Shute Shield 2013

[Eyes and Ears]

Perrett, Batger and McCaffery have all had opportunities and have not been able to convert them. Cam Mitchell has been injured a lot with serious leg injuries. Gillespie is still young for a prop and I would assume has not been discarded yet. IMO, Jarred Barry needs to fix his fitness and body fat levels so that he looks like a professional athlete - also is he tall enough for lock or is he fast enough for back row at S15?

Roberts, Dyer and Winton have all had opportunities and as yet, have not been able to convert them. Talakai is still young and also still developing his game. English may be the exception and he has had a fantastic season, so perhaps the Rebels got this right. Stirzacker is as yet unpoven IMO but he is also fortunate to be a half back, a position where 15 of them are required across the franchises and the country's depth is not great.

Eastwood might have won 7 in a row over the last 3 years but Uni have still won the comp in 2 of those 3 years and lost to Eastwood in extra time in the other.

 

[Intruder]

Eastwood have had a gun line up over the years and I'm dumbfounded at how there have been so many uni players picked over these Eastwood boys. Don't get me wrong these uni boys deserved the opportunity and most of them have done well since joining a super rugby side.

But players like Hugh Perrett, Cam Mitchell, Michael McDougall, Ben Bagter, Jed Gillespie, Lachie McCaffery, Jarred Barry, etc have done a much better job performing at Shute Shield level than Angus Roberts, Trent Dyer, Tom English, Nic Stirzacker, Sam Talakai, Liam Winton who have all been given opportunities.

If I recall Eastwood have beaten uni 7 times in a row?

It's a shame a lot of these boys are heading overseas because they haven't been given an opportunity in Australia

Perrett, Batger and McCaffery have all had opportunities and have not been able to convert them. Cam Mitchell has been injured a lot with serious leg injuries. Gillespie is still young for a prop and I would assume has not been discarded yet. IMO, Jarred Barry needs to fix his fitness and body fat levels so that he looks like a professional athlete - also is he tall enough for lock or is he fast enough for back row at S15?

Roberts, Dyer and Winton have all had opportunities and as yet, have not been able to convert them. Talakai is still young and also still developing his game. English may be the exception and he has had a fantastic season, so perhaps the Rebels got this right. Stirzacker is as yet unpoven IMO but he is also fortunate to be a half back, a position where 15 of them are required across the franchises and the country's depth is not great.

Eastwood might have won 7 in a row over the last 3 years but Uni have still won the comp in 2 of those 3 years and lost to Eastwood in extra time in the other.

Eyes and Ears beat me to it with his comments in which I tend to agree more with.

Jared Barry is a great club player but his body shape and fitness levels need a lot of work to reach the next level. In comparison Liam Winton has the work rate level and versatility in the pack which saw him rewarded during the Lions series.

Gillespie (loosehead) is still only 21 years of age and Talakai (tighthead) is 22 years of age himself. With the lack of young tightheads coming through Talakai has taken his opportunities. Gillespie is not far from being rewarded, both still have developing to do.

Hugh Perrett was offered an extension at the Rebels to play the 2013 season but knocked it back to stay in Sydney. The Rebels then went on to sign Trent Dyer and Jordy Reid.

 

[the coach]

Eyes and Ears beat me to it with his comments in which I tend to agree more with.

Jared Barry is a great club player but his body shape and fitness levels need a lot of work to reach the next level. In comparison Liam Winton has the work rate level and versatility in the pack which saw him rewarded during the Lions series.

Gillespie (loosehead) is still only 21 years of age and Talakai (tighthead) is 22 years of age himself. With the lack of young tightheads coming through Talakai has taken his opportunities. Gillespie is not far from being rewarded, both still have developing to do.

Hugh Perrett was offered an extension at the Rebels to play the 2013 season but knocked it back to stay in Sydney. The Rebels then went on to sign Trent Dyer and Jordy Reid.

I made the mistake of dismissing Barry when he was at Gordon as "not looking like a rugby player" ie fat and slow. However, every time I see him play since he moved to Eastwood he puts the lie to that perception. He continues to surprise me with his mobility, strength and work rate. And he's so bloody hard to tackle!

 

[wamberal]

Batger's best years were wasted as a bench player at Soup level.

 

[Intruder]

Gordon v Southern Districts @ Chatswood Oval 3pm
Gordon: 1 Tobias Gukibau (C), 2 Ronald Hobden, 3 Salesi Maumalanga, 4 Roni Scarano, 5 Andrew Chapman, 6 Jack Dempsey, 7 Gordon Broome, 8 Luke Rissman, 9 Terry Preston, 10 Henry Carmichael, 11 Nick Walker, 12 Tom Matthews, 13 Lucas Simkin, 14 Mathew Mcdougal, 15 Will Shirvington.

