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ARU Junior Gold Cup - National Junior Championships

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Heavens game

Heavens game

Allen Oxlade (6)
Bladerunner said:
Anyone have any thoughts on the Brisbane sides, who has the stongest squads to match it with the Southern and Western states.
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Murmurs have it that Brisbane Orange look to have good squads in both ages we will all find out in Feb I guess. Lots of positives coming out of the Logan centre in its inaugural year. Brisbane purple also looking to put in another stong year, 2015 will make it very interesting for JGC and hopefully cements the program long term in the ARU landscape
 
the baz

the baz

Alfred Walker (16)
the gear supplier has changed from last year - aru went for the cheaper (quality and price) option, and so you have to wait for the gear to come from wherever the supplier can source in china. The supplier is not a major player, so there may be issues with sizes, designs, and particularly shipping. the majors can fly it over, the minor players will boat it, cheaper, but takes longer. Also keep in mind, really only 2 guys running this program from aru (soon to be nswru) development.
 
D

Druid

Herbert Moran (7)
I attended the Under 15s portion of the trials yesterday (couldn't stick around for the U17s) and I must say it was a great morning of Rugby. There were the 4 Sydney centres and a Fijian Schools side thrown in as well. It is my first time attending a Gold Squad event and the atmosphere on the sideline was just fantastic, so much better than the State Champs atmosphere. People that were near me were there just to enjoy the Rugby and I didn't hear any of the snarky, negative crap comments (my boy/district is better than yours and we're going to smash you etc..) that I hear at the State Champs (yes even in trials) frequently.

Sydney North were the standout team and were simply too efficient, cohesive and structured for the other teams.

Sydney South went well and had some size about them but lacked some structure at times.

Sydney North West lacked some size and cohesiveness but at times put together some impressive phases and looked good particularly in their final game against Sydney West, definately something to build upon.

Sydney West played well, had some big boys, but appeared to tire as the day went on.

And the Fiji schools side lacked size and was not up to the standard but tried hard all day and provided some good entertaining Rugby.

The sides will get better as some combinations are worked out and the squads are reduced to their match squads, but in all a very enjoyable morning of Rugby.
 
S'UP

S'UP

Bill Watson (15)
Was there for all the games, i agree with Druid the 15's were good to watch and the comments fair. The 17's were much the same all the games were very close, Wests and South had some bigger boys which help the progress forward but they let themselves down with execution. North and North West lacked size but their execution was better. All the game were played at a reasonably fast pace and you could certainly see the skills the boys have been working on coming through in game play. Difficult to tell how the teams will look after the squads are cut down to 25, but all the squads will be strong and I wouldn't like to be the coaches selecting the 25.
The pleasing thing for me was seeing boys playing the game at a level they hadn't done previously which is what the JGC is all about.
 
C

CNorth

Herbert Moran (7)
Thanks for the report excellent info. Great to hear attitude and approach by parents in line with overall expectations Any standout players that spring to mind from any of the teams??
 
I

iceman

Guest
Any updates on the goings on in Queensland? Team analysis, individuals?
 
S'UP

S'UP

Bill Watson (15)
CNorth said:
Thanks for the report excellent info. Great to hear attitude and approach by parents in line with overall expectations Any standout players that spring to mind from any of the teams??
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To be honest not really, not that I took any notes and there wasn't a program. I do remember commenting in the 15's that the 12 from Northern looked like a quality player, ran nice lines, offered good ball the players outside. If you looked at the one off run or big tackles you would say Southern and Western had the better of the players but inline with my comments above they lacked control and the bigger boys putting in repeat efforts, which allowed the other team back into the game. I think in the 17's if Wests can play with constant effort they would be the team to beat, with nothing between the rest. In the 15's, Northern are the standout, but I think North West could be the dark horse a number of their boys will be better off for the run at a faster pace, their breakdown was a meter too slow but they got better as the day went on.
 
