Southern Inland Rugby 2022

[paul bristow]

With most rounds being a bye-athon & clubs being unable to field teams SIRU is struggling at the moment. Tahs 3rds are probably gone for the season anyway given they forfeited 2nds yesterday. I heard their 1sts only have 6 of the original group of preferred players running around in the team currently. Having said that it was a gutsy effort from Waratahs. I think they scored 7 points in the 2nd half to the Blacks 6.

 

[Bubba]

The Bye sure does play a lot . They must run up against 9 teams a week most weeks !

Its not working but we have to make the most of it now - we have no choice . I cannot recall seeing so many forfeits in a season. Usually the odd 3's game but holey moley , 1's games , 2's games the whole shebang this season. And while as a deeply biased City man i take great personal satisfaction at Tahs woes at the moment, as a person who loves rugby and cares about the code that situation is bloody dreadful. That a club like Tahs would find itself forfeiting not one but two mens grades is near unfathomable. More importantly what does it say about our comp and its health going forward ?
I would hope that the SIRU board is taking all of this seriously. If i was them i'd be exploring all the options going forward. Competition rationalisation, club joint ventures , club restructures it should all be on the table no matter how unpleasant it may be for stakeholders. And if i was a board I'd be developing a plan for the future of rugby in the Riverina now.

Well done Tumut ! I didnt pick that performance at all. In fact with that loss , I'd near put a line through Albury in 2022. They'll have to pull off some miracle wins to stay even in touch with 4th now.

 

[paul bristow]

Everyone is saying that we should have reacted after Leeton’s capitulation. We had 2 1st grade teams having a bye every weekend before that. For every week Hay played 1 2nd grade game potentially 7 other teams couldn’t play. Next season we need to work from 1st grade down when doing the draw not 2nd grade up. Clubs need to have 1sts, 2nds & Womens to be in the 1st grade draw.

 

[Maulalltheway]

how not to tip
week 14 of 18

griffith
city

ladies
tahs
griffith
wac

bonus matches
Queanbeyan over uni norths
Pommy soap dodgers to claim the "ella mobbs cup" at the SCG

3 byes in 1sts again...... at least those blokes can travel to the test.


Also, side note. congrats to the under 12,14 and 16 sides on their appearances at the southern states champs in Canberra. saw a bit of the under 12s yesterday against Victoria in their final, extremely outsized but those boys can tackle. Well done Coach Spain. The fellas played great rugby and had a red hot crack!

 

[Whistle Happy]

So City finally bit the dust yesterday and lost to arch rivals Waratahs
I'm sure Waratahs deserved their win and well done to them but coming into the match after 2 consecutive Byes in a Row wouldn't have been ideal for the previously undefeated Competition Leaders.
I'd say the result yesterday will be regarded by City later on in the Finals as the best thing that happened to them
Beware the 'Wounded Lollipops'

 

[paul bristow]

Reddies only had 21 players for the 3 men’s grades on Saturday Whistle. Fulfilled their commitments & played 3 games from what I can understand. I only watched 1st grade. Reddies certainly have some good players but it was obvious they were just exhausted.

 

[Bubba]

Sorry been out of action last few weeks with actually having to do what pays the bills. Bravo to Reddies for their efforts last week. Takes real club spirit to do that old fashioned 3 grades in a day thing !

A few stabs in the dark for the weekend :

Albury v City ; The loss last week has been brewing for a while now. Its done and i think the boys will kick on from here . Albury cant make semis but they can up set a lot of sides. I think this will be a tight old affair with city coming away with the points . City 1-12

Tahs v Aggies : Im thinking Tahs here. They looked fast, they looked organised and they wanted it more than City last week. Aggies will fancy their chances though and this will be a ripping game . Tahs 1-12

For the ladies ?
City for the win
Tahs for the Win


How did we make it to 11 pages and now we are back to 10 ?

 

[Maulalltheway]

my tips here

City
tahs

ladies
tahs
city

bonus for the tippers
queanbeyan to ruin heritage round at Gungahlin
Hunter wildfires to cover randwick in the shute shield

 

[Bubba]

38-7 all round it seems. Aggies life is going to be a touch harder now , with a bye this week, Griffith the following and a trip to Albury to finish the regular season . They'd be relying on a few things going according to plan the next few weeks anyway.
Tumut need a win against Reddies and a favourable result against City, with a bye ( shocking i know ) in between. They also need aggies to lose against Albury.
Albury , mathematically, could make it . But the maths is way beyond my brain ! They need Tumut and Aggies to lose and lose by some big margins and win by some big margins.

2's (aka Centre Piece Comp) is cut and dried . the top four is set its just what order now. City , Aggies , Griffith and Hay .
3's , well in a 4 team comp its hard to not make it !

Womens is cut and dried as well. Reddies , tahs , Griffith and Aggies make that up. City Womens have a game v Griffith then 2 byes to finish the season. Talk about a deflating end to a season !

 

[paul bristow]

The big 3 now seems to be Blacks, City & Waratahs. The landscape seems to have shifted at least a bit recently. Before this weekend’s City & Griffith game are Bubba, Whistle & Mauler (or any other interested persons) willing to frame a betting market re 2022 winner. I reckon City $1.70 Waratahs $2.40 Griffith $2.70. Is my price for City too long?

