The NSW Suburban Rugby competition, the largest competition in the country, will come to a close this weekend, with the Division 1 grand finals to be run and won on Saturday.
The lower division grand finals have been decided over the last three weeks and the highest division final will see Petersham, the minor premiers taking on second placed Drummoyne in the Kentwell Cup match at TG Millner Field at 3pm.
The Executive Director of NSW Subbies Tim Richards says it will be a terrific day and a great occasion to bring the season to a close.
“There’s been a bit of a changing of the guard in Division 1 this year with Petersham competing in the grand finals in the top 4 grades,” Tim said.
“They’ve also won the club championship for the first time in their long history and the Cowboy Cup, the interdivisional cup challenge which very rarely goes to a Division 1 club, so they’ve had a great year!”
Drummoyne is one of the most successful Kentwell Cup teams in recent years and they return for the final game of the season ready to take on the minor premiers.
“It’s been a couple of years since Drummoyne has been in the grand final so they‘ll be looking to get their name back on the trophy for the first time in a while,” says Richards.
“It will be a good challenge between these two teams who shared the honours in the regular season, while Petersham defeated the Dirty Reds by 51-26 in the qualifying final. I think it will be a lot closer than that on Saturday.”
Drummoyne go into the match with Tiger Parker at outside centre, who received the inaugural Dan Moore Medal for best player in the NSW Subbies representative team at the NSWRU Awards night held last Friday.
Tom Evans the second highest try scorer in the Kentwell Cup with 6 tries, will boost Petersham’s chances of winning, while George Montgomery the Shammies No 10 is the leading goal kicker in the competition with 59 conversions.
The Kentwell Cup Grand Final day is always a little special according to Tim Richards.
“We not only have a day of grand finals starting from 9:00am, but we also invite all our VIP’s and sponsors and club representatives along for a big lunch, to enjoy the rugby and do a little socialising as well,” he said.
“This year we’ll also be presenting our Life Members with an honour cap and a lapel pin to recognise, in a concrete way, their contribution to the Union over many decades.”
And to the year of the Subbies comp as a whole?
“Well, the weather was great for starters, we didn’t have one rescheduled or washed out match for the first time in living memory, and so that was a bonus.
“And the biggest thing for us is that our player’s numbers are up and the big increase has been in colts numbers. We’ve very purposely targeted that age group and we have gone from 19 colt’s teams to 30 in one year and we are over the moon about that.”
For those who can’t get to the ground, but want to follow the scores of all games live, download the Fusesport results app at: https://admin.fusesport.com/_uploads/res/132_12198.PDF
Hawkesbury Radio (89.9FM) will also be broadcasting the action live: http://streaming.interservs.com:8006/listen.pls
NSW Suburban Grand Finals at TG Millner Field, Eastwood – Saturday 9 September
1st Grade Kentwell Cup: Petersham vs Drummoyne 3:00pm
2nd Grade Burke Cup: Waverley vs Petersham 1:20pm
Colts Barbour Cup: Petersham vs Mosman 11:40am
3rd Grade Whiddon Cup: Petersham vs Drummoyne 10:15am
4th Grade Judd Cup: Knox vs Mosman 9:00am
5th Grade Sutherland Cup: Mosman v Colleagues 10.20am (Field #2)