John I Dent Cup - Canberra Competition -

[Empire]

Easts down 24-31 to Victoria rep side.

Major injury to Timi Tapara, most likely syndesmosis. Has been referred to hospital for xrays, too much swelling to accurately assess, but doesn't look good. At least Uelesse isn't too far off returning.

Write up on Brumbies website... very dissapointing not to win, but fatigue and not putting reserves on early enough really hurt us. All in all, completely different attitude to last weeks game against Uni. Just missing the finesse to put teams away.

6 penalties alone for offisde in the first halve - unacceptable. Lots of other ruck infringements saw our no7 go to the bin in the last 10. Jack Vanderglas was sorely missed tonight.

 

[brumbyjack]

anyone catch the owls v whites game? i heard uni came over the top of them in both first and second grade?

 

[BrumbiesPolynesian]

anyone catch the owls v whites game? i heard uni came over the top of them in both first and second grade?

Yeah, a lack of a goal kicker killed us.
We scored more tries than them.
Although, credit to Uni Norths, they look very handy this season, their Fijian centre looks like he could be one of the Competitions finds.

 

[ten four]

Yeah, a lack of a goal kicker killed us.
We scored more tries than them.
Although, credit to Uni Norths, they look very handy this season, their Fijian centre looks like he could be one of the Competitions finds.

I think if you check it was actually 4 tries apiece( excluding a disallowed try for aforward pass that wasnt to uni north in the first half)

 

[Empire]

In either case, Uni won.

Talking to a few of the Whites in the evening, they completely underestimated the Owls, as we had the week before.

Both sides will know what to expect now however, return rounds will be great games.

Agreed on their 13, very incisive player and good cornerstone in defense.

 

[BrumbiesPolynesian]

Looking forward to the clash with Royals this weekend. I think people are too quick to write Royals off at the moment after suffering two heavy losses but I think once they have all their players on board, its going to be a different story.
Both teams will be desparate to get a win on the board. Should make for good viewing.

 

[Empire]

Looking forward to the clash with Royals this weekend. I think once they have all their players on board, its going to be a different story.

I think every club can relate to that comment. We are doing it tough with injuries at the moment (5-6 1st's alone injured).
At the end of the day, whoever the club can put out will have to do. As I've mentioned before, injuries will dictate and subsequent depth across grades will determine who are the successful clubs.

Gets tough as a clubs medico seeing so many injured guys - irrespective of the team. I hate seeing young guys injured keeping fit and active.

On another note, Cameron Wyper (previously at vikings) signed up tonight. Should help shore up our backs.

 

[Canon76]

Empire, what was the victorian side like, has anybody compared the line up to the rebel rising team ? Just wondering if it is really a victoria XV or in reality just a rebels academy side .

 

[Empire]

Not 100% sure to be honest - would suggest quite a few would be in the academy set up at some level. All looked very conditioned an fit, which is a chief reason why they caught us at the end (and the fact we had 14 on the field).

Another thing I caught when on the field was that all the runners etc for the Victorians had Rebels kit.

I would wager a similar ACT side would decimate this team. We really shouldn't have lost to them. Watching the video last night showed so many silly mistakes and 30+ points worth of penalties. Glad it was just a friendly!

 

[en_force_er]

Another thing I caught when on the field was that all the runners etc for the Victorians had Rebels kit.

I would wager a similar ACT side would decimate this team. We really shouldn't have lost to them. Watching the video last night showed so many silly mistakes and 30+ points worth of penalties. Glad it was just a friendly!

You'd hope so in a state with a long standing professional set-up. There is no reason Victorian Premier rugby can't catch ACT's in the next 3-5 years.

 

[Empire]

For a state the size of Victoria compared to the ACT, you would hope so.

Going by the strides made by the Rebels, I don't doubt it too.

However, a side made up of non-academy players would definitely account for the team in it's current form.

 

[en_force_er]

However, a side made up of non-academy players would definitely account for the team in it's current form.

Yeah, but I think you need to take into account Victoria has picked those players based on potential.

One player in particular, not naming names, doesn't get much game time for the 1s at his own club but is very young and seen as a player of potential by the coaches.

 

[Empire]

I'm going off the fact they are a rep side picked from the Victorian (Melbourne) club scene. Take your pick from 10 clubs.

A team made up of ACT players (even excluding signed academy players) would have been far stronger in my opinion.

Whether they were selected out of potential, merit, reputation is irrelevant in my eyes. They were wearing the rep jersey, they were Victoria, and they were the team we played.

 

[BrumbiesPolynesian]

I'm going off the fact they are a rep side picked from the Victorian (Melbourne) club scene. Take your pick from 10 clubs.

A team made up of ACT players (even excluding signed academy players) would have been far stronger in my opinion.

Whether they were selected out of potential, merit, reputation is irrelevant in my eyes. They were wearing the rep jersey, they were Victoria, and they were the team we played.

Empire, do you think a full strength Easts would have beaten that VIC side if it was at full strength?

 

[Empire]

Anything is possible. Big Uelesse's would have helped with the huge Vic forwards, and some depth in the backs to allow for earlier replacements (and prevention of the fade out seen) would have really helped.

That said, Vic won, and they will be a good squad into the future. Great to have the guys travel up and play a great game.

I'd love to see a rep competition set up between the stronger rugby states. Vic, ACT, QLD and NSW at present.

 

[en_force_er]

Empire, what was the victorian side like, has anybody compared the line up to the rebel rising team ? Just wondering if it is really a victoria XV or in reality just a rebels academy side .

To answer your question, which I didn't see before, there is probably a 5-6 player overlap.

Basically what they did is the top local Victorian players were picked to train with Rebel Rising (who train separately to Vic State) and now that Rising's season is over they've gone back to training with the State side and all the Sydney and Brisbane players have gone back to their previous rugger commitments (as well as the full contract Rebels players).

That being said a couple of players who are reasonably established professionals but not in the Rebel squad have permanently moved to Victoria and thus are considered locals like Luke Holmes and Richard Stanford.

 

[CoachTB]

The victorian rep side is just that. The Rebels Rising side had a lot of sydney club players in it that are fringe Rebels. All those players have returned to their clubs.

 

[Canon76]

Is there an ACT rep game this weekend at Canberra Stadium on Sunday, I assume that all selected players and reserves will not be allowed to play for their club sides ? Why would the brumbies select such an odd date and take players away from the canberra comp, surely we could have just had a general bye for the round. Has anybody heard who is in the team ?

 

[BrumbiesPolynesian]

Is there an ACT rep game this weekend at Canberra Stadium on Sunday, I assume that all selected players and reserves will not be allowed to play for their club sides ? Why would the brumbies select such an odd date and take players away from the canberra comp, surely we could have just had a general bye for the round. Has anybody heard who is in the team ?

Is their really?
None of the Whites boys have been pulled out so maybe no Whites players are involved? I wonder who this side is?

 

[Brumbies Guy]

Is there an ACT rep game this weekend at Canberra Stadium on Sunday, I assume that all selected players and reserves will not be allowed to play for their club sides ? Why would the brumbies select such an odd date and take players away from the canberra comp, surely we could have just had a general bye for the round. Has anybody heard who is in the team ?

Curtain raiser for the Brumbies game on Sunday arvo?