Playing rugby in 2009

[Pfitzy]

Fairvale brought basically one team to the Renegades' home ground today, and dished us up in Seconds before getting hosed in Firsts.

Lots of big Islander boys as usual and a few runaway tries off our awful mistakes on a very wet pitch. We keep getting 5 or 10 players to training and its basically how our season will go. The basics weren't there - when you have a scrum inside your 22, the flyhalf stands back his 5 metres, and then kicks the fuck out of it, right? Nope - today it was "let's pass it three times in the mud, drop it, and let them kick ahead for a try". Our lineout was shit, though our scrum was going OK - it was a pretty neutral affair with them too big to push around in the mud, and us too low to be pushed around.

I barely ever got near the ball because Fairvale kicked a lot (cleverly) and our guys kept chucking it wide. Again, 0 tackles from 1 attempt, and a couple of rucks hit. I got a scrum taken off me which I'm not happy about. No excuses, I just got driven back.

 

[Scarfman]

Gotta work on the D, Nick.

Any experts on the board. I was more of Quade-style attacking brand of back.

 

[Pfitzy]

Simply put: didn't go in low enough like last week. He was a back, it was broken play, and I half-expected him to step inside so I stayed upright. I just didn't have the commitment to hitting him on the hip (he was within even my limited range) and bringing him down. The game was already lost but it cut a little deeper seeing him run away to the tryline and put them beyond 30...

Firsts 53-nil
Seconds 15-32

 

[boarman]

Well we made the long trip to Bombala to take on the Blue Tongues and we came away with a 36-12 win.It was a good team effort but not without a very lot of basic mistakes.Trying to run down the blindside with only 2m to sideline( result pushed into touch 3 out of 3 times) once resulted in a try to the Bombala team.Throwing cut out passes on our own line creating added unnecessary pressure( dont need to do this)
On a positive side our scrums were awesome, lineouts were well above average and ruck and maul was good.
Bit of luck with 2 of our tries , coming from great defence to force turnovers and we scored 2 length of the field tries.
All in all i give it a 7 out of 10 performance.


Other results were Narooma 25 defeated Braidwood 22

Milton 29 defeated Broulee 12

Milton have moved into 2nd on the ladder behind us and we play them this weekend at Boar Park, should be a great entertaining game.We will have to execute our play a lot better.

 

[the gambler]

I'd like to say you should see the other guys nose but have to be honest and say I have no idea how it happened. I was playing ten so that rules out it happening in a tackle/ruck/maul. Must have stood on it myself doing up my shoelaces.

 

[Pfitzy]

I was playing ten

:nta: Probably hair-gel related

 

[Pfitzy]

Renegades travelled to Lane Cove today and came away with two bonus-point wins.

After a pretty lacklustre first half, Second Grade were saved by some brilliant tactical changes (i.e. bringing me off the bench to play Loosehead prop) and a short slap around the ears to our game plan. Offloads and stupid shit don't work - simple rugby (i.e. smash it up in close) does. It was 7-0 at halftime and 28-0 at fulltime. I distinguished myself with some good scrummaging, decent ruck work, and made 100% of my tackles for a change

First Grade started mightily, then when our rep fullback got dived on after scoring his second try, things slowed a little. It was 38-0 at halftime to us, but our fitness dropped off in the second half and Covies mounted a charge, taking 17 points back by the final whistle.

Feeling a lot happier this week

 

[Aussie D]

Was captain-coach yesterday and still struggling with laringitis so couldn't yell. We had a full team (just)with no reserves as we were playing an away game (our guys don't like travelling at all). As coach I selected myself at 8 as the tight 5 had other guys who could play there. We ended up losing 47-3 (I opted for a penalty kick at 14-0 down as I was hoping it might stir the team up as we had been playing well to that point) and din't play too badly, threatening their line a few times and holding on to the ball for long periods. We defended well for long periods at a time before a simple miss let in a try. I had an okay game, muted somewhat after getting punched in the nuts in the first ruck off the kickoff, earning a few FKs through locking the ball up in the tackle. Their last try ticked me off as I had worked my arse off trying to win the ball, having succeeded passed to our backs who proceeded to try and run it off our own line before our second rower put in a woeful kick on the line that was taken 20m out on the full by their winger who jinked through/around 5 of our blokes to score under the posts.

