Queensland Junior Rugby

[RugbyReg]

Hey Fritz, how was your coaching performance? Mistake free?

 

[Sunny]

Ok why does Sunnybank try and stay out of Division 1 and play in Divisions lower than their ability?

In what grade mate?
I know 15's 14's and 13's have Div 1 teams so who you on about?

 

[RugbyReg]

both of those sound legit to me.

Player must roll away (to the side preferably) when tackled.

If a maul goes to ground, and the ball (or ball carrier) is down, then yes it's a ruck.

 

[Tashara]

I don't have an issue with coaches questioning referees after the game.
But bagging them on line anonymously is a no go.

I have seen a couple of howlers at my sons games during the year.
I have also seen players make some absolute howlers during the year.

Let them be and learn from their mistakes.

I think it was Robbie Deans who said something like, You have to take the referee out of the game. So don't put your self in a position that the referee has to make a decision you may not like!

Can I ask for some clarification from the forum on rules.

1. Player takes ball into tackle, goes to ground, whilst on the ground he is told by the ref to roll away???? This has happened in 2 games with 2 different refs??

2. A Maul is formed it goes to ground (not collapsed). The referee then told the tackler to release, Hands out its a ruck.
I asked him after the game about the ruling and he said that a maul could become a ruck once the ball is on the ground.

Wow, we must have been at the same games?

1. Just had that happen on Saturday where our centre was warned numerous times to roll away after being tackled. He was told to; "roll away quicker after release". hmmmm what the?

2. Yep, last week. Must have been the same game mate. This decision left everyone scratching their heads. Our boys are coached not to release the ball from a maul that has gone to ground and were penalised for not rolling away. When questioned by one of the boys, ref stated what you are saying; "a collapsed maul becomes a ruck". hmmm again; what the? Not long after he gives a penalty to us in the same circumstance because the opposition didn't release once it went to ground.

Oh well, I for one don't concentrate much of ref decisions other than teaching my boy to adapt his game to how the ref is calling the game. But it's hard when the ref is making decisions contra to the rule book.

 

[Hound]

Well it's one more round and rep is on, Looking forward to seeing how the 14's go.
Hearing chat today, parents of the Pink, Blue and Green teams all feel they are strong.
Any word on Orange?
Do we have any goers on which team to watch..?

Hi Sunny,
Hard to gauge until the matches I suppose. Pink, Blue and Green are predominately pulled from the Div 1 teams. Yes Souths are Div 2 but haven't lost a game in Div 2. You would have to assume that Orange may not but as strong as the other teams as the pool is mainly Div 2 , Div 3 boys. It will all depend on how well the coaches can pull the boys together in a short period.
I can see that it will be very competitive and each game should go down to the wire. Looking forward to the Champs at TSS. High quality Rugby in all Age groups.

 

[Tashara]

I'll have a crack at the u13's

Brisbane 4 teams from what I see; Blue, Green, Orange and Pink.
I can only also comment from what I hear about Darling Downs, Sunshine Coast and the two GC teams.

Brisbane Blue look like the strongest team with the squad evenly divided between the competition leaders Riverside and 4th place Souths who have just recently defeated Riverside on the weekend. They definitely have to be favourites going into this.

Pink looks like they also have a strong team mainly consisting of Easts players with a light sprinkle of other clubs. Pink have the combination advantage but maybe not a great deal more than Blue.

Green & Orange appear to have a combination of players from the lower divisions and lower Div 1 teams. This is not to say there aren't very good players within these groups, I'd bet my hat there are... but I don't believe they'll have the strength across the squads to compete with Blue and Pink.

It will be interesting to see how Green and Orange match up against the Country teams. Gold Coast once again have opted for the 'two even teams' policy. Picking a 60 player squad and then equally dividing the players up into two teams. Hence splitting not only the best players up but also club combinations. Unlike Brisbane who maintain club players largely in their rep teams, not so GC. This has created much disharmony on the coast.

The GC teams and DD traveled to the Sunshine Coast for some trial games on Sunday. I wasn't there so I can't comment from personal experience, but I'm hearing that the four teams involved (GC x 2, SC & DD) were pretty even. I've heard that the standard wasn't great but that's to be expected when bringing players together and also due to the very heavy weather conditions.

