Hail fellows and well met to all,
As the rain falls gently outside my mountains window, I sit here to gather my thoughts and transcribe the coaches notes that serve as summary for the 10th August 2024 whereon the DDR did traverse the harbour, by bridge or tunnel, and did converge on Rawson Oval, just off Bradley’s Head Rd, in the midst of the financial destitution and social ruin that is Mosman, to contest with the local Whales over that weirdly shaped thing known otherwise as the rugby ball, under the watchful eye of their Ladies Day crowd. Mosman have struggled in most of their grades for much of this season, but have ‘come good’ somewhat recently. And so some may have felt a wee bit over-confident as they battled the Mercedes, Jaguars and Range Rovers up Military Road. But the Mosman Whales have always turned out a strong showing for us, especially at home, and given they were to be performing under the direct gaze of the finest of fillies that the local area could produce, it was only the woefully naive who failed to comprehend that even if for no one else, the Whales would arise for us that day and give good account of themselves. And that they did.
Judd Cup (4th grade) – Lost 36-17
Coming into the fixture at 5th on table with 3 wins from 11 starts for 21pts, hopes were high for a good showing and a solid win over the 6th placed Mosman to maintain the Red Juddo’s improbable charge on a semifinals spot. And such expectations did not seem unrealistic after a Thursday night training that started slowly, but then turned into one of the best pre-game hit-outs the lads had the pleasure of experiencing all year. However, given the Whales had shocked the higher placed Blue Goats the previous weekend by 17-7, the hitherto struggling Whales had signalled they had found some late season form from somewhere. And so anyone expecting to merely show up and record a cruisy win was in for a severe dose of reality.
That said, a reasonably good squad warm-up in the brightening sunshine and light breeze saw the lads take the field in good spirits. Yes, it was the usual make-shift sort of side with late mail and positional changes rife, but nonetheless the lads were Rippa Rita’d, Pizza Pockets and ready to roll come kick-off. And the opening exchanges were wholly in the Red Men favour with a robust scrum setting the tone, and with Alex and Fraser ‘owning the air’ at lineout time. As such, the Red Juddo’s were wallowing in a veritable glut of possession that saw the likes of the Leota Duo and Josh ADHD making metres up midfield seemingly at will. This Piggy dominance and weight of possession saw the Red Men march repeatedly into the Whales red zone, and whilst any number of scoring opportunities were initially wasted, it eventually culminated with some old fella unleashing a dynamic turn of midfield speed and athleticism to add yet another pie to his personal tally and in doing so stake his claim as the 4th grade leading try-scorer (a highly improbable allegation is all I’ll say). However, as with many sides who take initial dominance and post early scores, the seeming ease with which the opening pie was secured triggered the Red Men to not maintain the impetus, but rather to ‘switch off’, drop off some tackles, and so allow the Whales to jag a pie back and thus send the teams to oranges at one pie a-piece. Some focussed words about “Get the hell on with it!” saw the second stanza revert to red dominance for a time, until the Whales then showed the source of their late-season resurgence as they ran out what appeared to be a swag of their Colts contingent, whose speed and agility then turned the match into something more akin to a touch-football game. And so they skipped away with a flurry of long-range tries. Against that, the mid-2nd half pie & sauce to Pinchy Pichon and the late match pie to Oli Edwards just weren’t enough against the five pies plus extras the Whales tallied to steal away what was a wholly winnable affair from the Red Men.
The loss effectively ends the Red Juddo’s tilt for semifinals. Now in 6th spot with 3 from 12 for 21pts, not even securing the full 10pts on-offer for a double-points bonus-point win over 7th placed Forest next weekend would be enough to overcome the win/loss differential required to bump-out Lindfield and sneak into the top4. Alas, the Red Juddo’s do rue the 4 draws throughout the season (4!?!?), 2 of which were against teams higher than us on table, and any of which if they had been W’s (not D’s) would have had the lads still ‘in the hunt’. But that’s Horses folks (“That’s the way it’s gonna be, Little Darling…”) and whilst it’s disappointing, I expect that will not dampen the lads enthusiasm to round out the season with a rollicking good thumping of Forest next weekend at home, and then to adjourn to the Red Stand for the usual end-season dress-ups and shenanigans into the evening (talk to Paulie for details).
Whiddon Cup (3rds) – Won 31-12
The Thirsties came into the weekend with the Whiddon Cup table in interesting shape. The Red Widows were 4 from 11 on 22pts and so in 5th spot, with Lindfield in 4th on 27pts. As such a good win over the Whales was necessary to keep their season alive and set up a do or die effort for the Forest fixture. And thus, with the target well identified, the Red Widows did set their sights and did not disappoint.
