NSW Schools Trial Games and Selections 2009

[Lee Grant]

Put up any teams or match reports here.

Here's a link to the NSW programme:

http://www.nswschoolsrugby.rugbynet.com.au/default.asp?id=149032

 

[Lee Grant]

CAS team announced:

CAS 1's:
1. J. Wallace (Waverley)
2. E. Messara (Knox)
3. S. Talakai (Waverley)
4. B. Hodge (Waverley)
5. J. Reid (Knox)
6. H. Alexander (Knox)
7. S. Goodman (Barker)
8. T. Priddis (Aloysius)
9. N. Stirzaker (Knox)
10. J. Rowland (Aloysius)
11. M. Lee (Trinity)
12. E. Moss (Knox)
13. T. Kingston (Aloysius)
14. H. Nemeth (Barker)
15. C. Wakim (Waverley)

CAS 2's:
1. S. Sio (Trinity)
2. J. Slaven (Aloysius)
3. W. Borzak (Knox)
4. R. Marais (Waverley)
5. S. Reid (Knox)
6. M. Brown (Cranbrook)
7. J. Alexander (Trinity)
8. U. O'Sullivan (Trinity)
9. W. Thompson (Aloysius)
10. W. Fay (Cranbrook)
11. B. Cannon (Knox)
12. A. Anderson (Waverley)
13. L. O'Hare (Aloysius)
14. T. Duncan (Aloysius)
15. J. Cotton (Cranbrook)

 

[AussieDominance]

Hugh Alexander is Ben(Wallaby Front Rower) & Tom Alexander's(Eastwood 1st/2nd grader) brother....

Was in the Gordon side I was in with Miles Mcaffrey(Brother of Junior Waratah Lachie) & Stuart Goodman LG as you would know a very strong backrow!

 

[Double V]

CAS 2's 20-26 GPS 2's

CAS 1's 33-31 GPS 1's

 

[Double V]

Quote from Sportal

13 for cas useless: did very little, nothign impressive at all. made one run and botched a try by not looking inside to an open man - 13 for gps useless: slow, needs to learn how to slide, let the cas 6 in too easily.

gps 12 was probably the 3rd worse person on the field, did nothing all game, his hit up attempts were mediocre and that's talking him up. for how big he is and how much the gps guys talk him up i was expecting some dominant beast breaking tackles and scoring left right and centre which he did exactly 0 of.

gps 15 was great, good attack, didnt see that much of him in d btu was awesome too watch creating opportunity.
gps forwards were terrible to say the least. line out would have made selectors sick. throws were ***** and never straight and very rarly hit the mark also due to bad jumpers and lifters. scrums were good but only due to shear weight and the bigger second rows. break down time only gps 8 was efficient. for a small guy he had a good work rate and can pilfer. gps 6 and 7 were no where to be seen and made to look silly compared to cas.

not much else to say about them. they scored of cas mistakes and in broken play, very individual stuff.

cas: moss was the standout on the field by a mile. so much better than the aloys 10 and the joeys 10. only one mistake which i saw when a ball went to ground where gps 15 capitalised for a try.
cas 6 was wicked. great running and defense. the ideal number 6 which speed and height, very elsom like.
cas 7, great defense and very effective at the rucks. nailed the gps 7 in and upper body tackle.
cas lineout was dominant, gps was useless. scrum wasn't as effective but cas scrums never are unfortunately. gps were all over them.
cas 11 was good on attack but terrible defense. learn how to slide dude and stay on the outside of your man and stop coming in.
cas 8 was the worst player on the field. never seen a worse player in a graded team. literally dont think he did anything, may aswell of had 14 players on the field. he was sitting down or walking around 99% of the time. the replacement 8 was 1000000000x better.

now the ref... i really hope this guy goes back to walla rugby because this was the worst reffing i have ever seen. the amount of blatant forward passes not called up, not in straight line out balls, the most blatant diving off your feet i have ever seen, a punch thrown and several offsides... it was bad, very bad. i really hope he is assessed and put in his place.

