Qld Premier Colts

Results from yesterday

Easts 38 d Souths 25
University 75 d Norths 12
Gold Coast 33 d Sunshine Coast 12
GPS 29 d Wests 0
Brothers 31 draw Sunnybank 31

No real upsets there. The Brothers v Sunnybank result will make the Dragons v Uni game a winner in and looser out affair.

Norths stuck it to Uni early by scoring a couple of early tries but the students were always in control even with a few players being rested. Norths also had a couple of BBC 1st XV players on the field for them. Not sure what the connection is but they obviously have next year on their minds, as they should.

So the points table will be something like

GC 61
Br 61
GPS 60
SB 59
UQ 57

4 points between first and 5th make it quite an exciting weekend with the final positions on the ladder still to be finalised.

One of the major issues in this is that clubs don't seem to understand the importance of a pathway for coaches. They just seem happy to put someone in the position and hope that they will do a good job. Clubs should be trying to encourage former players to get some experience in lower grades and bring them through so that they understand what is involved at coaching at a higher level. They also need to be given an outline of how long it will take to reach a certain level. Just because you played Premier rugby doesn't mean that you will be able to coach at that level.
With GPS rugby being so intense these days some players can't handle going to play club rugby where they only train twice a week and the coaches don't seem to have an idea about what they are doing.
A great example of developing a coach is Tim Sampson at Sunnybank. He retired from playing and they made sure that he was still involved with coaching and a couple of years on he is a Premier coach. He was provided a pathway and happily took it.

In most years if you finish the comp with over 55 points you would expect to be playing in the finals but that will not be the case this year. 6 teams will finish the Prem colts season past that point and at least 5 of these teams should have a positive points difference over 150.
Easts in 6th spot on 54 points will finish the year with a big win over Norths, who are on their last legs, and could end up in 5th spot if other games go their way.
Uni and Sunnybank play each other out at Sunnybank this weekend with the winner likely to be in the finals and the looser out for the season. I think a few other teams will be keen to see the back of one of these teams as they both have the potential to knock off some of the higher finishing teams. If Uni win without a bonus point and Sunnybank gain 2 bonus points then the Dragons will go through but with Uni kickers only getting 5/13 last weekend I would say that they will need to score tries to win.
GPS play Sunnycoast at home and should pick up at least 4 points. They are in form and it will take a very good team to beat them over the next few weeks. If they win and the teams above them draw then they will be minor premiers.
Brothers play the Breakers on the Gold Coast with the winning team likely to be Minor Premiers for 2010. The winner will also have a physiological edge if they cross paths again this month.
If you get the chance get out and watch some Prem colts rugby this weekend and you shouldn't be disappointed as it is very attacking and exciting to watch.

Standings

Team Points Point Dif
Gold Coast 61 182
Brothers 61 145
GPS 60 163
Sunnybank 59 191
Uni 57 162
Easts 54 147
Souths 46 -19
Sunny Coast 34 -55
Wests 16 -295
Norths 1 -621

Results from yesterday below

GPS 19 d Sunshine Coast 15
Easts 46 d Norths 5
Gold Coast 27 d Brothers 22
Souths 43 d Wests 7
University 27 d Sunnybank 21

Not sure if Brothers managed a 4th try but if they did they are in 3rd and if not they finish 4th.

I'm sure a lot of teams are happy to see the end of Sunnybank. They could have caused some upsets in the finals on their day.

It's good to see the Sunny Coast boys finish with a good performance against a very good GPS team. They pushed quite a few teams this year and hopefully they build on this for next season.

Finals are on at Ballymore next Sunday both at 1:20.

Brothers got the bonus point so they finish 3rd

Breakers 66
GPS 64
Brothers 63
Uni 62

Good games next weekend

Breakers v GPS on Ballymore 1 while Brothers v Uni on Ballymore 2 both at 1:20 on Sunday.
Will be interesting to see if any Premier Grade players are eligible for GC and GPS. I see Jared Butler has played Prem Colts over the last few weeks.