 

[boarman]

Another top of the table clash yesterday when we played the Milton Platypii who were coming 2nd after stringing together 4 wins on the trot.

We started the first half on fire scoring a try in the opening 5 mins from 60 metres out and then got a close range try 10 mins later to lead 12-0. Things tightened up and we made a few wrong options and that remained the score to the break.
The halftime break was a flashback to the junior days when someone supplied a bag of cut oranges, it was the perfect tonic.

3 more tries in the 2nd half and we won 27-0.Great defensive effort and scrums and lineouts worked really well, we stole ball from both their feed and throw.We have to fine tune the backline as we tend to overdo the running and fail to use our support players, simple catch and pass would of resulted in at least 3 more tries.

I was pleased with my game at fullback but a little more ball would of been better.


Other results on the weekend were:

Bermagui defeated Braidwood 42-7
Our reserve grade team the Bay Reds played Narooma 1st grade and lost 35-5
Bombala beat Broulee on forfeit.

 

[AussieDominance]

Nice one Boarman. Thats a good turn out and a good result.

We had our ladies day yesterday at High's oval in Centennial Park. Not very clever given the races, swans and tahs were all on in the area but we only get access to the ground during school holidays. We still managed to have a fair turn out and a decent day of results led into a very big night.

5ths, 4ths and 3rds all had good wins, 2nds had a 5 all draw and the 1s went down by 12 in a game that saw 80 points scored. The colties also went down as they were clearly distracted by all the young ladies they had brought along.

I have managed to weasle my way into playing 10 and scored the longest range try of my life off an intercept. I was wearing a pair of white boots for the first time which obviously tricked the oppo into thinking I must be quick and only one person chased.

Whats the hardest thing about wearing white boots? Telling your parents you are gay, although they are Palu's old boots.

What grade are you in??? My brother played 5/8 for Forest that day....

 

[naza]

Nick, sorry to read this in The Fitz Philes

The four-year old daughter of a member of the Rouse Hill Renegades, Taliyah, is seriously crook with a life-threatening condition. The rugby club is holding a fundraising evening next Saturday at The Ettamogah Pub at Kellyville, and is seeking donations of goods and/or services and people to attend. Go to www.renegades.net.au.

 

[Pfitzy]

Yeah its pretty tough for them - they've basically sold everything to get her the required medical help so we're mucking in to help out further. Tickets are $25 if anyone's interested, and as a bonus, you get to meet me! Pay extra and I'll leave you alone. There's auctions and raffles etc. so if you're free, get onto it.

Played against Chatswood today. I started at LHP for Seconds - uncontested scrums from the kickoff Still, carried the ball up in contact and made a few yards, taking the last charge twice before laying the ball back for the next person to score. Wasn't called on to make any tackles as besides the first couple of minutes we controlled the ball for the whole half, and Chatswood kicked it a lot when they had it. I knocked on once in contact but was probably taking the wrong option anyway. Also filled in at halfback for the last ruck before two other tries so I was pretty happy overall with my effort when I was subbed off at halftime. After that point I watched us go from a 29-nil lead to a 34-5 win - long stretches without any structure or patience.

First Grade was similar story - never looked like losing, but didn't really look convincing. The ref for Firsts afterward said we've got oodles of talent but no structure, and teams like Harlequins - who play like a TEAM - would beat us in the finals.

Its a bit worrying, really. We don't look like a club motivated to win any more. Chatswood are soft opposition (as always - when I'm making yards, you know they're fairly ordinary) and last time out our Firsts beat them 74-3 at their home ground. There are mutterings, but they're best left alone.

 

[Aussie D]

We got thumped 60-odd to 5 on Saturday against the best team in the comp. Told the players before not to be intimidated by them and we weren't. After the game I laid it out fairly straight for the boys that the only two things seperating us from the gun team were fitness and teamwork and the only way to get those was through training. Hopefully it will sink in but I have my doubts. Only 3 guys stood by for firsts (with one fresh reserve) and I ended up going on (after I had gotten changed believing we were well supplied for subs) after a flanker went down injured - don't worry I played lock. Firsts ended up going down 84-0, which was an improvement on our first round effort.

 

[Pfitzy]

Sounds like our clubs are having similar motivational issues Aussie D. I've put forward to our committee and coaches that, rather than having blokes say they can't come to training Tue and Thu, make it one night a week (Wed) and get as many there as possible. The biggest we've had to training in the last two months was 14. Most of them Second Grade.