 

[eddo]

Good work lads,


appreciate the effort to keep us informed.

It reads like GPS had some bad coaching to go with the shite skills and selfish players. Any comments on the two coaching set ups?

 

[AussieDominance]

That's a very one eyed description and very poor one at that. I was at the game will have a look at the team sheet now and help you all out.

 

[AussieDominance]

Front Row -

Scrum time was heavily dominated by the GPS pack. At stages it got to the point where I was wondering whether ref Anthony Moyes was applying Junior or Senior law for this encounter i.e going further than 1.5 metres and the wheeling as a result of GPS being all over CAS

Lineout time was a victory to CAS who had a very organised lineout. GPS insisted on throwing to the middle of the lineout(4,5,6 area)) and this just led to CAS having a jumper jumping on Dempsey and Peterson, with McCaffrey and Carling being at the back if it went to the middle it was going to be 50/50 ball.

Second half GPS realised this and won a bit more pill at the lineout.

CAS Front Row : Curtis(K), Messara(K), Talakai(W) v GPS Front Row : Quigley(TSC), Roach(N)(NSW Schools Reserve last season), Welch(SIC)

Second Row :

CAS - J.Reid(K), Marais(W) GPS - Dempsey(SIC), Peterson(TSC)

Peterson the man mountian(nearly 7 foot!) seems to be getting places on his height, although I think he has potential it did let GPS down at lineout time a bit. Dempsey competed well although was beaten at lineout time by both second rows for CAS.

Back Row :

CAS : O'Sullivan(T),Goodman(B), Priddis(A)(Replaced by Hugh Alexander)(K) GPS - Carling(TKS)(Replaced by Dicembre(J), Connor(TKS), McCaffrey(SIC)

Although people have been talking about CAS dominance im not convinced. Yes O'Sullivan was the best backrower on the field, wide running and brilliant skills with blistering speed(second time I have seen him this month) he gave a few of the GPS backs a touch up when they tried to chase him down.

Alexander provided a bit of impact for CAS probably should have not been dropped Priddis was probably the least talented out of the 4 backrowers from CAS.

Goodman although fired up was not a standout neither was Connor. McCaffrey saved GPS a number of times with his ability to get back and support and help out teammates, is very fit and goes forever... GPS just dropped too much ball.

Carling & Connor sustained injuries so might not have helped, Carling was replaced midway through second half but Connor battled on.

Halfbacks :

CAS - Stirzaker(K) - GPS Donlan(SIC)

Stirzaker was simply brilliant quick and always making the defence second guess, outstanding game and has pretty much secured himself a NSW 1's spot. Donlan on the other hand in the second half lost the plot couldn't pass to the man and GPS lost a lot of momentum.

5/8's :

CAS - Rowland(A) - GPS Walker(SJC)

Rowland was more a link man for Moss outside him to have more space, Walker needs to hit space more with his kicking game too many down the throat of Wakim.

Centres :

CAS Moss(K), Kingston(A) - GPS - Ha'angana(SJC), Atkinson(TSC)

Moss had an outstanding game along with Atkinson provided their teams with go forward and good skills. Ha'angana offloaded well and Kingston was helped largely by Moss's outstanding game.

Wingers :

CAS : Nemeth(B), Cannon(K) GPS : Brandon(SJC), Ferris(TKS)

Nemeth was very quiet, Cannon was solid and kicked well for goal. Brandon from Joeys made one break early on but from then on really struggled due to his lack of size. Ferris was simply brilliant. Scoring one length of the field try and setting up another one for Woodhouse.

Fullbacks :

CAS - Wakim(W) - GPS : Woodhouse(TSC)

Wakim kicked and chose his options astutely very safe game allround and seemed like a guy that can be relied on. Woodhouse is the GPS opens 100m champion big guy as well as brilliant runner with the ball in hand. Will be interesting to see who gets the rep honours out of these two I think I would go for Woodhouse though...

