NSW CAS Rugby 2021

[Snort]

Then after a poor lick off Barker worked ball up field

This does not sound Covid-safe.

 

[WLF]

FT was 24/18.. Tremendous game. My heart is still racing. View deserved favourites for GPS title from what I have seen. O'Donnel was the difference between the sides. The clash of the 10s was a draw in my opinion. I take my hat off to the Barker defence. View had 2 or 3 stages in the game were they pressured the Barker line with 25 phases or more. Barker pushed the last pass to often, but that was their only criticism. The Reds had the View scrum on skates, winning at least 4 tight heads, but ultimately this did not convert into points due to small errors. I will say this though. Given Barker was without Wil Kennedy at 12, McIntyre at 15 and Hooper at 4, those lads would have made a difference. This game was all about courage and Barker showed plenty, as did View. Both sides will enter their respective comps as favourites. Yes I think Barker deserve to be favourites over Waves, but it will be oh so close at Hornsby.

I have to agree with you, Riverview are a tremendous team and have always been in this age group. Barker are clearly a very good side. Waves were absolutely terrible today, but FULL credit to Oakhill, they never gave in and had the bounce of ball gone their way, they could have won it!
The Waves did everything possible to lose the game today, but weren't good enough to do that!

Barker are clear favs, and Knox given that Knox beat Riverview, albeit without Bowen (but I believe he also only had limited time today v Barker) are right beside Barker. That's it in a nutshell.

 

[WLF]

Anyone else slightly put off by the performance of the ‘view old boys on the eastern side of the oval? I was sitting on the hill but it looked as though they were quite vocal, not to mention their short excursion onto the field after the last play.

TME, I wasn't at your game today, I was at Oakhill, but to be fair we have probably all seen our Old Boys be knobs at times, why, because they can, which doesn't justify it. I assume nothing came of anything so I wouldn't worry too much about it. I suspect most people understand that NEW Old Boys can be loose!
Over time they tend to trend towards normal human beings, and most are great men.

 

[rod skellet]

The CAS v GPS clash is going to be a ripper this year. The CAS have the the better forwards but a combined Joeys / View backline will be very potent.

 

[Snort]

Trinity 20 edged out Shore 14, thanks to a Kidd hat-trick. So the men in green have won six straight, but go into the Associated Schools rounds likely to finish no higher than fourth. Waverley, of course, put 48 points on Shore, and Knox won its game 30-14. So today's result tends to confirm that this is a competitive Trinity side, but one that will be lucky to threaten the top three.

 

[Love2Scrum]

Well, maybe. No doubt the kid has talent. But he's in Year 11. Let him prove a few things before we start getting Rugby Australia involved. I'm sure he'll be part of the pathways, and then it's up to him. But I'm not a huge fan of hyping the future of 17 year-olds.

Around the time of the fuss over Sua'ali'i, there was an interesting study of exactly how well the 17 year old NRL players had fared. Let's just say that for every Brad Fittler, there were a dozen players who had peaked at 17-18 and then declined rapidly. The last 17 year old who was hyped to this extent (Donaldson) is still in the process of trying to learn what it's like to win a Super Rugby match. These things take time. It's not in anyone's interests, especially the boy's, to lose perspective.

Totally agree and well said.

 

[Love2Scrum]

The CAS v GPS clash is going to be a ripper this year. The CAS have the the better forwards but a combined Joeys / View backline will be very potent.

Hey Rod, It will surely be a ripper. Having watched Barker, Knox and Waverley this year, I will agree with you on the CAS forwards having said this they’ll be matched by their counterparts in the Backs.
As you would know and understand that you can’t have a Ferrari with a 2 cylinder engine.
This will be the difference between the CAS & GPS.

 

[bring back rucking]

I’m not sure Rod, having seen both joeys and view, O’Donnell and Jorgensen are standouts but I wasn’t blown away by the others.... from a knox perspective 10, 12 and 15 are exceptional and I expect the barker 10 to be the best of the lot by all reports plus 13 and others.... waves no doubt have plenty (haven’t seen either barker or waves yet and we all know how last year was from a viewing perspective)... any really good wingers around in the cas this year?

 

[WLF]

Trinity 20 edged out Shore 14, thanks to a Kidd hat-trick. So the men in green have won six straight, but go into the Associated Schools rounds likely to finish no higher than fourth. Waverley, of course, put 48 points on Shore, and Knox won its game 30-14. So today's result tends to confirm that this is a competitive Trinity side, but one that will be lucky to threaten the top three.

Snort, that confirms that this Trinity side is VERY capable.
Shore is a solid GPS side and Trinity have won every game, so their confidence should be pretty high.'
That's great, maybe they can knock over the 2 front runners, in particular Barker, and then Knox.
Waves need to improve dramatically on todays performance, to be honest.

 

[Snort]

Snort, that confirms that this Trinity side is VERY capable.
Shore is a solid GPS side and Trinity have won every game, so their confidence should be pretty high.'
That's great, maybe they can knock over the 2 front runners, in particular Barker, and then Knox.
Waves need to improve dramatically on todays performance, to be honest.

