost impossible to pick a winner here but I think Riverview may just have the edge. Sure to be a great contest.
Riverview by 2.
Joeys 3rd XV v Shore 3rd XV
This match is a replay of the final trial at Northbridge two weeks ago which Joeys won 27-10 after the match was locked 10-10 in the second half. Joeys will know that they have to win this after their 1 point loss to Grammar last week. No question. A second loss in two rounds would almost certainly put them out of the premiership race. They match is at Hunters Hill so they would be confident of a good result.
Shore opened the season with a good win over High at Northbridge last week and have signalled that they are well and truly in this competition, but will need to produce their best at Hunters Hill to make it two wins in a row. With Joeys 1sts and 2nds playing at Leichhardt, this is a 10:00am fixture on Joeys No 1 field with a smaller crowd, but INP will be there for sure.
Joeys by 5.
Scots 3rd XV v TAS 1st XV
Scots will be riding high after their convincing 20-0 first round win over Kings last week. Even though they lost a few trials, Scots have moved into premiership calculations with that confident win over the defending co-premiers. Expect more of the same this week.
TAS suffered a big loss at home to the visiting Riverview side after having beaten High the week before. They travel to Sydney now to take on Scots at Bellevue Hill and they will have a tough job against the competition front-runners, but they will have learnt a lot from the Riverview match and will be keen to improve.
Scots by 10.
Kings 3rd XV v High 1st XV
Kings suffered a significant and unexpected loss last week going down to Scots by 20-0 at Bellevue Hill. Rumour is that a long injury list impacted the team, but they will have to rebound quickly against an improving High side at Gowan Brae if they are to stay in touch with the competition leaders. The rejuvenated High side travels to North Parramatta off the back of a couple of good efforts against TAS and Shore. They have demonstrated that they can score points and cannot be taken lightly. This will be another stern test for them, but I think they are shaping up to cause a few teams trouble this year and will only get better as the season goes on.
Kings by 7.
Good luck to all the teams and players for Round 2.
INP
Round 1 gave us early insight in who will be challenging for the shield in 2023. Wins for Riverview, Scots, Shore and Grammar were an excellent start to the season while Kings, Joeys, TAS and High have work to do after first round losses. Round 2 has a couple of clear favourites and potentially a couple of very close matches.
Riverview 3rd XV v Grammar 1st XV
It will be a great top-of-the-table clash at Leichhardt Oval this Saturday so there should be a big crowd on hand to watch a great game of rugby. Riverview had a big win over TAS last week in Armidale for a great start to their season and they will want to continue that run here.
Grammar also opened their account last week with a hard fought 11-10 victory over Joeys at Rushcutters Bay. They showed that they will be contenders for the shield this year with a strong forward game and plenty of speed out wide. It's almost impossible to pick a winner here but I think Riverview may just have the edge. Sure to be a great contest.
Riverview by 2.
Joeys 3rd XV v Shore 3rd XV
This match is a replay of the final trial at Northbridge two weeks ago which Joeys won 27-10 after the match was locked 10-10 in the second half. Joeys will know that they have to win this after their 1 point loss to Grammar last week. No question. A second loss in two rounds would almost certainly put them out of the premiership race. They match is at Hunters Hill so they would be confident of a good result.
Shore opened the season with a good win over High at Northbridge last week and have signalled that they are well and truly in this competition, but will need to produce their best at Hunters Hill to make it two wins in a row. With Joeys 1sts and 2nds playing at Leichhardt, this is a 10:00am fixture on Joeys No 1 field with a smaller crowd, but INP will be there for sure.
Joeys by 5.
Scots 3rd XV v TAS 1st XV
Scots will be riding high after their convincing 20-0 first round win over Kings last week. Even though they lost a few trials, Scots have moved into premiership calculations with that confident win over the defending co-premiers. Expect more of the same this week.
TAS suffered a big loss at home to the visiting Riverview side after having beaten High the week before. They travel to Sydney now to take on Scots at Bellevue Hill and they will have a tough job against the competition front-runners, but they will have learnt a lot from the Riverview match and will be keen to improve.
Scots by 10.
Kings 3rd XV v High 1st XV
Kings suffered a significant and unexpected loss last week going down to Scots by 20-0 at Bellevue Hill. Rumour is that a long injury list impacted the team, but they will have to rebound quickly against an improving High side at Gowan Brae if they are to stay in touch with the competition leaders. The rejuvenated High side travels to North Parramatta off the back of a couple of good efforts against TAS and Shore. They have demonstrated that they can score points and cannot be taken lightly. This will be another stern test for them, but I think they are shaping up to cause a few teams trouble this year and will only get better as the season goes on.
Kings by 7.
Good luck to all the teams and players for Round 2.
INP