Overall : 33-31 to CAS.

CAS were better in the forwards bar scrum time. GPS won battle out wide...

Fantastic game played at a fantastic speed though.

 

[Lee Grant]

CAS 33 GPS 31

This was one of the best schools games I ever saw and that was despite the odd handling error because of boys not being familiar with the play of others. There was also a bit of dumb kicking - but apart from those gripes the ebb and flow of the play and the score, was exciting.

In the end CAS came out on top and deserved the win.

For me the best players on the park were 15. Woodhouse (Scots - GPS), 6. Uasia O'Sullivan (Trinity - CAS) and 9. Stirzaker (Knox - CAS) - until he got injured. Woodhouse will probably get the NSW I Schools fullback gig on that performance but 15. Wakim (Waverly - CAS) had a cracking 2nd half, so they may shoehorn him in somewhere.

Woodhouse was dangerous every time he had the ball and looked like he had Super14 written all over him, but Wakim could run too and executed some of the better strategic kicks of the night. O'Sullivan scored 2 tries and darn near scored a third. He's usually an 8 but he had no problem on the flank with his link work and was alway hard to stop.

Of the others 7 Goodman and 12 Moss (CAS) - and 14 Ferris (GPS and really a 13) had good games

It was good to see a schools game below the national tournament level where the forwards just belted each other and were on the ball most of the time. CAS did this better than GPS and were smarter around the rucks with it, and that may have been the difference - well that, and the poor GPS lineouts.



Of the Joeys boys who I watched more closely than most: flyhalf Liam Walker was decent enough without being a standout and the same could be said about his direct opponent Rowland. 12 Ha'angaha made a few breaks in the 2nd half followed up with offloads, but I doubt that his league style of play would appeal to state selectors. Flyer Steve Brandon had a very unhappy game on the wing and it's unlikely that he will go any further. The best Joeys player on the night was hooker David Hickey playing for GPS II. He threw a few bad throws to lineout but was on the ball all night. Could be a smokey.




GPS II 26 CAS II 20

11. Hansen (CAS) 2 Hickey, 10. Lake and 9. Crerar (all GPS) took my eye, but 1. Sio (CAS) was a terrific ball runner and even looked good when he came on as a reserve in the Ones.

GPS III 33 CHS III 15

10 Volavola (NC) and 14 Bills (Kings), both of GPS, were outstanding.

 

[footyhead]

I was at the game and thought the kicking game by GPS 10 was dreadful, at its worst he kicked to an unmarked open side opposition winger who ended up scoring under the posts. GPS 12 cannot pass across his body at all and as a result GPS 13 spent most of the night cleaning out for him instead of being passed the ball, also where were the GPS loose forwards when 12, who plays like an 8 was hitting the ball up? The CAS 6 was made to look like a world beater beater because of poor edge defense by GPS 6 and 7 and a GPS 11 who cannot tackle and continually found himself on the short side in D with loose forwards bearing down on him.

 

[AussieDominance]

I would tend to disagree with the comment about O'Sullivan(CAS Blindside) I think he was tending to run wider making it more the outside backs jobs to tackle him he would drift and look for the gap...

Not only that he had the pace of an outside back himself possibly even quicker. Certainly no blame should be put on the backrow there.

Thoughts Lee?

 

[Double V]

That's a very one eyed description and very poor one at that. I was at the game will have a look at the team sheet now and help you all out.

Yeah I know sorry mate, wasn't mine. Posted it soon after the game on here to help anyone looking for a quick report before heading to bed.

Lee are you going to ISA v CAS on friday?

 

[AussieDominance]

Yeah sounded like a school kid report!

 

[Double V]

Yeah sounded like a school kid report!