I see what you did there, WLF. Always nice to be the underdog. Thing is, Waverley is unbeaten (188 points for and 72 against in its last five games) and has played stronger opposition than anyone else but Barker and Knox, who have both sustained losses. I believe you that Waverley struggled in beating Oakhill by 15. But Knox lost to Oakhill.

I'm still saying it's too close to call, with Waverley and Barker jointly the front-runners, Knox a step behind (but capable of an upset) and Cranbrook, Trinity and St Aloysius fighting for fourth.

 

[ZHC]

And a bit of side humour for today's Oakhill v Waverley clash.

There was a warning post about a loud female Oakdale supporter. Waves retorted with their well known banshee So game on

In the end it was a fizzer. A no show from the Oakdale lady, AFAIK. Though just after 1/2 time, there were a 2-3 loud screeches from the northern end of the grandstand, that scared the hell out of number of us fathers, and thought it was on. But that was it. The Waves banshee, though annoying was far from her best. Maybe saving herself for the CAS games at Death Valley. 1-0 to Waves on that.

On the game itself, as WLF reported. Oakhill with a bit more luck could have won. Waverley tried their best for the majority of the game to lose it with zero respect for ball security, and instead at times trying to play like the Harlem Globetrotters. Had to be seen, to see it, especially after their super effort against Kings. The final score flattering Waverley, as with 8 or so minutes to go it was only 17-12 with Oakhill in dominance. Waverley finally broke the shackles worked it down to Oakhill try line, and got a penalty. Even single Waverley supporter in the western grandstand yelled take the 3, to get the 8 point gap. Finally they did, to put the game a lot safer, and then they got a try on fulltime, which was converted to win 27-12.

So onto next week.... Hoping for a Cranbrook win....

 

[Walshy81]

FT from around the grounds;

Waves 27 Oak 12
View 24 Barker 18
Knox 30 Newington 22
Brook 33 St Pats 10
Trinity 20 Shore 13
Aloys 38 Greg’s 33

 

[AroundTheAnkles]

There is the other Jorgensen on the wing and Chan in the centres at Joeys. The outside is pretty handy as is the fly half at Joeys.

I’m not sure Rod, having seen both joeys and view, O’Donnell and Jorgensen are standouts but I wasn’t blown away by the others.. from a knox perspective 10, 12 and 15 are exceptional and I expect the barker 10 to be the best of the lot by all reports plus 13 and others.. waves no doubt have plenty (haven’t seen either barker or waves yet and we all know how last year was from a viewing perspective). any really good wingers around in the cas this year?

 

[WLF]

I see what you did there, WLF. Always nice to be the underdog. Thing is, Waverley is unbeaten (188 points for and 72 against in its last five games) and has played stronger opposition than anyone else but Barker and Knox, who have both sustained losses. I believe you that Waverley struggled in beating Oakhill by 15. But Knox lost to Oakhill.

I'm still saying it's too close to call, with Waverley and Barker jointly the front-runners, Knox a step behind (but capable of an upset) and Cranbrook, Trinity and St Aloysius fighting for fourth.

Ok Snort, here's what really happened!

Waves scored 3 tries in the first 20 mins and led 17 - 0.
After that it felt and appeared as though they took their foot off, and rather than driving the nails in, like they did v Kings (who copped a hiding), the Waves started playing a low percentage flashy rubbish game, which failed at every turn.

They gifted Oak a try 10m off the Waves line with a 100m pass, that hit the next suburb, upon which Oak simply picked it up and strolled over, now 17-12. As you know, once you give an opposition a sniff, things can change and they did.

However, rather than slow down an go back to their machine driven power they continued to play Harlem Globetrotter style dribble, as mentioned by ZHC! As a spectator, not to mention the coaches, it was excruciating to watch. They dropped the ball EVERY time they had it in the 2nd half and weren't used to being pushed, so full credit to Oakhill.

It was an uncharacteristic display but better now than later. Now it's game on as the CAS comp starts next week and all 3 games will be very interesting.
Barker (H) v Cranbrook, Trinity (H) v Aloys, and Waves (H) v Knox.

Let's hope the weather is fine, and after last year, fair to say the crowds will be mighty.

Now all will be revealed!

 

[Lovetap]

I believe CAS team named next week. Are there any early predictions going off early form and will there be returning players from 2020 merit team , interested to hear people’s thoughts.

 

[Hankspank]

Having watched Oakhill play Trinity, Knox and Barker from the CAS teams Kidd from Trinity is easily the standout winger. Put him on the wing in the CAS rep team and his real ability will stand out as Katoa will be putting him in space for fun. The Jorgenson who is not Max was the best winger I saw in the GPS games played against Shore, Riverview & Joeys. Good luck to all for their respective comps & hope not to see you all next year. This years team is the strongest we have had in a while & next year will not be as competitive in these pre season games. Certainly didn't miss us with the games we were allocated this year but hopefully will stand the boys in good stead for the ISA games ahead.