In the warm residual haze of afternoon delight, comments from Supercoach Scully were that the group had a strong air of confidence prior to the game and, despite 3rds traditionally being a struggle at Mosman, the squad were clearly focussed on what they had to do. In-keeping with the spirit of middle-grades, the team did see some late notice reshuffling with Tiger Parker moving to join prodigal son Alex Crotti in the loose forwards and Sam Yip return out wide from injury. As for the match itself, the Whales surprised all by opening the affair with a pie and sauce, but Nic Scully righted the ship by saucing his own pie shortly thereafter. From there it was pies to Jude ‘every week’ Burke, Ryan ‘another bloody’ McDermott, Cory ‘bludger’ Johnstone and an absolute screamer of a pie to Alex ‘everywhere’ Crotti, along with an ample smattering of extras from Captain Nic, that saw the lads tear away with a well-deserved win and keep their season alive headed into next week.
Points went as 1pt to Richard Jobson, 2pts to Alex ‘who’s he?’ Crotti and 3pts to Tiger ‘breakaway’ Parker.
Now at 5 from 12 for 27pts, the Red Widows are 5th on table behind Lindfield on 28pts. As such it all comes down to next weekends final round against Forest. Given 4th placed Forest are taking on 3rd placed Colleagues, a Red win over Forest will see the Red Widows leapfrog one or the other (or maybe even both, if it’s a bonus point win) to grab a semi final spot. So rip on in lads, it’s all in your own hands and this is the stuff that rugby dreams are made of. Do what you have to do.
Barbour Cup (Colts) – Lost 41-0
There are moments in a young mans life when he is tested and he gets an insight into his character. And when it comes to rugby, these moments are generally not even about the score, but whether he stays in a fight and sees it through, or tucks tail and runs because it all got too hard on the day. And the weekend past was one of those times. The Red BaaBaa’s came into last weekend in 4th spot on the Barbour Cup ladder with 4 from 11 for 22pts. Against them were the undefeated Mosman, running at 12 from 12 and with a full clip of 12 bonus-points earned across the season, to be holding a ‘perfect score’ of 60 competition points. And so, whilst the result would have precisely zero impact on the table standings, the weekend was set to be a ‘big ask’ and a true character test for the Red BaaBaa’s as they continued to duck & weave and fight on for an unlikely semi-finals spot: would they front-up or would they tuck tail?
Comments from Supercoach Rowdy afterwards were a mix of admiration for both sides. Rowdy acknowledged that Mosman are clearly a very capable and well-resourced squad, with a glut of good sized and obviously skilled players to pick from, and a clearly well organised coaching team that has their chargers playing a structured and robust game. Against that, the motley crew of Red BaaBaa’s did well, all things considered, and for large chunks of the match contained their opponents well with fast, brave and solid defence. Testament to that was that the score at oranges was a respectable 21-0 and more-so in the second stanza, when the weak will generally fade away, the lads fronted up again and repeated the dose. And so whilst the Red Men didn’t trouble the scoreboard attendants, by the time the full time whistle sounded, the lads still stood tall and could hold their heads high knowing that they were brave, that they had given it what they could, and they didn’t shirk the task. But against the size, pace and skill of their opponents on the day, there was only so much they could do.
Points went as 1pt to Josh Rhodes, 2pts to Will Hobson and 3pts to Will Caldwell alongside a special mention to James Blakeman who moved from his usual jersey 7 to 13 in what was one hell of a debut in the hardest defensive spot in rugby.
The BaaBaa’s table is now interesting. The Red BaaBaa’s are 5th with 4 from 12 for 22pts whilst Colleagues are 5th with 6 from 13 on 28. But with a potential 10pts on-offer should the lads get a bonus-point win over Forest, they could leap as high as 3rd if other results also go their way (if Lindfield beat Colleagues). But anyway you like it, the first step is that the lads must win this coming weekend against 3rd placed Forest. So brace yourselves Bhoyos and get stuck in.
Burke Cup (2nds) – Lost 35-17
The Red Ressies approached the weekends foray against the Blue Whales of Mosman in good stead, being in 4th spot with 6 from 11 on 28pts, 5pts adrift the 3rd placed Hunters. That said, Forest were eyeing them off bale-fully from 5th spot with their 5 from 11 on 25pts. So, the Red Burkies really needed to gather their wits and their wares and put away the Blue Whales of Mosman who were 1 from 12 on 14pts for the season to-date and so ripe for the picking. That said, Mossy had put 4 tries on the Blue Goats the previous weekend and so, performing in-front of their dearly beloveds on Ladies Day, no one expected the Whales would be toothless. And thus it proved to be, with the Mossy lads posting one of the upsets of the Burke Cup season.
