strokeside
Larry Dwyer (12)
Is that possible? as there is only one free Saturday (not holidays) before the first round, 4th May.
CAS Rugby 2013
- Thread starter pigprop
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Elfster
Dave Cowper (27)
From the St Pats website
Trinity the 12th at St Pats
Waverley 23rd ar Queens Park
Knox 27th at St Pats
Some holiday games by the looks of it.
Snort
Nev Cottrell (35)
Look, I'm a cartoon pig, so what do I know? But the returning back-rowers (especially Powter) impressed me last year, and O'Donnell is a lively fly-half who creates gaps. That alone puts them ahead of a few other teams.
As for Barker finding the going tough, I doubt it. Tom Wilson apart, there were no real stars in the pack lastt year. They just played as a team, did the simple things right, and were never far from where the ball was. Now, add to that formula this year much greater strike power in the backs, and I can't see them being stopped. Put another way, I can't see that there's a forward pack out there capable of depriving them of the amount of ball they need to win.
Knox, I must admit, are a bit of an unknown quantity for me.
Trinity must have been planning on a strong Centenary showing with Clark at 10 and Malaki driving the pack forward. Now Clark is gone and Malaki is injured. They will be no pushovers - they have, in McLean and Satiu, the two best props in the competition.. But there's no grunt in the second row, and I'm not convinced Corias (who works immensely hard) has quite the pace to be the master of the breakdown. There is loads of pace out wide, but I fear defence in the backs could be an issue.
Then again, maybe I'm talking nonsense. And maybe Cranbrook's strength in the 16s last year will translate into a few upsets this time around.
The 2013 NSWSRU Calendar & trials schedule is available for viewing in the resource library of the NSWSRU website.
http://www.nswschoolsrugby.rugbynet.com.au/verve/_resources/2013_NSWSRU_CALENDAR_as_of_9.4.13.pdf
KeyDates
6 June U16 and U18 Trials at Cranbrook CAS U16 North vs South, CAS II vs CHS II, CAS I vs CHS I
18 June U18 Trials at Knox AICES v GPS III, CAS II vs GPS II, CAS I vs GPS I
21 June U18 Trials at Knox (Curagul) Cnty v AICES, GPS III v CCC, CAS II v ISA II, GPS II v CHS II, CAS I vs ISA I, CHS I v GPS I
22/23 June NSW SRU U16 Champs at Knox
39 Jun - 6 Jul ASRU U18 Champs at Riverview
28 August Waratah Shield finals at Foreshaw Park
TBA ARU U16 Champs at TBA
http://www.nswschoolsrugby.rugbynet.com.au/verve/_resources/2013_NSWSRU_CALENDAR_as_of_9.4.13.pdf
KeyDates
6 June U16 and U18 Trials at Cranbrook CAS U16 North vs South, CAS II vs CHS II, CAS I vs CHS I
18 June U18 Trials at Knox AICES v GPS III, CAS II vs GPS II, CAS I vs GPS I
21 June U18 Trials at Knox (Curagul) Cnty v AICES, GPS III v CCC, CAS II v ISA II, GPS II v CHS II, CAS I vs ISA I, CHS I v GPS I
22/23 June NSW SRU U16 Champs at Knox
39 Jun - 6 Jul ASRU U18 Champs at Riverview
28 August Waratah Shield finals at Foreshaw Park
TBA ARU U16 Champs at TBA
Elfster
Dave Cowper (27)
I think that is due to only having 5 sides in the comp and the relative sizes of the talent pools for some of the sides. Some schools struggle with depth and thus injuries can knock their side around. These smaller schools are also not the front runners, so the opportunity for them to 'improve' and knock a top running side off later in the season diminishes.
And the CAS tends to have 'cycles' where one school can produce an outstanding team relative to the opposition, it seems that these cycles don't necessarily align so we see singular results.
That said I think the soccer comp is much more even and some of the lower grades in rugby do result in a more open comp.
Done that
Ron Walden (29)
St.Pats 22 def. Trinity 19 today (4 tries to 3 )
Not a high standard overall unfortunately , for both teams.
Trinity with 6 missing according to their coach.
St Pats with far superior handling , while Trinity lost a lot of ball when in possession.
St Pats , on the other hand , on the wrong side of the ledger in the penalty count , mainly due to being offside.
Handy for St Pats were their 2 centres & no.8 , who I understand are league players , & for Trinity ,their best was the halfback & the tight head also had a fair game.
Those of you who selected Trinity ,above , to win the CAS comp , should perhaps be reconsidering , as todays team was pretty ordinary.
St Pats performance today suggest that they have improved on last years team ,however.
Not a high standard overall unfortunately , for both teams.
Trinity with 6 missing according to their coach.
St Pats with far superior handling , while Trinity lost a lot of ball when in possession.
St Pats , on the other hand , on the wrong side of the ledger in the penalty count , mainly due to being offside.