Azzuri

Azzuri

Trevor Allan (34)
S'UP said:
To be honest not really, not that I took any notes and there wasn't a program. I do remember commenting in the 15's that the 12 from Northern looked like a quality player, ran nice lines, offered good ball the players outside. If you looked at the one off run or big tackles you would say Southern and Western had the better of the players but inline with my comments above they lacked control and the bigger boys putting in repeat efforts, which allowed the other team back into the game. I think in the 17's if Wests can play with constant effort they would be the team to beat, with nothing between the rest. In the 15's, Northern are the standout, but I think North West could be the dark horse a number of their boys will be better off for the run at a faster pace, their breakdown was a meter too slow but they got better as the day went on.
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I was there for all the games and watched the 17's with great interest.

It's true that Wests in particular had some big boppers but they weren't mobile enough and as the game progressed they got slower and slower to the breakdown and their execution suffered. Given the total game time for each hit out was only 22 minutes I think they may struggle to keep up the pressure in a full game, especially against the more mobile and better drilled sides like North West and North. All that said its early days and there was lots of talent on display which hopefully is a good sign for a lot of entertaining rugby in February next year.
 
RedBlue

RedBlue

Stan Wickham (3)
I was at the trials for all the 15's games and I thought that

Sydney West: They played to their strengths by keeping the ball in tight with their big forwards and rarely showed their back the ball which meant after about 10-15mins they were getting really tired consequently meaning the other teams started to put tries on. In the Junior Gold games there is a restricted amount of subs which I really do think will work against wests if their fitness doesn't pick up a bit. I think they will really become a more attacking side with their number 9 controlling a strong running pack and hard running backline.

Standouts: Number 8 (Musika and Keith Titmuss) Number 6 against south harbour, the front row and fullback ethan as well as Netane their prop

Sydney North West: They were scrappy at times especially around the ruck and between 9 and 10 which stopped a lot of go forward. They seemed to rely bait on their 12 who ran good holes and was strong in defence and their prop. They seemed fit enough and I think they will be successful if they can get the ball flowing. They had tough losses but beat fiji.

Standouts: 12 against Fiji, Prop (Arman Zakarian)

Sydney South Harbour: It was very hard to tell what they will be like as they had a very large squads and significantly changed they're teams. They came off a tough lose to North Harbour first up playing a one pass off ruck tactic (which I thought was smart when playing a smaller team) although North Harbour were aggressive in the tackle contest and it didn't work for them and yet thy didn't change their pattern. They then did the same against Wests and ended up with a draw where I'm sure they could have won if they played wider rugby. I do have to say that they will be a hard side to stop if they can change their patterns and play a little smarter.

Standouts: Hooker (Kyle Devine), Flanker (Charlie Davis), Winger/ Fullback (Max??) but seemed to be made up of all good players especially they're forward pack.

Sydney North Harbour: For me they were by far the best side. I don't think they even played near what they could with a fair few penalties and drop balls. They look very promising when they get into the swing of things and more ball starts going to hand. almost every time their backline got the ball they were breaking the line. I felt their 9 was giving good ball to the 10 in the south harbour game but the 10 struggled to make something happen with it instead always shifting it to 12. From there it was slick running through the outside back with great holes. The forward pack were strong runners and tacklers but scrum and ruck was a little weak.

Standouts: 13 (Dom Easy), Props, 6 (Luke Reimer), all halfbacks were strong and 12 (Vinni?)

Does anyone know how the other centres around Australia are looking and how the format for the competition is going eg. are they having quarter finals?.
 
HJ Nelson

HJ Nelson

Trevor Allan (34)
Staff member
Bladerunner said:
A few league boys they will be tough if they can get the fundamentals of rugby, will be a good game between them and orange, that will show how strong they will be.
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Yes, I watched the U15 trials, and some of the new names are huge, with lots of potential. Overall, they should be a much better team (relatively) than the one that won the state championships as U13's
 
S'UP

S'UP

Bill Watson (15)
Has anyone been advised from Sydney North West that they are into the next phase of the competition?
 
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