Day 2 – Australian Schools National Championship

NSW I   76  –  Western Australia 0

A gentle westerly breeze wafted in over the field from the main College buildings.  The sun had come out to dry off the surface moisture from the overnight rain.  Conditions were perfect for rugby.

New South Wales 1st XV (NSW I) Captain, 10 J McGregor kicked off from the Northern end of the main oval to get proceedings underway for the days rugby.

Unfortunately things were about to get bad, really bad, for Western Australia schools (WA).

First half

NSW I gave all their bench a start, apart from 19 Girdler who started on Monday in game 1.

The WA team likewise seemed to have a few of their bench players starting, perhaps to keep some players fresh for Thursday’s key matchup against Victoria.

One minute into the game after some sustained pressure, nippy 7 C Smith opened up the account for NSW I.  He burst through a yawning gap in the WA defence line that was struggling to adjust to the pace and ferocity of the NSW I attack. 10 McGregor missed the conversion which was taken 5 from the touchline. NSW 1 5 – WA 0.

Shortly after this WA were awarded a penalty about 40 metres from the NSW I line. The kick for goal from 10 N Jooste just shaved the outside of the right upright, resulting in no points. Alas, this was the closest that the boys from WA came to troubling the score board attendant.

The first set piece of the game, a lineout occurred at the 6th minute mark with a NSW I feed. From the ensuing driving maul, 21 J Oxley at halfback fired a quick ball wide to the waiting 10 McGregor.  He collected the pass and scooted over the chalk for his first points of the day. 10 McGregor converted his own try to take the score to 12 – 0 after 7 minutes. Things were not looking good for WA.

Rinse and repeat. 2 minutes later, Birthday boy 16 D Woods name was added to the scoreboard with the first of his two meat pies for the day.  Some deft footwork from his Joeys team mates, 15 T Wright and 6 N Gittoes, who both touched twice in the try setup.  10 McGregor successfully converted to take the scores out to NSW I 19 – WA 0 after 10 minutes.

NSW I kept the scoreboard ticking over with regularity and WA could do little to counter the relentless attack from the slick NSW I outfit. The tempo and accuracy of the NSW I team was apparent; it took 16 minutes for the first scrum to be called, off a NSW I forward pass.

At Oranges, NSW I had scored 7 tries to lead by 47 – 0. NSW I had been able to create space almost at will. They mesmerised the WA defence with wide balls from quick phase play, hard straight running, and superior attack support. The NSW I defence had not really been tested because WA had been starved of the ball.

Second half

The onslaught continued in the second stanza.  WA were only kept in the game after NSW I were penalised 6 times at the breakdown. WA 10 Jooste was able to set the advancing blue tide back 30 – 50 metres at each one of these.

Unfortunately a combination of inaccurate throws, and a great defensive lineout from NSW I meant that WA only retained possession from 3 of these. The NSW I grind upfield recommenced.

By the time that referee Cox had blown no game, NSW I had added a further 5 tries and 2 conversions.  This included a very brazen brace of tries from halfback 21 J Oxley, darting down an open blind side in the 5th and 10th minute after oranges.

To their credit, the WA team never seemed to give up, remaining positive, despite the ever increasing scoreline against them.

The players

Players who took my eye were:

NSW I – 10. McGregor, 8. Anderson, 13. Kennewell, 6. Gittoes, 20. Hingano, 7 Smith, 15 Wright, 5 McCauley.
Western Australia – 10 Jooste, 1 Marlo, 8 Cavu

Wrap-up

NSW I improved on yesterday’s performance, confidently moving the ball wide and fast to continually dislocate the WA defence. With total supremacy in possession and position, the WA team was cut out of the game.

The score could have been even greater if they had been more accurate at the breakdown, where they were on the receiving end of about 10 penalties.
WA were totally starved of opportunity and their defence bludgeoned into submission by NSW I.  They appear to have superior size, strength and conditioning, and depth in their roster.

Having tackled themselves to a standstill, WA were continually unable to realign and reorient to face the next probe from their opponents. The match could be summed up by a comment overheard from the WA players after the 11th try: “Great defence boys. It took them ages to score that one!”

Once again, 10 Jooste stood out, and spectators were left wondering how good he would have looked behind the NSW I pack.  NSW I have further reinforced their favouritism, and WA can look forward to a less one sided contest against Victoria tomorrow.

The scoring

NSW I 76 (1 H Johnson-Holmes, 7 C Smith x 2, 8 L Anderson, 10 J McGregor, 13 S Kennewell, 14, S Loga-Tarogi, 16 D Woods x 2, 17 J Morrison, 21 J Oxley x 2 tries; 10 J McGregor x 6 cons, 12 D England 2 cons) def. Western Australia 0

See next page for reports of other games.