Handy for St Pats were their 2 centres & no.8 , who I understand are league players , & for Trinity ,their best was the halfback & the tight head also had a fair game.
Those of you who selected Trinity ,above , to win the CAS comp , should perhaps be reconsidering , as todays team was pretty ordinary.
St Pats performance today suggest that they have improved on last years team ,however.
strokeside
Larry Dwyer (12)
An unconfirmed report from today of Barker travelling to Stannies is a win of 50+ to nil, win for Barker, I'm sure more details will follow soon!
Snort
Nev Cottrell (35)
The St Pats/Trinity game was a strange one - St Pats never looked like losing, yet Trinity might have stolen the game on the final play. St Pats took an early lead which blew out to 22-5 at one point. But Trinity improved and St Pats tired and in the end it was far closer than it should have been.
For forty minutes Trinity were pretty terrible. There were countless handling errors and stringing together even two phases seemed to be beyond them. The backs were laboured, and the problem, I'm afraid, was Whicker. The scrum half has obviously worked hard on his pass, and his technique has improved from last year. But his fly-half can never be sure where the ball will be - and several times, Fish (I think - St Pats didn't provide a match programme so I'm guessing at a few names) had to break stride to gather in a ball that was (say) going over his head. The usual result was that Fish gave a slow pass, off balance, to his inside-centre, Ebeling, who may as well have played the game with a target drawn on his chest.
Trinity did break the line a lot - often through Fish. But all their attacking moves bar one or two good displays of inter-passing were individual efforts. Naylor, at full back, was out of place and tentative. Jackson McLean was a tower of strength, scoring two tries, and whoever played 13 tackled impressively. The lineout was the usual mess (Although they disrupted and stole a lot of St Pats ball) - Trinity need to work out who their best jumpers are, and just chuck the ball to them. It's embarrassing when they all run round, trying to change position and fool the opposition, only to lose their own throw. Keep it simple!
Anyway, they stuck at it, and on the last play of the game Corias made a big bust, chipped the fullback, and regathered, but didn't have the pace to go on with it, and the movement broke down for want of support.
For St Pats, the No8 (I know he was called Tony because every time he got near the ball about twenty of his relatives started screaming his name) scored three tries although he faded out of the game in the last twenty minutes and spent a lot of time on the ground with what looked like cramps. The No2 went off with what looked like a bad knock. There was a massive winger, but he didn't see all that much ball and didn't do much.
Early impressions: Trinity will need their best XV on the park every week to stay competitive. Tom Waterhouse never played 1st XV CAS Rugby, but he'd tell you to put your house on Barker this year.
For forty minutes Trinity were pretty terrible. There were countless handling errors and stringing together even two phases seemed to be beyond them. The backs were laboured, and the problem, I'm afraid, was Whicker. The scrum half has obviously worked hard on his pass, and his technique has improved from last year. But his fly-half can never be sure where the ball will be - and several times, Fish (I think - St Pats didn't provide a match programme so I'm guessing at a few names) had to break stride to gather in a ball that was (say) going over his head. The usual result was that Fish gave a slow pass, off balance, to his inside-centre, Ebeling, who may as well have played the game with a target drawn on his chest.
Trinity did break the line a lot - often through Fish. But all their attacking moves bar one or two good displays of inter-passing were individual efforts. Naylor, at full back, was out of place and tentative. Jackson McLean was a tower of strength, scoring two tries, and whoever played 13 tackled impressively. The lineout was the usual mess (Although they disrupted and stole a lot of St Pats ball) - Trinity need to work out who their best jumpers are, and just chuck the ball to them. It's embarrassing when they all run round, trying to change position and fool the opposition, only to lose their own throw. Keep it simple!
Anyway, they stuck at it, and on the last play of the game Corias made a big bust, chipped the fullback, and regathered, but didn't have the pace to go on with it, and the movement broke down for want of support.
For St Pats, the No8 (I know he was called Tony because every time he got near the ball about twenty of his relatives started screaming his name) scored three tries although he faded out of the game in the last twenty minutes and spent a lot of time on the ground with what looked like cramps. The No2 went off with what looked like a bad knock. There was a massive winger, but he didn't see all that much ball and didn't do much.
Early impressions: Trinity will need their best XV on the park every week to stay competitive. Tom Waterhouse never played 1st XV CAS Rugby, but he'd tell you to put your house on Barker this year.
Snort
Nev Cottrell (35)
This strikes me as a trifle harsh, and I speak as someone who sees a few games but has zero inside information. Last year Clark was troubled by a shoulder injury and as far as I can tell he isn't playing anywhere this year. That suggests to me that even if he had stayed on at school, he probably would have taken a year away from rgby to get his shoulder right. From what I'm told, if Clark wasn't playing Rugby and aiming for representative teams, then staying on at school may not have served any real purpose - he was unlikely, say, to top the State in 3-unit Latin.
