Having captained the first XV at St Josephs in my day, I am disapointed with the way its going. I remember the days when it was the hardest 15 men in the school, going toe to toe with the rest of the GPS. But watching the game against the Newington game, and seeing 15 girls running around the field, I was utterly disapointed.
I cant see Joeys winning much this year, neither with scots #cantbuyapremiership.
Thoughts????
Hello JoeysRule
First as a Newington supporter, what I saw was an excellent game of Rugby between two excellent teams. Rugby in this day and age has less to do with physical brutality and intimidation. Rather, skills are a required premium for success. In this regard Joeys have such skills in abundance. The fact that Joeys contained the Newington attack, through their cover defence not only is a testimony to such skills, but also that this side is a Rugby smart team.Additionally, they are superbly coached and I was particularly impressed how their defensive style ensured that Newington's Winger,Tolu Koula, arguably one of if not the fastest player in the GPS Rugby this year, was picked up by the Joeys defence . Against, a lesser side he would have bagged any number of tries.
It has now been revealed that the Joeys game plan against Newington, involved the choosing of a highly mobile pack that was more like a pack of breakaways, designed to out last the New Pack. It would appear, that these tactics were highly effective in the last 15 minutes of the game. Despite the carding of a New Player, that for me was a crucial factor in the 21 unanswered points gained by Joeys. Nevertheless, irrespective of the carding, Joeys were in the ascendency and had the momentum. They would have won, although not necessarily by the margin they obtained.
The sort of Joeys team of "Hard Men" you speak of is truly a thing of the past. Even, then it had its limitations. In 1975 Joeys fielded a pack you have described. They had 3 Australian Schoolboys and they were the hardest, meanest and most ruthless pack that Newington encountered in 1975. It included Steve Williams and Bruce Malouf amongst others. Yet, It didn't win them the premiership that year, as View and Scots had teams with excellent backlines and both schools beat Joeys rather well. If memory serves me correctly, Scots Won 18-6 over Joeys. Even, worse Randwick Boys High ran all over Joeys to the tune of 28-0 in a preseason match. If it's any comfort, Joeysrule, that Randwick side relied on a skilled and paced backline that won the Waratah Shield in 1975. They also beat Newington 20-3, Cranbrook 47-12 and Matraville High in the final of the shield, with the three Ella Brothers 11-7 in the team.(But lost the next week, to Matraville in the Phillips Zone Final 30-16).
So brute force is a thing of past, neither the All Blacks or the Springbox rely on this any more. Instead, the All Blacks abound with skilled players.Likewise, Newington are now moving away from their power game based on big Pacific Islanders to a running Rugby Style.If nothing else its more enjoyable to watch.
Finally, good leadership requires a Team Captain to respect, his players and opponents. Calling them Girls might sound Macho, but take it from an Ex Australian Army Soldier in the Reserves as well a former Officer. It won't earn you any respect ,whatsoever, in fact the complete opposite will occur.
I teach leadership as part of a pastoral care programs, when teaching at schools. What I Teach is inspired leadership, whereupon, the leader connects, inspires, respects and motivates those around him to perform greater efforts, than they would normally achieve.
Read Shakespeare's Henry V and the St. Crispin's Day speech and how young Harry, King of England inspires his troops to perform an outstandinglyeffort, at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415.
"We brave few, we happy few, we band of Brothers and he who sheds his blood this day wth me, shall forever be my brother".
( My apologies to any purists of the writings of William Shakespear, if I got words out of order. I am doing it from memory and I don't claim to be Kennth Brangh or Laurence Oliveira)Again, my apologies for my spellings as I haven't check the spelling of their names.
So, Joeysrule, any future analysis of Joeys or other GPS Schools should include a modern day appreciation of School Boy Rugby and what constitutes effective leadership that doesn't degenerate your old school and boys playing the game. Those Macho days are long gone.
My apologies if I have been blunt, but I suspect you and I were running around playing schoolboy Rugby with years of each other. Certainly, the mentally you speak of was well established back them. But times have changed.