Most probably was. CAS teams to face ISA on friday at Curragal:

Starts from prop

1st XV - N. Curtis ( K ), E. Messara ( K ), S. Talakai ( W ), J. Reid ( K ), R. Marais ( W ), T. Priddis ( A ), S. Goodman ( B ), U. O'Sullivan ( T ), N. Stirzaker ( K ), T. Rowland ( A ), H. Nemeth ( B ), E. Moss ( K ), T. Kingston ( A ), B. Cannon ( K ), C. Wakim ( W )

1st XV to play ISA @ 2.10pm

2nd XV - 2nd XV - S. Sio ( T ), J. Bray ( T ), W. Borsak ( K ), A. Hunter ( C ), B. Hodge ( W ), S. Reid ( K ), H. Alexander ( K ), T. Nicholson ( W ), W. Thompson ( A ), W. Fay ( C ), S. Hansen ( K ), L. O'Hare ( A ), A. Anderson ( W ), A. Fine ( W ), F. Buddee ( A ), J. Wallace ( W ), S. Morrison ( A ), B. Ryan ( B ), M. Goodchild ( B ), J. George ( W ), W. Hedley ( C ), J. Stapleton ( A ), T. Young ( K ),

Injured - J. Slaven ( A )

CAS 2nd XV will play Country Schools @ 11.50am

 

[Lee Grant]

I would tend to disagree with the comment about O'Sullivan(CAS Blindside) I think he was tending to run wider making it more the outside backs jobs to tackle him he would drift and look for the gap...

Not only that he had the pace of an outside back himself possibly even quicker. Certainly no blame should be put on the backrow there.

Thoughts Lee?

He was certainly quick - one of those Pierre Spies types, and not real easy to put down after first contact. The bloke I was sitting next to is trying to recruit O'Sullivan for the West Pirates and said he was normally an 8. He is also after 1. Sio from the CAS IIs, but I said he'd have no hope as the way he plays he's a natural lock in the other code and the NRL scouts would be after him. He gave a nervous laugh.

Lee are you going to ISA v CAS on friday?

Don't know at this stage as I have something else on - but am trying to dodge it.


AD - thanks for posting the teams. Looks like they have swapped O'Sullivan and Priddis in the Ones. Will be good to see how UOS plays at 8.

PS: thought your match report was outstanding.

 

[Lindommer]

The bloke I was sitting next to is trying to recruit O'Sullivan for the West Pirates and said he was normally an 8. He is also after 1. Sio from the CAS IIs, but I said he'd have no hope as the way he plays he's a natural lock in the other code and the NRL scouts would be after him. He gave a nervous laugh.

Scott Sio's a monty for the Pirates; he's been a Wests junior of about ten years' standing and his older brother and cousin are currently members of the colts squad. His father, who played prop for Western Samoa in 1987, helps out around the place.

 

[rugbywhisperer]

You people way down south seem to have a pretty good system going here - in the way there is not one big weekend like there is in Qld. This allows teams to be changed, injured players for one set of games brought in, also allows greater number of players to participate.

 

[AussieDominance]

Pretty sure Usaia O'Sullivan is as well I played him in a Rep GF when he was about U13's.

Although if every junior stayed with their Junior club Sydney Uni would be gone and Gordon would be unbeatable.

 

[rugbywhisperer]

Pretty sure Usaia O'Sullivan is as well I played him in a Rep GF when he was about U13's.
Although if every junior stayed with their Junior club Sydney Uni would be gone and Gordon would be unbeatable.

Pffft. Sooo, Eastwood doesn't develop most of the junior stars in Sydney?

 

[AussieDominance]

Eastwood & Parramatta would be there as well I suppose.

I think something like 7 of the current Gordon side are local juniors, with the aim being to have 15 within a few seasons.

Eastwood :

Eastwood: 1. Simon Norris, 2. David Feketi, 3. Barry Fa'amuasili; 4. Mitch Lees, 5. Gareth Palamo; 6. Ben Coridas[thinkso], 7. Hugh Perrett [c], 8. Locky McCaffrey; 9. Chris O'Young, 10. James Foote; 11. Lachie Turner, 12. Rowan Kellam, 13. Tim Bennetts, 14. John Grant[Riverview but Eastwood Junior???]; 15. Ben Batger.