Also, we've got a wet weather week coming up, and I've suggested we play two 30-minute halves of semi-serious rugby so blokes can get their patterns together. Finals are coming...

 

[boarman]

Who do you play for Aussie ?

 

[Cutter]

Was captain-coach yesterday and still struggling with laringitis so couldn't yell. We had a full team (just)with no reserves as we were playing an away game (our guys don't like travelling at all). As coach I selected myself at 8 as the tight 5 had other guys who could play there. We ended up losing 47-3 (I opted for a penalty kick at 14-0 down as I was hoping it might stir the team up as we had been playing well to that point) and din't play too badly, threatening their line a few times and holding on to the ball for long periods. We defended well for long periods at a time before a simple miss let in a try. I had an okay game, muted somewhat after getting punched in the nuts in the first ruck off the kickoff, earning a few FKs through locking the ball up in the tackle. Their last try ticked me off as I had worked my arse off trying to win the ball, having succeeded passed to our backs who proceeded to try and run it off our own line before our second rower put in a woeful kick on the line that was taken 20m out on the full by their winger who jinked through/around 5 of our blokes to score under the posts.

Aussie D - mate as captain coach you are forgetting the One coaching rule (you dont need any others):

Forwards dont kick and backs keep your hands out of your pockets.

 

[Aussie D]

Who do you play for Aussie ?

The Entrance Rams

Was captain-coach yesterday and still struggling with laringitis so couldn't yell. We had a full team (just)with no reserves as we were playing an away game (our guys don't like travelling at all). As coach I selected myself at 8 as the tight 5 had other guys who could play there. We ended up losing 47-3 (I opted for a penalty kick at 14-0 down as I was hoping it might stir the team up as we had been playing well to that point) and din't play too badly, threatening their line a few times and holding on to the ball for long periods. We defended well for long periods at a time before a simple miss let in a try. I had an okay game, muted somewhat after getting punched in the nuts in the first ruck off the kickoff, earning a few FKs through locking the ball up in the tackle. Their last try ticked me off as I had worked my arse off trying to win the ball, having succeeded passed to our backs who proceeded to try and run it off our own line before our second rower put in a woeful kick on the line that was taken 20m out on the full by their winger who jinked through/around 5 of our blokes to score under the posts.

Aussie D - mate as captain coach you are forgetting the One coaching rule (you dont need any others):

Forwards dont kick and backs keep your hands out of your pockets.

I was too busy doing my job as a forward to point the rule out to him - he does have a big boot like John Eales though. Was glad it was full-time to be honest....

 

[OZGOD]

I am back playing rugby for the Rams this year (go you good things) on the Coast and have even put my hand up to help out on the committee. The coach told me a couple of days ago that I will be the starting prop with the express purpose of destroying the opposition scrum.... which would be okay if I knew what I was doing as in my 3 years playing prop in Sydney we only had 2 scrum training sessions.

Anyone else playing this year and have some good propping advice (think I will be playing loosehead as my propping buddy is an absolute monster of a human and prefers tighthead).

Bit late here, but I wanted to say that I know sweet fuckall about what you piggies do in the scrum. I play flyhalf/inside centre, which means I try not to get my jersey dirty. :lmao: I'm actually playing a bit of rugby here in Boston, I've gone from getting hammered by huge Samoans/Tongans in Sydney grade rugby to running rings around these Seppo noobs here. Though to be fair a good deal of them are pretty fit, they're just not up to speed on tactics, etc. But a surprisingly large number of aficionados here on the East Coast, in the Ivy League circuit.

 

[formeropenside]

I might get a run in a corporate grudge match a bit later on this year. Time to go get fit.

 

[boarman]

We played Braidwood Redbacks on their homeground today and ground out a tough 19-14 win.It was a very physical game which was pretty forward dominated.Its always a hard ask ti beat the redbacks up there as they tend to lift when they play us.
I had another good game at fullback, gtting myself a try and pulling off a great try saving tackle.
Ended up getting twisted in a tackle and have now got a muscle strain in lower back, hopefully it should be ok.

Only 2 more games to the semis and we have to start picking it up now , even though we are sitting comfortably on top of the ladder.