Out of interest, what are these reasons? I thought that Shore had suffered some injuries three weeks in a row last term and didn't have enough quality back-up from the Bs to step up into As for safety reasons, and thus took the decision to withdraw.
I saw parts of the Shore v Cranbrook 15As on Saturday and Shore seemed completely dominant in all facets of the game. Are the injured boys back now?
Yes they had a good win against Cranbrook but Cranbrook lost interest after 20 minutes so it became lopsided.
I wish the answer to the current situation was injuries. The only significant injuries they had were one centre for the season (rep basketball), the other centre to concussion for two weeks, a no.8 for a few weeks and a prop for two weeks after the Newington game. All very good players but not critical losses in a 15 man game. And all bar one are available again from this coming weekend.
I probably can't go too deeply into my view on the reasons for the 15A's demise for fear of breaching forum rules etc. However I have been watching this age group since U13's and I will say that it was really noticeable and equally strange how the A team personnel at two other schools in particular changed dramatically in yr 8 and yr9. To add some context, Shore were very competitive in U13's with a number of wins, had a win and a draw in u14's but this year things were very very different. So they weren't always a weak team, other teams seemed to literally grow a leg this year for some reason
. I have been involved in rep rugby in this age group so I recognise a LOT of the opposition kids at particular schools. Ask yourself this question - how is it that the A's at Shore relatively so weak when their B's are still winning games against some of the same schools? Coaching does contribute etc but the A team in this age group is seriously outgunned - two games in particular were just outright dangerous. I don't want this to sound like a rant - it isn't - and Im not denigrating any of the kids who play for other schools as I have seen some amazing skills and talent. I have just been left a little stunned this year by what I have seen from a competition imbalance perspective. It isn't healthy only having 5 competitive schools (with a question mark as to whether it is actually only 4).
Not all is lost - the 15's go down to F's with reserves and 15D's are undefeated. The 13's and 14's are strong and the 16A's are really competitive. However I do worry about the 16A's for next year and there is no guarantee they will field this team in GPS - it is subject to a review by the school.
The good news however is the average yr9 Erg scores were the best in about 10 years so bring on rowing season