But do any of the Qld Country teams stand a chance against Blue or Pink - not by a long shot. Therefore my predictions are: Blue, Pink at the top and then an interesting battle between the remaining Brisbane teams and Country teams.

I personally would have preferred an 'A' GC team to challenge Brisbane's best but alas I have no say in that.

 

[Hound]

Thanks Tashara,

I forgot about the QLD Country teams in U14. Gold Coast will (were last year) competitive and I would expect the same this year. SC the same. DD and NQ will fight hard and could spring a surprise or two. But lack of combination will be their downfall.

 

[Sunny]

Yer the country teams get stronger as the age group gets older.
Expect Gold Coast to put in a good showing, but yer there will definitely be upsets.
I expect some really close, hard fought games in the 14's.
Watched a little of the 13's this year, and find it hard to compare to last years age group, get a better feel when we hit the Coast and the games start I guess.

 

[Sunny]

So how is everyone's team look after getting in there first training?

 

[Garry Owens]

I can see the Country concept getting bastardised over the next few years with what it already happening .

In the last 5 years in Club land ...overly ambitious and competitive Mums and Dads have formed the Super Teams , or , players and their Mums and Dads perceive a Club is stronger , want to give their kid better developmental opportunity and change Clubs

And it is happening in the last 2 years with Clubs changing conferences

When it extends to more Junior Tournaments and Clubs changing conferences where " Country" kids are across the eyes of recruiters of more - the best of this talent are attracting private school scholarships between 12 to 14 years of age .

This means the best of this talent will be at school in Brisbane and ultimately playing their Club Rugby in Brisbane - making City stronger and Country weaker

This means that City v Country match ups will grow and continue to be lopsided events , and even below this , the City Trials will grow and continue to be lopsided events as "Super Teams" continue to form.

The stated aim of the BJRU was to collate 4 x even teams with the talent evenly spread , and yet , we've reverted to this "select from region" thing which has led to 4 x imbalanced teams

They clearly have failed in their stated aim.

Maybe a geography lesson would be a good start when "Easts" gets tied to Pink - ostensibly the Southern Region Team.

Maybe the next best thing would be to ensure the Selectors are on the same page as to what supposedly was to be the stated aim of all of this .

Interesting too that there seem to be non starters from Clubs that its probably fair to say have families that are more financially challenged than more affluent pockets and who couldn't afford to pay the fee , and where , the Clubs decided not to cover for selected players.

$600 to play compared to sub $200 for a comparative Rugby League Rep Event ?

The issues in all of this are many fold , and , actually retard the very thing that this is meant to be about now , at an U13 and U14 age level

 

[Sunny]

I can see the Country concept getting bastardised over the next few years with what it already happening .

In the last 5 years in Club land .overly ambitious and competitive Mums and Dads have formed the Super Teams , or , players and their Mums and Dads perceive a Club is stronger , want to give their kid better developmental opportunity and change Clubs

And it is happening in the last 2 years with Clubs changing conferences

When it extends to more Junior Tournaments and Clubs changing conferences where " Country" kids are across the eyes of recruiters of more - the best of this talent are attracting private school scholarships between 12 to 14 years of age .

This means the best of this talent will be at school in Brisbane and ultimately playing their Club Rugby in Brisbane - making City stronger and Country weaker

This means that City v Country match ups will grow and continue to be lopsided events , and even below this , the City Trials will grow and continue to be lopsided events as "Super Teams" continue to form.

The stated aim of the BJRU was to collate 4 x even teams with the talent evenly spread , and yet , we've reverted to this "select from region" thing which has led to 4 x imbalanced teams

They clearly have failed in their stated aim.

Maybe a geography lesson would be a good start when "Easts" gets tied to Pink - ostensibly the Southern Region Team.

Maybe the next best thing would be to ensure the Selectors are on the same page as to what supposedly was to be the stated aim of all of this .

Interesting too that there seem to be non starters from Clubs that its probably fair to say have families that are more financially challenged than more affluent pockets and who couldn't afford to pay the fee , and where , the Clubs decided not to cover for selected players.

$600 to play compared to sub $200 for a comparative Rugby League Rep Event ?