So off to Ballymore this Sunday at 1:20 to see who goes straight into the GF and who drops out of the race.

On Ballymore 1 minor premiers Gold Coast take on GPS to qualify for the big show a fortnight latter.

Gold Coast had the second best attack with 549 and 5th best defence conceding 362. They scored 84 tries, 46 conversions, 8 penalties and one field goal. They had 20 try scorers with Taniela Tuivanuavou crossing the line 19 times.

GPS had the best defence for the season only letting in 309 point while scoring 476. Their points have come from 71 tries, 41 conversions and 13 penalty goals. They have has 20 try scorers with Todd Winkley scoring the most with 15.

In round 7 GPS beat the Breakers 22 - 19 down on the coast and followed it up with a 31 - 26 win at home in round 16.

I am leaning towards GPS in this one on the back of their 2 wins in the regular season and the fact that they have only lost 1 game since round 6 of the comp. It will be close and the Breakers will be desperate to have a weekend off so they don't have to travel the following weekend. Also GPS may do well out of players returning from Premier with Chris Nasiganiyavi eligible from my understanding but Gold Coast should welcome Jared Buttler.

On Ballymore 2 Brothers take on Uni in what should be an entertaining match.

Brothers have had a great year being in the top 4 since round 1. They have the equal second best defence in the comp conceding 330 and the 6th best attack scoring 470 points. They scored 73 tries, 41 conversions and 6 penalty goals. They had 19 try scorers with Mitchell Felsman on 13 tries being their top try man.

Uni are in the top 4 for the second time this season having moved up from 7th spot about 5 weeks ago. They have the best attack in the comp with 571 points scored and 6th best defence letting in 403. This was made up of 87 tries, 41 conversions, 13 penalty goals and 1 field goal. George Morseu scored a whopping 21 tries to be the comps most prolific try scorer.

Brothers won the first clash of the season 31 - 18 in round 3 at Crosby while Uni bounced back with a 31 - 20 win in round 12.

Brothers are coming off the back of a loss to Gold Coast and a draw with Sunnybank, while Uni have knocked Easts, Souths and Sunnybank out of the running in the last 5 weeks. I am bias towards Uni but it will be a good game with the winner making it hard for the looser of the other match in the Prelim final the following week.

I hope that there is a big turn out to see some of the stars of the future running around this weekend.

Thanks Doc. That won't be an issue this year with almost every grade in the club making the finals no one will be returning to Colts.

Yeah I know. You would think that Jono Lance, Ian Prior, Luke Morahan and Tevita Kuridrani would have made things easier not harder. Funny how team dynamics work.

Results from yesterday

Premier Colts:
Major Semi-Final: Gold Coast 30 (D Taumata, J Julius, Tuivanuavou, S Bartley, B Wilson tries, D Taumata con, S Bartley drop goal) d GPS 28 (D Lindsay, J Marshall, T Richards, T Maafu tries, P Smith 4 cons)

Minor Semi-Final: University 22 (J O'Regan, S Rasolea, K Boucaut, A Smith tries, S Hopkins con) d Brothers 17 (L Beauchamp, S Dwyer, M Felsman tries, M Felsman con)

GPS to play University next Sunday at Ballymore

So Brothers are out of the running now and Gold Coast have saved themselves an extra trip up the highway by booking a spot in the Grand Final.

I didn't see any of the major semi but could view the scoreboard and Gold Coast got early points and GPS came back for what would have been an exciting finish.

In the minor semi Brothers were very enthusiastic and were willing to put their bodies on the line but just ran out of time to score the final try after coming back to be only 5 points down. They were camped on the Uni line but the Uni defence held strong despite losing some key players to injuries.

Uni now have the chance to redeem themselves after being completely out played by GPS in their last match up.

I personally am not a big fan of the week off but now that I have injuries the 3 key players I would love it. I think the week off can mess up the routine of the team.