By “Nutta”
Greetings all you Red Lads and Lasses,
As we dust ourselves off from the Petersham experience and look forward to Colleagues at home, it’s timely to review the events of the day from last Saturday at Camperdown Oval…
4th Grade (Judd Cup). Won 26-5.
Comments from Supercoach Heller were that the Juddies started off very slowly with handling errors and dropped balls being du jour. As such it was a very “stop & start” beginning for the match and it took some time to find rhythm and to start getting some ‘go forward ball’. Thus it was not until towards the back end of the first half before the Juddies began to find their groove. However once found, a notable groove it proved to be with a fine 20 metre driving maul from near the Shammies quarter opening the gates for the Backs to take over and complete the effort and dot down a fine ‘all team’ try. And prior to oranges, similarly from a solid forwards platform, the ball spread wide again for Full Back Chase Gatland to find the Shammies try line for the 2nd pie of the day. However all was not plain sailing with our set-piece again under pressure and our scrum losing a number of feeds.
After a moments respite and reflection on things philosophical, the Juddies commenced with the 2nd half and Supercoach Heller was relieved to report that “we kept the peddle to the metal”. Given the healthy numbers of 4th grade, a new backline took to the field for the new half, and whilst somewhat slow to start again, it was not long before the opportunities started to come. On the back of a much improved scrum (Matt Smith’s inclusion proving talismanic there) and continued around-ground forward dominance, the Reds started to assert ascendency. And while multiple opportunities ‘bombed out’ with at least 3 tries going begging, the lads eventually gelled enough to put on two more pies and secure the elusive bonus point. However a late lapse in concentration did result in the Shammies snatching back a pie which all concerned were quietly disappointed about.
All in all it was a good day at the office. As regards B&F, 1 point went to Chase Gatland, 2 points to Paula Makisi and 3 points to Daniel Karooz.
The win leaves the Juddies with 4 wins from 5 starts and at 3rd on the ladder overall. They are 4pts clear of Blue Mountains, only 2pts shy of 2nd placed Mosman and 7pts shy of 1st placed Colleagues. So the Juddies have it all to play for against the Colleagues lads this coming weekend at home.
3rd Grade (Whiddon Cup). Won 12-7.
The Thirsties came into this match smarting from losing their undefeated status the week before in the loss to Blue Mountains. And they had challenged each other during the week to not start the day by waiting for someone else to do something. So the enthusiasm to get on and ‘do a job’ on the Petersham lads was certainly there. But it must also be said that the execution did not match the enthusiasm. And so, between over-enthusiasm stimulating poor decision making, lack of focus making for poor skill execution and a considerably stronger Shammies line up than was seen earlier in the year, the Thirsties start as regards their attack was poor. Bloody poor actually, with passes thrown unnecessarily, passes that went to ground, kicks that did not go out and scrums that were not stable. So just about everything that could go wrong did go wrong except for two elements; lineouts and defence which were both rock solid. But the rest of it was decidedly ordinary.
Accordingly, the half time assessment of the 0-0 score line from the coaching group was roundly critical and all encompassing. However it had the desired affect and saw the team start the second half in the way they had planned to start the match with sharp, accurate use of the pill. This opened up the game as intended and thus two pies came the Red Men way in relatively quick succession and the Shammies were looking ‘on the ropes’ and the Thirsties appeared about to run away with the show.
However, once again Thirsties then lost focus and became their own worst enemies as they were the week before. They were being sucked into midfield attrition-based play and moving away from the fast-paced, basic attacking skills execution their year-to-date success had been built on. This allowed the Shammies to push back into the game. The Thirsties frustrations with their own inabilities then led to them being on the wrong end of a hefty penalty count. All that pressure piled up and eventually, despite a otherwise herculean defensive effort, Thirsties allowed the opponent to pull the same trick as last week – get back into a game they were out of – and accordingly the Shammies pinched a pie with sauce at the very death of the match to make the score-line far more flattering to Shammies than it should have been.
The win restores the Thirsties to the top of the Whiddon table given Bluey’s stumbled against Forest. But the margins are wafer thin and there are no laurels to be rested on against the Colleagues this coming weekend.
From a B&F perspective, Charlie Mannix earned the 3pts with a massive game while 2pts went to Mac Long and 1pt to Aidan Schmitt.