The issues in all of this are many fold , and , actually retard the very thing that this is meant to be about now , at an U13 and U14 age level

That was a good read, you really have some valid points.
It is quite expensive for a 3 day event and I know some kids that dropped out last year due to this fact.
I'm now going to keep an eye on the City V Country to see if it starts to go lopsided.
Do all the best kids get scholarships tho? I know a few in Brisbane who make Brisbane, Gold Cup and Qld city and still go to public school, it's only a hand full but they are out there. Once again money is a factor.
With this years BJRU sides, I think the balance is uneven and I'm not sure who really selected these teams, be it that the Qld City selectors were involved, I'm told this year.

 

[Hound]

From my very limited knowledge the BJRU sides are selected by Region predominately. If a player has not been selected into that "preferred regional" side the other coaches can pick them up if they suit the team.
Agree that the price for this tournament is high. I would like to know why the U14 boys are going into Camp for Friday and Saturday. Is this to make sure they all turn up on time for the games? Or are the BJRU / QJRU going to do some work with them.

 

[Garry Owens]

Well take the U13's for example . If Easts had have been designated Eastern Region then you would have seen a lot of re-directs to Orange and maybe a few more to Green ( two from "The East" were re-directed anyway )

Again , the stated aim of the BJRU seems to have been disconnected , or changed at the end , to what it was meant to be about , and that is , equal dispersal of talent

What's the point of picking 12 Riverside players and adding Souths best 6 players ( Blue ) to play Easts ( Pink ) the best of the rest of Souths and the token kids from Logan and Sunnybank that could afford to pay the fee ?

You see a "star" from a "Super Team" play for his school that has much more modest talent and it's a very different story.

Shouldn't the idea be to see what kind of talent can stand up with weaker parts on their own team ? And make a difference ? Or to see what they are like when they are on the back foot , not winning , and how they react and conduct themselves ?

Who we are at this age is essentially the blue print of who we are full stop.

 

[Sunny]

From my very limited knowledge the BJRU sides are selected by Region predominately. If a player has not been selected into that "preferred regional" side the other coaches can pick them up if they suit the team.
Agree that the price for this tournament is high. I would like to know why the U14 boys are going into Camp for Friday and Saturday. Is this to make sure they all turn up on time for the games? Or are the BJRU / QJRU going to do some work with them.

Must have been a fare few who weren't needed in their region, looking over the teams.
Pink defiantly didn't, look to far from home for their team, the other 3 have a bit more variety in them.
In the end if the boys are happy no matter what team their in, then it's all good.

 

[Garry Owens]

You have to wonder about a process where you have kids from different regions and hence playing for different Clubs and yet are all still at the same school ending up on a loaded team . Nope nothing suss about that.

And in terms of kids happiness ? Let's ask the Sunnybank and Logan kids how they feel about not participating because they can't afford it

And while we're at it let's ask the kids/families ( some of ) that were very close to withdrawing or have chosen to withdraw for a variety of reasons - all of which come down to lack of trust in the integrity of the process.

Doesn't sound like a lot of happiness going on there either

But so long as we pander to the power elite and the vested interests and prejudices of layered officialdom ( which explains the costs ) then this is all that matters I guess and everything is fine and rosy in grass roots Rugby and the pathways remain layered in Gold

 

[Chris Green]

That was a good read, you really have some valid points.
It is quite expensive for a 3 day event and I know some kids that dropped out last year due to this fact.
I'm now going to keep an eye on the City V Country to see if it starts to go lopsided.
Do all the best kids get scholarships tho? I know a few in Brisbane who make Brisbane, Gold Cup and Qld city and still go to public school, it's only a hand full but they are out there. Once again money is a factor.
With this years BJRU sides, I think the balance is uneven and I'm not sure who really selected these teams, be it that the Qld City selectors were involved, I'm told this year.

I agree with a lot if your points.
Which teams do you think the balance is uneven ?

 

[Chris Green]

Must have been a fare few who weren't needed in their region, looking over the teams.
Pink defiantly didn't, look to far from home for their team, the other 3 have a bit more variety in them.
In the end if the boys are happy no matter what team their in, then it's all good.

From what I understand Pink represents the South side of the City this year so natural to see Sunnybank & Souths make up the team

 

[Garry Owens]

Except Souths best players mysteriously ended up in the East

 

[Hugh Jarse]

This is Sydney Junior Club Rugby revisited.

Good luck. We are still trying to sort it out.

 

[Chris Green]

Except Souths best players mysteriously ended up in the East

Which age group are you referring to ?