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NSW AAGPS Rugby 2015

Who will win GPS 2015?


  • Total voters
    192
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Hugh Jarse

Rocky Elsom (76)
FOOTBALL FIELD: EVENING
Cross bars and posts, the echo of distant bells,
The cool and friendly scent of whispering turf;
And in the air a little wind that tells
Of moonlit waves beyond a murmuring surf.


The glittering blue and verdant afternoon
Has locked up all its colours, leaving dearth,
Deserted, underneath a careless moon,
The glory has departed from this earth.


The goals stand up on their appointed lines,
But all their worth has faded with the sun;
Unchallenged now I cross their strict confines;
The ball is gone, the game is lost and won.


I walk again where once I came to grief,
Crashing to earth, yet holding fast the ball,
Symbol of yet another True Belief,
The last but surely not the least of all:


To strain and struggle to the end of strength;
To lean on skill, not ask a gift of chance,
To win, or lose, and recognize at length
The game the thing; the rest, a circumstance.


And now the teams are vanished from the field,
But still an echo of their presence clings;
The moon discovers what the day concealed,
The gracefulness and grief of passing things.


Quick as the ball is thrown from hand to hand
And fleetly as the wing three-quarters run,
Swifter shall Time to his defences stand
And bring the fastest falling one by one,


Until the moon, that looked on Stonehenge ground
Before the stones, will rise and sink and set
Above this field, where also will be found
The relics of a mystery men forget.


J.A.R. McKellar (1904-1932)
The Collected Poems of J.A.R, McKellar , (Angus and Robertson), 1946
http://www.everypoet.net/poetry/blogs/dunc/j_r_mckellar_1904_1932_here_s_to_minor_poets
 

Tahspark

Ted Thorn (20)
Newington v Scots: clash of the heavyweights at Stanmore should be a beauty. I'm sticking with Scots' recent run of away success at New: S by 5.

Riverview v Joeys: always a keenly contested affair no matter where they are faring on the ladder. Two good packs up against two quick set of backs, who'll crack the most? R by 6

Kings v Shore: both keen to make a disappointing season less so, can Shore open their account? Alas with Pietsch dominating up front not this week. K by 10
 

Not in straight

Vay Wilson (31)
At the halfway point, 3 schools have 12 wins between them and 3 schools have 3 wins between them. What was going to be a close competition seems at best a 2 horse race and it is Newintons's premiership to lose at this point.

So what is the difference between the top and the bottom?

The top 3 are littered with NSW & Australia rep players (exact number MR Jarse will know).

The bottom 3 have 1, I believe.


I will leave my analysis at that and let others draw conclusions.


But I will say in regard to the crap some have been going on about Shore.

(Having no rugby culture, being poorly coached, underdone at pre- season, failing to develop talent, etc etc)


These boys and coaches put in every bit as much as any other school. They are tremendously proud to represent their school at that level and it is a great honor to play at that level regardless of results. It is absolute nonsense that there is anything wrong with the culture or the coaching or anything in the program.
 

Brainstrust

Watty Friend (18)
Don't let "success at" rowing blur your definition of "focus on" rowing. As I understand the Shore student intake selection procedures, there are no rowing scholarships, no junior school selections based on rowing ability, and no senior school entrants who are rowing stars. I don't think the rowers train for rowing during the rugby season.
The "focus' on rowing seems to be on selection from the year 7 cohort, coaching and equipment.
My understanding of focus has nothing to do with rowing scholarships, or cherry picking students. Focus relates to how a school invests its resources into its existing cohort. I've had plenty of rugby loving mates boys go through Shore, and yes the school does have a focus on being successful in rowing. Schools do not dominate a sport for long periods by chance, it is a result of generally developing players within their system. Joeys are not just lucky each week when they win pretty much each fixture, Shore are not lucky to have dominated the rowing for a long period. These are results of investment and support for the chosen sport, great coaching, and a desire by the students be a part of that. It is too easy to continually call the scholarship card when someone is strong in a sport. True there are examples of late, but it's not the only reason.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Brian Westlake

Arch Winning (36)
Newington in a 15 plus win over scots, because nobody likes going to stanmore. Paricularly scots parents.
The Marists to beat the less holy catholics :) by 25
I too think that Shore have at least one win in them this year. Will be interested to see what happens. <5 to Shore
 

Azzuri

Trevor Allan (34)
What was going to be a close competition seems at best a 2 horse race and it is Newintons's premiership to lose at this point.




While the schools that have been strong for the last two to three years are still leading the comp this year the competition has definitely gotten closer, especially if you look at the scores rather than just their place on the table.