Southern Districts: 1 Duncan Chubb, 2 Steve Fualau (C), 3 Tim Metcher, 4 Sitaleki Timani, 5 Kane Douglas, 6 Lopeti Timani, 7 Jono Hayes, 8 Jed Holloway, 9 Dewet Roos, 10 Rohan Saifoloi, 11 Alex Gibbon, 12 Rob Horne, 13 Apo Latunipulu, 14 Oleni Ngungutau, 15. Ben Volavola.

Referee: Ian Smith

Penrith v Randwick @Nepean Rugby Park 3pm
Penrith: 1 Sione Matangi, 2 Kerren Straker (C), 3 Nigel Vaifale, 4 Iosua Tonga, 5 Sione Pusiaki Fifita, 6 Willie Tooala, 7 Leo Burgess, 8 Pita Tupou, 9 Solomona Silipa, 10 Simeona Moelasi, 11 John Maumau, 12 Paueli Halafihi, 13 Wilson Silipa, 14 Keori Okati, 15 Kampo Sione.

Randwick: 1 Faitotoa Asa, 2 Nio Halangahu, 3 Tristan Goodbody, 4 Geoff Ingram, 5 William Munro, 6 Seilala Lam (C), 7 Tom Connor, 8 Nathan Paila, 9 Harrison Boileau, 10 Cayden Matehaere, 11 Ethan Ford, 12 David Horwitz, 13 Terrence Hepetema, 14 Timothy Wright, 15 Rennie Lautolo.

Referee: Richard Goswell

Northern Suburbs v Sydney University @North Sydney Oval 3pm
Northern Suburbs: 1 Nick Lah (C), 2 Will Weeks, 3 Cruze Ah-Nau, 4 Ben Matwijow, 5 Chris Thomson, 6 Michael Wells, 7 AJ Gilbert, 8 Pat Sio, 9 Michael Dowsett, 10 Scott Daruda, 11 Peter Schuster, 12 Chris Tuatara-Morrison, 13 Bill Meakes, 14 Cameron Crawford, 15 Liam Windon.

Sydney University: 1 Jeremy Tilse, 2 Tolu Latu, 3 Sam Talakai, 4 Liam Winton, 5 William Skelton, 6 David Dennis, 7 David Hickey, 8 Tim Davidson (C), 9 Nick Phipps, 10 Bernard Foley, 11 Greg Jeloudev, 12 Tom Carter, 13 Tom English, 14 Peter Betham, 15 Tom Kingston.

Referee: Kane McBride

Warringah v Manly @Pittwater Rugby Park 3pm
Warringah: 1 Richard Southan, 2 Luke Holmes (C), 3 Wayne Borsak, 4 Vincent Wright, 5 Ben Adams, 6 Sam Ward, 7 Mark Porpiglia, 8 Boyd Killingworth, 9 Joshua Holmes, 10 David Harvey, 11 Brad Dixon, 12 Hamish Angus, 13 Michael Adams, 14 Edward Doyle, 15 David Feltscheer.

Manly: 1 Eddie Aholelei, 2 Dave Porecki, 3 Tim Fairbrother, 4 Ed Gower (C), 5 Cadeyrn Neville, 6 Jordy Reid, 7 Kotoni Ale, 8 Daniel Alley, 9 Matt Lucas, 10 Marshall Milroy, 11 Jacob Woodhouse, 12 Brian Sefanaia, 13 Malietoa Hingano, 14 Richard Hooper, 15 Adam D’Arcy.

Referee: Angus Gardner

Eastwood v Parramatta @ T G Millner Field 3pm
Eastwood: 1 Jed Gillespie, 2 Todd Pearce, 3 Marty Plokstys, 4 Jared Barry, 5 Andrew Clyne, 6 Hugh Perrett (C), 7 Hugh Roach, 8 Locky McCaffrey, 9 Mick Snowden, 10 Jimmy Hilgendorf, 11 Nick Batger, 12 Michael McDougall, 13 Cam Mitchell, 14 Tom Hill, 15 Ben Batger.

Parramatta: 1 Nick Blacklock, 2 Myles Hunkin, 3 Luke Troy, 4 Charlie Leaeno, 5 Adam Coleman, 6 Josh Kaifa, 7 Rodney Ma’a, 8 Andrew Cox (C), 9 Kaleb Rech, 10 Tom Woods, 11 Damien Fakafanua, 12 Tukia Muli, 13 Iese Leota, 14 Lani Tiatia, 15 Moses Tavola.