Comments from Supercoach DJ Waz were that, in retrospect, the lads were clearly distracted by the multitude of sideline issues and with having one eye on next weeks crunch game against Forest, rather than being focussed on the ‘here and now’ of ‘winning this bloody match’ against Mosman. So, whilst the Red Ressies played from the start at a frantic pace, clearly having the upper hand in ability and cohesion, and so forcing multiple clean breaks and creating plenty of opportunity, the good work was brought undone by forced passes, unnecessary errors and a strange reluctance to play direct and take contact – much to the chagrin and colourful expressionism of the coaching stuff. With all-too-palpable exasperation, Supercoach conceded that the Red Ressises will have to learn from this and put such an unexpected loss down to distractions on the day such as the shenanigans around managing player eligibility, and perhaps a lack of focus given the result today having no bearing on Drummoyne’s finishing position, rather only serving to tighten the margins.
As for Best & Fairest, the three points went to the always reliable Jimmy Vuniwa, two points went to captain Corey Griffin and a point was ceded to Shep who always makes the most of his on-field cameos with his pie allowing him to remain the leading try-scorer in the competition based on tries per game.
Despite the disappointment, the result sees the Red Ressies remain in 4th spot with 6 from 12 on 28pts, 7pts adrift 3rd placed Colleagues, who will play the last-placed Lindfield to wind out their season. As for our Red Ressies, semi-finals now come a week early as the 4th placed Red Burkies confront the 5th placed Green Giants of Forest. Long story short: the winner goes through to semi-finals and the other packs up their kit for another year. So it’s all there on the table lads, but what you eat is up to you.
Summation
So there it is folks. While we all knew the Colts would struggle against a quality Mosman outfit, we really did expect better from two of our three middle-grade teams on the day we went to Rawson Oval for 2024. Instead, the Blue Whales rallied, put on a show for their collected beauties on the sidelines, and gave 4ths and 2nds lessons on being focussed on the here and now. For that, the Whales should be acknowledged and congratulated. For us, what really should have been wins to 4ths, 3rds and 2nds turned out to be a good win for only 3rds and a kick in the pants for the rest of us. But that’s behind us now. Now we must gather our wits, tighten our cinches and ready our wares for the final round of the 2024 iteration of the Sydney Suburban Division One rugby competition, when the Green Giants of Forest will trek south to the shores of Canada Bay and meet the goodly lads of the Drummoyne District Rugby Union club on Drummoyne Oval for a double points round that will round-out the Sutho’s season and decide the fates of the Thirsties and Ressies seasons.
For the middle graders, I’ve been asked yet again to remind you all to play hard, run straight, tackle brave and then adjourn to the Red Stand, aka ‘The Pig Pen’, for end-of-regular-season celebrations. Talk to Paulie Heller for theme details.
As for the First Grade result, I’ll leave you all to be bedazzled and bewondered by the mellifluent and euphonious tones of DORK…
Boire Le vin.
Nutta.
1st grade V Mosman at Rawson Oval – Lost 41 – 26
It is never easy going to Rawson Oval to play Mosman and this proved to be a tough game and one that we had to win to keep our chances of playing in the semifinals alive. Whilst the final score did not reflect how close the game was, it didn’t go our way.
The opposition opened the scoring with a penalty goal before Captain and No 7 Alex Connolly barged over after some sustained forward pressure. No 9 Ben Halmarick converted and the Reds were in front. However another 3 pointer to Mosman and a try just before half time had them in the lead 13 – 7.
The coaches once again spoke about our discipline and all players were confident of getting the much-needed win. But it was Mosman who scored first in the 2nd half and the conversion took them further ahead.
Not to be outdone the Dirty Reds came back strong and converted tries to No 5 Reuban Brock and prop Niall McDermott had us in front by 1 point.
The home team scored next and some of the Mosman lowers graders who appeared to be fuelled by some ladies’ bubbly were giving it to our outside centre Lachlan (LJ) Jackson. The attention served as the fuel LJ was looking for and after scoring a fine try in the corner, he returned to these supporters where they shared pleasantries and their respect for each other!
The long season and injuries have taken its toll but it was some late missed tackles that cost us dearly and the score got away.
After using 5 players at No 10s this season due to injuries, James Westbury was called upon and had a fine game. Tight head prop Tommy Botting received the referees 2 points.
3 points – James Westbury
2 points – Niall McDermott
1 point – Reuben Brock
Ken Stevo