As for building a team around an individual, I'm not sure that this was what Trinity did. they counted on having their best fly-half (who had been at the school since he was five or something) available. He decided not to return. So they have put in their next-best option. Are you suggesting that if they'd known Clark wasn't returning, they should have gone out and found someone else?
If there is a 'ghost" haunting Trinity this year it will be lack of depth. As ever. The best team they can field, I suppose, would look something like this: Satiu, Coffill and McLean in the front row. That's as good as any other school in the competition. Second row, assuming Malaki never makes it back, is maybe Poolagasundram and someone else - unclear. No better than OK. A back row of Corias, Storey and Moala would be impressive. Whicker at scrum half, great around the paddock, and Fish at fly-half will be OK if Whicker gets enough passes in the right place and Fish finds some support when he breaks the line. Ebeling and Kotobalavu in the centres, not bad at all. Naylor on one wing and Barkley-Brown at full back have heaps of pace. Not sure who the other winger would be. But all of that is pretty respectable. But the ten-team competition is a marathon, and there will be injuries and depth counts. Where Trinity are weak is not that they didn't go out and lure to the school a replacement for Clark, but that their player numbers and player quality throughout the school are shallower than those enjoyed by other schools. Generally, Knox, Barker and to some extent Waverley have ready-made replacements in most positions if someone gets injured in the 1sts. Trinity has seldom had that luxury.
Man on the hill
Alex Ross (28)
my snout tells me young Clark is playing club rugby or such in New Zealand & yes - the boy had been there since before time, but the school, as I am told by more knowledgeable and closer to the action types, did very little to hedge their bets in this position. Time will tell.
Just a reminder folks that we are looking for people to write match reports for blogs on schools matches when the various competitions start.
Anybody interested should read what Gagger (Founder and boss of Green and Gold rugby) and I have written about making a contribution - in this thread:
http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/community/threads/writers-wanted-schoolboy-rugby.11019/
We will be looking at getting match reports of all the CAS 1st XV games and later on we will be blogging the CAS rep matches.
But it all has to be organised: there is no use three people writing a match report for a blog on one game when we can use only one, then none of those people doing one for the following week - and yarda yarda.
That's where I come in. Please let me know if you are interested.
Cheers
LG
Anybody interested should read what Gagger (Founder and boss of Green and Gold rugby) and I have written about making a contribution - in this thread:
http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/community/threads/writers-wanted-schoolboy-rugby.11019/
We will be looking at getting match reports of all the CAS 1st XV games and later on we will be blogging the CAS rep matches.
But it all has to be organised: there is no use three people writing a match report for a blog on one game when we can use only one, then none of those people doing one for the following week - and yarda yarda.
That's where I come in. Please let me know if you are interested.
Cheers
LG
footylover101
Allen Oxlade (6)
fairly certain that Trinity did lure a flyhalf to the school.. Robert Siteine in the u16s who is the 6 for souths harold matthews but may not be up to firsts level this year
alpha
Peter Burge (5)
1sts 58-0
2nds 37-7
So i hear on the grapevine...don't have any details....only the 1sts and 2nds went to Stannies this year
Pre-Season form including decisively beating two of the ISA stronger schools must install Barker as red hot favourites for CAS Premiership.
Albert Frankston
Frank Row (1)
Knox are already strong favourites to be crowned CAS champions of 2013. Their recent form during the pre-season matches have been somewhat spectacular, with their backline firing and forwards having the required levels of aggression. Backs have real continuity have scored multiple 80m tries and constantly pulling off an expansive form of rugby through their constant high quality moves and lines. Forwards are aggressive and are constantly getting over the advantage line and with the lack of size in the barker pack and poor fitness of Trinity…Knox could be the goods this year. There have been some rumours of Trinity bringing in 3 new players this year from various rep sides. Any information on these players?
Ricci Guranaccio
Frank Row (1)
Yes.
Word on the grapevine is that Trinity has continued its strong connection with the parramatta area by providing scholarships to players such as Lil Ze, Hau'oli'oli Taufua and unknown (unable to spell name) that are currently in the representative team.
These players are expected to boost the back line with some much needed pace, whilst the scouts continue to search for much needed support in the forward pack.
alpha
Peter Burge (5)
Knox have brought in the professional coach, new support staff, and have been training for months - reckon they are the ones to watch. Round 1 Knox v Barker at Knox (on Knox gala day) will be a great atmosphere. Barker will only have been back for a few days after (probably) being beaten up on a tough South Africa tour.
The report on Schools Rugby Tribune about the Barker tour seems rather underwhelming about the level of the Saffer Schools that they will be playing on that tour.
http://schoolstribune.com/barker-college-set-for-south-africa-tour-p811-1.htm
http://schoolstribune.com/barker-college-set-for-south-africa-tour-p811-1.htm
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