1sts Colts (Barbour Cup). Won 18-10.
The Colts game was characterised by defiance. Sheer, bloody-minded, gritty defiance. Not all of the defiance on display was good or useful – particularly as it pertains to Referee management – but certainly the Younger Red Men had the bit in their teeth and were ‘up’ for the tussle whomever it was to be against. And on a positive note, that defiance was certainly present in their defensive effort as they tackled, tackled and tackled. And when they got a bit sick of that, they tackled some more. Mind you, given the amount of ball our lads gave to the Shammies particularly via our relations with the Referee, they bloody well had to tackle everything that moved. And to be fair, with that glut of possession, it was only to be expected that the Shammies posted two pies sans sauce. However by and large, seemingly no matter how many times the Shammies Lads did present on the Red Men try line, they were duly tackled backwards.
In between all that tackling there were a few flashes of good attacking play resulting in 3 Red tries. One of those tries, the 2nd I think, came after 9 phases of recycled play. And following the 3rd try, Mousier Doyle also then landed a penalty kick from the sideline to send the Colties 8pts clear of the Shammies with but a few minutes remaining. Again the Red Lads invited Petersham’s finest down the park and allowed the Shammies to bombard their try line again in the closing moments. But as it had all day, the Red Men defence stood strong and the Red Colties held out for their third win on the trot.
I have to acknowledge that 2nd try. Building 9 phases of play and having it successfully culminate in a try is no small accomplishment for any team at any level, let alone a Colts team. But it is demonstrably well within the capabilities of this Colts team. And that’s fantastic, particularly when combined with the lads clear willingness to also tackle and defend for each other. The core elements for a ruthlessly successful team are clearly on hand in this group. But again, I confess that clear potential also heightens the frustration with the Colties disposition particularly towards Referee management. That is their hurdle to overcome as the season matures if the Bhoyos want to push into September. And thus the Red Colties find themselves now 3rd on the Barbour table, 1pt lonely point in front of their opponents this weekend and perennial September participants – Colleagues.
Best & Fairest points were 3pts to Liam Doyle, 2pts to Pat Musillo and 1pt to Hugh Wicks and Andy Musillo
2nds (Burke Cup). Won 52-7.
What do you say about a win that emphatic? Comments from Supercoach Mick were that it was a lovely sunny afternoon at Camperdown Oval for the Burkies Belta and with the previous grades all showing the way, the lads were well aware of what was expected to be force-fed to Shammies on their special day. And so the Red Burkies duly obliged with a cracking start from a long kick off received deep in our own quarter. AC sent the play wide and we spun the ball about to set in motion what for all the world to see was going to be a cracking try… only to be called back for a forward pass some 60m back down field. However after that minor interruption we resumed our great start and started establishing dominance across the park in general.
Proceedings were not entirely one way though. Petersham’s hefty forward pack were quite willing early on in trying to get the upper hand, and based off their efforts they did cross for their one and only try to lead 0-7 after 10 or so minutes. However, duly stung, the Red Men promptly hit back with some great attack play. And before too long, some industrious lead up work from the Backs positioned AC to crash over for a pie which Ben Halmarick sauced to set the lines at 7-7 all. And in similar vein, soon after that we were back down the right end of the park again and after an outstanding bit of individual brilliance from Liam Corry we crashed over again to set up a 12-7 lead heading into oranges.
The second half started with a rejuvenated Shammies forcing the Red Burkies to display some strong defence. But again, the Shammies efforts were absorbed with no real harm done and before too long we scored our 3rd try with AC crashing over out wide for his double-pie. This set the tone for the rest of the afternoon and by way of example, from the resulting kick-off, Jimmy V slashed and burnt down the wider paths and via some quick clearance from the ruck we then saw our flanker come centre Boon go through a gaping hole and set the try for Ben Halmarick to complete the honours. Sauce was squirted on the pie and we were leading comfortably at 24-7.
Now generally speaking, with a wee buffer, many teams then get loose and lose focus. But not the Red Burkies and not today. From the subsequent kick off came the best try of the game. The secured fast ruck ball sent Nick Powell through the hole and he fed to Boon who fed to Nick to who passed back to Boon who linked to Jimmy who made the final pass to Evan to score next to the posts. Absolutely deadly stuff.