Scots rampant dominance of last year has been wound back. So far there have been no 50 plus score differentials and while Newington is leading at the halfway mark they are far from a lay down misere to take the lollies.

In fact there is still healthy and justifiable speculation about who will win this year as some of the wins recorded by the top three have been in games where the the cards could easily have fallen in favour of their opposition.

Bring on the second round and the "upsets"!
 

The has been

Allen Oxlade (6)
At the halfway point, 3 schools have 12 wins between them and 3 schools have 3 wins between them. What was going to be a close competition seems at best a 2 horse race and it is Newintons's premiership to lose at this point.

So what is the difference between the top and the bottom?

The top 3 are littered with NSW & Australia rep players (exact number MR Jarse will know).

The bottom 3 have 1, I believe.


I will leave my analysis at that and let others draw conclusions.


But I will say in regard to the crap some have been going on about Shore.

(Having no rugby culture, being poorly coached, underdone at pre- season, failing to develop talent, etc etc)


These boys and coaches put in every bit as much as any other school. They are tremendously proud to represent their school at that level and it is a great honor to play at that level regardless of results. It is absolute nonsense that there is anything wrong with the culture or the coaching or anything in the program.


Clearly" Not in Straight" does not have a child in Shore rugby program,or is looking through rose colour glasses to make those comments. Those that do and have had know what a poor program they have had,specially with pre season training which left them VERY vulnerable to injury and that had a major effect over the last few years. However NO one in these blogs has ever questioned the boys passion,pride and honour of representing their school,they play their hearts out to the last minute of every game no matter what the score line.The bottom three teams is really what GPS rugby is all about, a level playing field.
 

Not in straight

Vay Wilson (31)
While the schools that have been strong for the last two to three years are still leading the comp this year the competition has definitely gotten closer, especially if you look at the scores rather than just their place on the table.

Scots rampant dominance of last year has been wound back. So far there have been no 50 plus score differentials and while Newington is leading at the halfway mark they are far from a lay down misere to to take the lollies.

In fact there is still healthy and justifiable speculation about who will win this year as some of the wins recorded by the top three have been in games where the the cards could easily have fallen in favour of their opposition.

Bring on the second round and the "upsets"!
Let's start with the upsets at Northbridge. ( not that I think it will be an upset but should be a good close match)
 

rod dufficy

Frank Row (1)
Is everyone sure this comp is a two horse race? (New or Scots?).

If Scots beat New tomorrow and Joeys win every game then they can become equal Champs at worst.

Having said that, whilst I think Joeys can beat New and Scots next round - I think their biggest challenge will be against Riverview tomorrow.

Riv have improved with every game. Their 10 McGregor is the best out there and is steering them around and can beat anyone on their day. The result will be a lot closer than than the 45-12 Joeys served up to Riv in R1.

Joeys have lost exciting little winger Barnes for the season but have incredible depth in that department with Yiribi J-W, King, Ben Williams (currently playing 2nd XV but Firsts last year).

Tom Wright (13) has had issues passing the pill (and defence) but was awesome last week (v Shore) with his short inside passes complemented with his great attacking game.

I'm tipping an absolute belter of a game tomorrow at View.

A cracker at Stanmore too.

What a Round!!!
 

SonnyDillWilliams

Nev Cottrell (35)
sending a boy to do a man's job

some would argue that is what is happening this Saturday, with Gitts facing off" against my namesake... Sonny Bill

In round 1 Scots did much the same thing (against Newington), they had a kid marking Kennewell

and while this kid had a bit of Zip, he would have been 60 kilos if soaking wet .... and Newington's centre pairing ran riot

since then Scots seem to have put together, a different back-line

and scots forwards have learnt from Newington's tactic of preventing the ball going to ground ... and turning over Maul ball .... Irish rugby ... probably straight from Manion's Irish training manual

so this weekend, Scots will be "better prepared" for Newington's flash backline, and their well-trained forward pack ... and they are a chance to contain them

.... hopefully Girdler stays on the field, as I understand he left injured in Round 1

without Girdler on the field, Scots are no chance of containing Newington's big pack ... so no doubt Newington will be targeting him

either way, should be a great game, and I will tip Scots in an arm wrestle

and on the Gitts versus SBW match-up... this should hopefully put to bed any ideas of Gitts being RWC 2015's starting 12 ... joking I reckon ;)
 

SonnyDillWilliams

Nev Cottrell (35)
on the Shore thing, I have to agree, you can't criticise them for their courage

sidesteppa's tape of the game against Newington, shows a very brave team, prepared to put it on the line ... against a big, scary team, chok full of representative stars

and based on that "courage" alone, tipping Shore to have their first win
 
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