 

[WLF]

Having watched Oakhill play Trinity, Knox and Barker from the CAS teams Kidd from Trinity is easily the standout winger. Put him on the wing in the CAS rep team and his real ability will stand out as Katoa will be putting him in space for fun. The Jorgenson who is not Max was the best winger I saw in the GPS games played against Shore, Riverview & Joeys. Good luck to all for their respective comps & hope not to see you all next year. This years team is the strongest we have had in a while & next year will not be as competitive in these pre season games. Certainly didn't miss us with the games we were allocated this year but hopefully will stand the boys in good stead for the ISA games ahead.

HS, Oakhill were terrific this year, very strong and competitive, and I am sure will put the team in a great place to win the ISA.
From what I have seen, and others, yours was easily the best team we played this year, that includes Eddies and Auggies, and from what I have heard about the other ISA schools, you are looking good.

From Sats game it appeared to me, by the ferocity of the game and the tackles, that you may well have had the boys back who didn't play against Barker etc, could be wrong.

I have also always believed that playing across associations as a lead into each associations comp is a terrific exercise for all involved, for the boys and the spectators.

Good luck in your comp!

 

[Hankspank]

HS, Oakhill were terrific this year, very strong and competitive, and I am sure will put the team in a great place to win the ISA.
From what I have seen, and others, yours was easily the best team we played this year, that includes Eddies and Auggies, and from what I have heard about the other ISA schools, you are looking good.

From Sats game it appeared to me, by the ferocity of the game and the tackles, that you may well have had the boys back who didn't play against Barker etc, could be wrong.

I have also always believed that playing across associations as a lead into each associations comp is a terrific exercise for all involved, for the boys and the spectators.

Good luck in your comp!

Cheers WLF.
Missing a couple in the first game against Barker but I don't believe it would have made much of a difference. 3 tries in the first 15 minutes and the boys ended up losing 5 tries to 1 (barker 10 converted all of them). Barker with their settled and long pre season training showed in how clinical they were. As I mentioned the other week in reference to Knox the boys did the same on Saturday and dragged waves into a game of footy. I think a couple of big hits has been the cause of this in both games. It lifts one team and disrupts the opposition by the brain switching to revenge rather than the clinical stuff that was working. Great footy to watch though and certainly binds both teams to work as a pack. ( In a bit of self indulgence my young fella put the biggest hit on 1 of your second rowers I've seen him do. proud of the young fella as he's just turned 16 and playing prop against your pack is no easy task.)
One question for you though WLF is were you concerned about the rolling maul try Oaks scored on Saturday? Not one of our greatest strengths but waves are pretty tall and spent the time trying to reach over rather than pushing back.

 

[WLF]

Cheers WLF.
Missing a couple in the first game against Barker but I don't believe it would have made much of a difference. 3 tries in the first 15 minutes and the boys ended up losing 5 tries to 1 (barker 10 converted all of them). Barker with their settled and long pre season training showed in how clinical they were. As I mentioned the other week in reference to Knox the boys did the same on Saturday and dragged waves into a game of footy. I think a couple of big hits has been the cause of this in both games. It lifts one team and disrupts the opposition by the brain switching to revenge rather than the clinical stuff that was working. Great footy to watch though and certainly binds both teams to work as a pack. ( In a bit of self indulgence my young fella put the biggest hit on 1 of your second rowers I've seen him do. proud of the young fella as he's just turned 16 and playing prop against your pack is no easy task.)
One question for you though WLF is were you concerned about the rolling maul try Oaks scored on Saturday? Not one of our greatest strengths but waves are pretty tall and spent the time trying to reach over rather than pushing back.

firstly HS, That tackle was 1 of the best school boy tackles I have seen, so a big congrats to your bloke!
The boy he tackled is the real deal and it definitely sent a message.

The rolling maul was a strange one, very effective, and has not happened to our side before, I am sure it caught us out, so keep it up. I suspect that will be dealt with at training this week.
We didn't have our best 2 centres on, which led to a lack of backline punch and experience, thus all the dropped ball and panic, BUT it was your scramble and tenacity that changed the game imo, so no excuses.

Oakhill don't appear to play a structured game like most other schools, eg the wingers kicked in field often, which had support coming through, rather than take the tackle and reset etc. The brand had all the hallmarks of a union team with league overtones, eg in defense and attack. Nothing wrong with that as it can be effective, however I think you will find that when you play strong teams that have union structure, particularly in the forwards like set scrum pieces, line outs etc, you will score points but maybe not enough to win the game against such teams. Food for thought.

Having said all that, I still believe Oak can/will win the ISA this year.

Cheers and good luck!

 

[Stephgun12]

Theres a lot of hype surrounding Barker, i understand they have a strong first side. This "new" (the new inclusions to the program) team has performed in the 1st XV games but their 2nds played Riverview 4ths. They won by 20 or so, as a seconds team i think this is quite embarrassing from their side. Shows the lack of depth within the barker program. And i can't see them seeing any glory in the seconds competition. Quite worrying for barker especially if they happen to suffer injuries in key positions