Three more tries to come in the half. Firstly a quick thinking half back snipe from Ben Halmarick posted his 2nd pie (careful or you’ll get fat wee fella) with that followed by Liam Corry swooping for a beautifully timed intercept that led to 80 odd metres of avoiding the Shammies cover defence before posting his 2nd pie (another fat man in waiting) and then the last pie was picked out by young Harry Stanton (no signs of fatness there yet) to close the day out at 52-7.
The win puts the Red Burkies at top of the Ressies table on 20pts, 2pts clear of 2nd placed Colleagues and 5pts clear of 3rd placed Waverley. As with the other grades, that makes this weekends fixture against Colleagues more than a little significant leading into the middle of the season.
Supercoach Mick’s last comment for the day was prophetic – “Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work”.
1st Grade (Kentwell Cup). Lost 14-12.
Following wins in all other games & grades leading up to 1st grade, 1sts were mindful of the expectation being set to completely bugger up the Shammies Old Boys Day. However, perhaps in recognition of the day and its meaning to their club, Petersham had other ideas for the Big Show and to their credit they put in a massive defensive effort to shut down a lot of the Red Men attacking raids. That said, besides the Shammies efforts, the Red Men also contributed roundly to their own woes by failing to win a single lineout for the entirety of the first half and those that were won in the 2nd half were messy to say the least.
That said, Drummoyne opened with optimism by posting the opening pie to no8 Sione Takelo, which was duly sauced by fullback James Westbury. With that start, the general feel coming from the early game interactions was that plenty more Red pies were going to land in short measure. However, despite a glut of opportunities and attempts to cross the Shammies line at regular intervals throughout the 1st half, all efforts were being heartily repelled by Petersham’s finest and it looked like Drummoyne would take a 7-0 lead into half time. However a late spate of penalties gave the Shammies the opportunity to camp on the Red line and batter away until they finally bashed their way over and thus sent the teams to oranges with the score even at 7-7.
The 2nd half was more of the same with Drummoyne making any number and nature of line breaks, but then failing to convert any of those breaks into proper meat pies. Eventually Petersham struck back and posted a sauced try of their own to skip out to 14-7 whilst Drummoyne continued to flail about, failing to capitalise on opportunities and committing basic mistakes that stopped multiple more line breaks from bearing the fruit they should have.
As the match grew longer, the desperation of the Red Men grew in tandem and finally an intercept from scrum half Corey Griffin snagged the pie that got Drummoyne back in the contest. But the sauce was not squirted and, despite further forays and opportunities for the Red Men, the spirited Petersham defence saw them through the remaining minutes and they kept the lead until the final whistle. In the words of Supercoach Sinsa: “Bugger”.
The lineout is proving to be an Achilles Heel for this team, as only it can be when the aspect of play that delivers 70% of primary possession is not functioning. And the 3rd loss in a row now sees the Kentwellians at 6th on a ladder of 9. Accordingly, at 11pts compared to the Colleagues 14pts, the clash on the shores of Canada Bay this coming weekend takes on a whole new level of intensity as the Blue Boys of Woollahra will be looking to repay the 52-18 drubbing of Round 2 whilst the Red Men look to rediscover their early season winning form. Brace yourselves Bhoyos because it will be on from the opening whistle.
So there you have it folks. 4 wins from 5 starts at Petersham on their Old Boys Day was good return on investment. Colties are finding their form and if they find their Referee sensibilities, the world will be their oyster. Fourthies are likewise in good shape but their way forward lies in finding a functioning scrum. Thirsties have all the ingredients necessary and to be fair they lead their table, they only need to respect the ball and their team mates a bit more. As for 2nds, they only need to be careful they don’t let complacency creep into their game. As for the Red Kentwellians, their ability to break the line is most definitely there, but the finish and the results are not. They need to find the answer to that. And find it in a hurry.
This weekend sees us host the Blue Boys of Woollahra back at Sydney’s most glorious oval. So tell your mates, tell your girlfriend, tell your mum, but either way get yourself down to training and strap yourself in for a cracking Saturday is rugby day before the two-week lay-off. Bust yourselves boys, you’ve got a fortnight to heal.
Boire le vin
Nutta
#dirtyreds #deeperthanblood
For the other rounds