 

[centralwestrep]

If anyone is offering $1.70 on City I would snap it up.
The recent loss to Tahs may have been the loss they needed to have and will refocus them for the premiership push.

 

[Bubba]

I think $1.70 is a fair price. I'd get on for that !

 

[Lindommer]

Grab the $2.40 for Tahs with both hands!

 

[paul bristow]

Is the finishing order likely to be 1 City 2 Griffith 3 Waratahs 4 Aggies? If this is the case will this mean that Waratahs will have to play Griffith at Griffith in a semi final? Blacks really pumped Waratahs last time they played up here. If Waratahs were to finish 2nd Lindommer’s $2.40 looks good considering Waratah’s success over both City & Blacks at Conolly. If Waratahs have to come up here to play a semi surely $2.40 isn’t generous.

 

[Whistle Happy]

The big 3 now seems to be Blacks, City & Waratahs. The landscape seems to have shifted at least a bit recently. Before this weekend’s City & Griffith game are Bubba, Whistle & Mauler (or any other interested persons) willing to frame a betting market re 2022 winner. I reckon City $1.70 Waratahs $2.40 Griffith $2.70. Is my price for City too long?

on the scenario that all Teams have their best players available (Which we know doesn't happen very often) I would back Wagga City at $1.70 and even take $1.50. I have always thought that Griffith will be City's opponents on GF Day and despite Waratahs registering a good win over City a couple of Weeks ago I am sticking to this prediction.

Is the finishing order likely to be 1 City 2 Griffith 3 Waratahs 4 Aggies? If this is the case will this mean that Waratahs will have to play Griffith at Griffith in a semi final? Blacks really pumped Waratahs last time they played up here. If Waratahs were to finish 2nd Lindommer’s $2.40 looks good considering Waratah’s success over both City & Blacks at Conolly. If Waratahs have to come up here to play a semi surely $2.40 isn’t generous.

Whether Griffith comes 2nd or 3rd on the Ladder will be determined by their result against City tomorrow. Waratahs currently have a 4pt advantage over the Blacks on the Ladder but they (Waratahs) have only 1 more match to play against CSU on August 13.Griffith play City tomorrow and then travel back to Wagga to take on Aggies tomorrow week and then have a Bye in the final Round of the Comp.
If Griffith win tomorrow they will have plenty of incentive to travel to Wagga the following Saturday as a win against Aggies will definitely seal 2nd place on the Ladder and 2 bites of the Cherry and a guarnteed spot in the Preliminary Final which they host if they lose to City in a major semi.
Remember if Griffith happen to win their Major semi against City they would host the GF on Sep 3 !!
If Griffith lose tomorrow I reckon they will concede that they have lost their opportunity to come 2nd and will probably travel with light numbers and lose to Aggies knowing that they will almost certainly face Aggies again in a minor Semi Final on August 20.
Remember that earlier in the year Griffith lost in a big upset to CSU when they travelled to Wagga on consecutive Saturdays. That loss against CSU (14-15) in Round 5 has come back to haunt Griffith in as far as their pursuit of a major semi spot this year.
It's a massive game for Griffith tomorrow at Conolly with plenty of implications for them and the Competition.

 

[Bubba]

City over Griffith . Griffith seem keen to host a GF but I'm certain City will be out to deny that. City 13 +

Tumut to give Reddies a thumping up at Jarrah . 13 +

All the chat is about Griffith at the moment - remember City has only lost one game and wont be going into this game lightly . We are pretty keen on hosting a GF ourselves !

 

[yourmatesam]

Top marks to Wagga City for their efforts for the multicultural round. Awesome stuff from all involved.

 

[yourmatesam]

and looks like they had a good win over Griffith 29-10
Tumut lost to CSU in a big upset 15-24

Griffith had City’s measure at scrum time and defended well.

City’s line out was better than Griffith’s. The City outside backs were the difference in that game.

Two late tries to City blew the score line out a bit, Griffith had every opportunity to score in the second half but couldn’t convert pressure to points and City did well to handle that.

Griffith can take some confidence out of that game but I reckon City will be just as confident with a win knowing they’ve got some players coming back into that team.

Indovidual accolades for me go to the Griffith THP, Vaea at Ten, Rory Sheard’s link play was top class as always, Peter Little and Noa Rabici were handy also.

 

[paul bristow]

Not sure either team can take a lot out of City/Blacks game. Neither team seemed to string many phases of play together. City should be concerned about conceding so many penalties. What happened when City had a player yellow carded & also received a penalty at the same time?

 

[Bubba]

Some intriguing games from last weekend and a massive game coming up for a few teams ! So Albury v WAC takes on some serious dimensions now . Its simple - whoever wins plays semi final footy. Mathematically ( which is code for they cant make it but its nice to spin a positive) Tumut can make it if they beat City by 80 odd and Albury only win by 2 or 3.

Reddies would like to go out with a bang by beating tahs , but i cant see it happening. And Tumut would love to finish the season with a upset. I cant see City letting that occur. Either way we should see some cracking rugby played this weekend - if the weather allows it of course .