Referee: Andrew Lees

Eastern Suburbs v West Harbour @ Woollahra Oval 3.10pm
Eastern Suburbs: 1 Sione Kolo, 2 Alex Walker, 3 John Ulugia, 4 Richard Stanford, 5 Phil Mathers, 6 Pauli Taumoepeau (C), 7 Ryan Hodson, 8 Andrew Shaw, 9 Brendan McKibbin, 10 Henry Hudson, 11 Damon Anderson, 12 Apakukki Ma’afu, 13 Mark Murray, 14 Anton Lavin, 15 Will Fay.

West Harbour: 1 Leon Latu, 2 Reg De Jager (C), 3 David Lolohea, 4 Alfred Pinomi, 5 Chris Simons, 6 Aisea Namoa, 7 Cohen Masson, 8 Vaka Manu 9 David Osofua, 10 Jack Debreczeni, 11 Tito Mua, 12 Henry Seavula, 13 Rory Sidey, 14 Macquire Tatola, 15 Alofa Alofa.

Referee: James Leckie

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Batger's best years were wasted as a bench player at Soup level.

The Oracle known as Wikipedia says Batger played 9 games for the Ponies over 2005-2006, and spent 2007 playing in NZ for Hawkes Bay. Add in one game for the Tahs in 2011.

 

[topo]

That's not a bad looking Uni side.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

^^ and I think that there is still a few Soup players to come back for the Students.

 

[Late Starter]

Half of that Uni side will be in Argentina for rounds 16 and 17

 

[Iluvmyfooty]

I think the best looking side this week is the Souths side. Very good forwrad pack with a lot of Super players involved

 

[wamberal]

Finally got around to watching the Manly Eastwood game last night. Very impressed with Dave Perecki (sp) the young Manly hooker.


Jared Barry. Wow. Is it too late for him to reskill as a THP?

 

[AdelaideRugby84]

I think the best looking side this week is the Souths side. Very good forwrad pack with a lot of Super players involved

I was thinking that myself.

We do look very strong this week with our Super Rugby players back.

 

[the coach]

I think the best looking side this week is the Souths side. Very good forwrad pack with a lot of Super players involved

Useful players at 12 and 15 also!!!

It's going to be very interesting from here on in.
After the jaunt to Argentina we're going to see much stronger teams for Uni, Manly and Souths in particular for the final round and then the playoffs.

 

[2bluesfan]

Major announcement from the Two Blues http://twobluesrugby.com.au/article.php/20130725042441983

Personally I am sorry to see him leave but I will remember fondly what he achieved. He leaves us in a better state than he found us.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

The presence of Glen Christini will be missed, but by all accounts a die has been cast, and his positive influence will linger well past his physical presence.

It is always good to hear of a Coach leaving on their terms, and not being sacked as a scapegoat, as happens all too often in sport.

An open letter to the Two Blues:

Dear Two Blues,

You have lost a great coach. The Chair Umpire has called Fault 1.

Do whatever is necessary to hang on to your GM. The club can not afford a Double Fault Call from the Chair Umpire.


Yours in Rugby
Hugh

 

[2bluesfan]

The presence of Glen Christini will be missed, but by all accounts a die has been cast, and his positive influence will linger well past his physical presence.

It is always good to hear of a Coach leaving on their terms, and not being sacked as a scapegoat, as happens all too often in sport.

An open letter to the Two Blues:

Dear Two Blues,

You have lost a great coach. The Chair Umpire has called Fault 1.

Do whatever is necessary to hang on to your GM. The club can not afford a Double Fault Call from the Chair Umpire.


Yours in Rugby
Hugh

Good call HJ. Belly must be retained for the immediate to medium term future.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

The bastard* is probably reading this!

The compliments are genuine.





* As per traditional Australian usage of the term as a compliment.

 

[2bluesfan]

The bastard is probably reading this!

The compliments are genuine.

Can only assume you are referring to Belly in this particular instance! Your description of him will bring a smile to his face (as it did to mine). He's our bastard. Ironically this announcement comes on Belly's birthday.

 

[Bruce Ross]

Glen Christini appears to have been a truly transformational coach. Hopefully his achievements thus far will be sustainable. Good luck to Gerrard Fasavulu. We need outstanding coaches at the level where player development in this country really occurs.
.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Sad to see Christini go, he did much to pull Parra out of the death spiral they appeared to be in. I've said before that I've always had a soft spot for the 2Blues and hope they can kick on from here and take it right up to the top sides.

Good luck fellas.