King Henry
Stan Wickham (3)
Who knows the city teams? Names?
Some very good rugby played by a lot of teams across all the age groups. Orange 14's were very strong and took a big effort from Pink to beat them for a Finals spot. Pink very unlucky in the Final.Great weekend watching the 14's, nothing in it by the end.
Surprise packet was Orange, who were very good.
Pink unlucky in the final, and selections! We'll done boys on 2nd place.
Time to take a break and relax
Who knows the city teams? Names?
green and pink have the best foward personnel and blue and pink the best backs
Lots of big names / reputation players in the forwards from blue , but , I would only look at a one of their forwards at prop and a second rower ( both play in a multitude of different positions at club ) . From Green I Iwould easily take one of their props , one of their second rowers and their No 8 as automatic City selections . From Pink , two of their Props and their 2 xHooker , definitely their No 7 , and two of their second rowers , one of whom can cover 6/8
So that's 7 from pink , 3 from Green and 2 from Blue ..won't work out that way though ( of course ) The Green Prop who should be first Prop picked doesn't have the "name" .Green second Rower who is either No 1 or No 2 as the best
ball running lock .and equal 1 or 2 as best line out man also probably won't get a look , as again , he doesn't have the " name"
Anyway .Blue backline will kill everybody even if they only get sub 50% ball . Can only see 3 from Pink being in the mix ( maybe 4 ) and 1 from Green if he's lucky ( maybe 2 )
Pity Rangers new outside back only came along the week after trials - he's a killer and equal or best outside back in the competition
Of note , Green had Blue down 3-0 at half time , but unfortunately faded in outside coverage on 3 critical occasions that led to 3 tries to Blue's go to assassin on the wing. Full credit to Blue 10 for being savvy enough to know this, see the lack of defensive coverage , and move the ball beautifully to him on a big cut out to get him going on his first try - which sort of got it moving Blue's way early in the 2nd half .
I agree with you Red, Pink had a couple of really unlucky lads, a forward and back from them played very well.Great weekend watching the 14's, nothing in it by the end.
Surprise packet was Orange, who were very good.
Pink unlucky in the final, and selections! We'll done boys on 2nd place.
Time to take a break and relax
Agree with your detailed summary GO and well done on your selection predictions. One small correction - the BB v BP slugfest was played on Saturday morning and yes, it probably took its toll on Pink as the subsequent semi final on Sunday morning took its toll on Green who had to back up 2 hours later to play the final. Green also lost a man to a yellow card and their City rep #8 to a leg injury leaving them in a bit of disarray. They held on bravely before Blue took control to deservedly win the carnival. Six selected was a fitting consolation and as you correctly point out, others narrowly missed out but I'm sure are now on the radar.In terms of the U13 Pink forwards ..that Saturday afternoon game against Blue was probably a Grand Final of sorts in likely how both teams saw it ( in seeing themselves as the two best teams in the age level )
It was an absolute belt fest and both forward packs just gave it to each other - no holes barred. Special mention to Pink 4 who gets my "Kaiser Sozay - Boogy Man Award" for the U13's in this tournament. Copping a hit from this lad is bound to carry recurring nightmares for those unlucky enough to get hit by him.
Anyway.full credit to both packs but I would have given the edge to Pink notwithstanding the score line . As sort of what has happened with Easts throughout the season - the cover lines let them down and I think that some of the bigger guys fall away a bit in coverage after the initial physical contests.
And so .this probably worked against some of the Pink forwards . Blue seemed to recover better the next day and be fresher than the Pink boys and had an easier run into the Finals , and , maybe had a bit more mobility in and around the paddock.
But take nothing away from the Green pack - outside of a few scrums where Pink seemed to have them - they were not bested in the line out, or in or on and around the park , including their cover lines , and most significantly , getting the ball over the game line 90% of the time.
Of note , Green had Blue down 3-0 at half time , but unfortunately faded in outside coverage on 3 critical occasions that led to 3 tries to Blue's go to assassin on the wing. Full credit to Blue 10 for being savvy enough to know this, see the lack of defensive coverage , and move the ball beautifully to him on a big cut out to get him going on his first try - which sort of got it moving Blue's way early in the 2nd half .
The score line of 26-3 does not reflect massive superiority at all . Green manned up and gave Blue a tremendous battle - they just lost focus on defensive positioning on the left wing and the cover lines tired a bit at the end of a long and exhausting few days
6th and 9th position was really disappointing for the GC. But to be honest, it didn't surprise me and I made mention of a number of reasons in an earlier post why this was going to happen.In the end I was surprised by the final GC team placings?
I hung around to watch the U14 Final and thought it was a pretty tough game.
It looked like the earlier game may have taken some sting out of the Pink boys, they seemed to running out of fuel in the second half, the GC played smarter in the second half by kicking down field and turning the big fellas around a lot.
On a different note when I got home and saw the City squad for 14`s I was surprise to see who wasn't in. Taking nothing from who got in, but I watched Pink and some other 14 games while we were hanging around. How Pink 16 missed out beats me, he was great, their lock and one center played well also.
Orange lose 1 game and dominanted all but Pink in what was a tough, close game, they were hard hitting and mobile forwards, yet not looked at, couple of them are very unlucky too.
Only saw a little of blue, a good flanker and maybe a back put their hand up, and Green I only saw play Orange and they got totally dominated across the park in that one.
From what I see in the City squad and watched over the weekend, I think they have gone for forwards who are, ball runners in hope they can bust the Country boys open, it may come back to bite them tho, as they have only one or two work horses who will clean ruck after ruck and do the dirty work.
Country have pick some big lads too, but they are offset a little better with workers, ball winners, who get to the break down quick, and I think this is where Country will win, on the back of retaining more possession and giving their very strong halves and backs more opportunities.
Does anyone have link to the City V Country program or a starting line up for the 13's and 14's??