Shute Shield 2011

[Gnostic]

In the Uni V Penrith match this afternoon the Penrith forwards got totally caned at the maul and scrum as would be expected. What I saw which was not expected was a very very good No8 effort from Penrith from Burgess who was able to clear the ball without fail from a retreating scrum AND make it over the advantage line on each occassion against a backrow including Denis, Davidson and Waugh. The Tahs should be lookig at him for developement, he also made lots of ground in the loose. A top notch effort behind a well beaten pack.

Penrith showed some very good running skills on a very boggy pitch. I must say I was impressed with their skill level. Berrick had a good run.

 

[lily]

The Emu's made way too many mistakes which led to Uni being able to score tries in bunches. This game was a good one and one Penrith should be proud of. 7/8 Super forwards and 3 or 4 backs vs Zero. They should have been on TV ages ago against a similiar opponent such as West Harbour.

 

[qwerty51]

Burgess was super impressive.

 

[lily]

He was good but I did think he also contributed to a couple of tight heads to uni. They needed an 8 man push a couple of times and you could see that when Vunipola put the ball in he had no weight. The commentators said he was 31 but once again a few more good players were shown. I also liked Katoa the centre in the headgear, he is only 20 and did not disgrace himself in this company. I hope Keithy watched the game.

 

[Prodigy]

Kornelio Burgess, the Penrith Number 8, has moved to Penrith from Blacktown Subbies Rugby. He was in their grand final winning team 2 years ago, and was an absolute dynamo.

I am told (and only a rumour) that he decided to play for Penrith, as opposed to Blacktown Subbies, because Blacktown moved their home ground from Doonside to a new facility at Glenwood.

 

[staedler]

Sydney Team that played today at the Greg Davis Rugby Festival. They ended up egtting up 70-34 in a very entertaining game against a Drummoyne Invitational XV.
(By Program)
1. Selsesi Manu
2. Scott Podmore
3. Eddie Aholehei
4. Phil mAthers
5. Ed Gower
6. Sean Doyle
7. Mitch Greenway
8. Tom Alexander
9. Dewet Roos
10. Dave Harvey
11. Hamish Angus
12. Toese Lealamanua
13. Tim Bennetts
14. Corey Brown
15. Liam Windon
16. John Fonokalafi
17. Richard Aho
18. Oliver Atkins
19. Jason Pesata
20. Jeremy Sua
21. Ed Doyle
22. Atelea Okati
23. Sam Talakai

 

[yellow card]

Harvey 11 from 11 goals, Harvey & greenway man of the match from both, was a very open game of footy enjoyed the day

 

[Lee Grant]

This Sydney team and the Oz Baas team earlier in the year have a lot of players who are hard heads. They are therefore more suitable to cherry pick from when Super teams need emergency replacements in their squads than some young players from the various academies.

Good to see Hamish Angus, the Oz 7s player, in there. He is not one of the hard heads but he is a promising player and equally adept at 15, 10 or wing in the XV man game.

 

[lily]

Manly vs Easts at Manly tomorrow night at 7.00pm

 

[Keithy]

West Harbour vs Randwick
Wednesday 27th July 2011 at Latham Park 7.30pm

Yep Lily I watched the first 25 mins while having a coffee. Penrith had a dig and good luck to them. 62 -7 is a pretty good beating and I wait with interest to see if they forfeit the lower grades and Colts. This could see thier 4th grade be 12th on -4 points and 3rd grade 12th on -1 point.

 

[Keithy]

Penrith have forfeited 3rd and 4th grade to Uni.

 

[lily]

Bruce or Keithy when were the game's meant to be rescheduled? I know alot of Islanders dont play Sunday's because of religious reasons. I wonder if this was the problem or whether they just didn't want to get hammered, which is highly unlikely. I watched a Emu's 4th grade team lose to Manly a few years ago 135 - 0. As soon as the siren went they ran off, changed jumpers and played 3rd grade. They wouldn't usually forfeit unless they had a decent reason.

 

[Keithy]

Lily the Penrith Colts are wanting to play maybe on Sunday. The Penrith coach says the same players play 4th then 3rd grade and no point getting beaten badly. The Colts are going to back them selves after recent results aga.inst top opposition
The problem for Penrith is these forfeits will not look good for the current review being conducted on club rugby.

 

[Bruce Ross]

I can't add anything to Keithy's comments, lily. My information on Saturday was that Penrith were forfeiting 3s, 4s and 3rd Colts. It's good that they want to play the Colts' game but I hope they don't declare uncontested scrums from the start as they did in the first round.

I'm old school but rugby without scrums isn't rugby in my opinion.

 

[lily]

Keithy and Bruce thanks for the update. Uncontested scrums are a blight on the senior game. I can remember coaching against the 2blues and being informed that they had to go uncontested. It's shitted me because they had been using the same players for several weeks. I thought the coaches had an obligation to teach scrumagging. Safety comes first though and if they can only provide inexperienced youngsters then it's OK in my belief, but a situation that isn't great.

 

[lily]

I've just read the Manly Daily for tomorrow. Gone are Neville, Metuisela, Owen, Hegarty, Ripia, Aholelei. They have already lost Hartmann, Peterson, Sefenaia, Coleman, Gilmore and Elvis to injury and Swanepoel and T. Smith O/S.
The run into the Finals will be interesting for the Marlins.

 

[Lee Grant]

That's a lot of players to lose but there won't be a lot of sympathy from north of the Narrabeen Bridge.

The Rats are also playing their deferred game tonight - against Eastwood at Rat Park 8pm. Admission is free.

 

[Keithy]

Will you include Luke Jones in the list to be lost to Manly? I think he is still with the Rebels.

 

[rugbyvet]

Its not great for the competition to be losing all those quality players, however Manly and other sides should be aware of this when they bring quality players to the club from Super 15 sides. Unless im mistaken Owen, Fairbrother, Hegarty, Jones, Ripia, Colemen, A Smith (Swarnepoel and Metuisela also altho they may have started at Manly then got contracts) were all bought into the club knowing they could have commitments for their Super 15 side or were professional players. I suppose thats the risk you take when you invest in professional players for club rugby. Few injuries there also tho which makes it unfortunate for Manly

 

[lily]

I agree with you that the clubs should be fully aware of player availabilty. My problem stems from the decision of the Melbourne Rebels to play meaningless academy games against Bath, Leinster and Worcester. I think the players would get a similar benefit being exposed to some of the quality Shute Shield sides. Metuisela was the only one on your list who was playing locally but remember you play rugby with friends and play rugby with good coaches. This could help in recruitment. Also people like Owen were Manly Juniors.