How three public school boys changed Australian rugby forever

By Norm Tasker By the middle 1970s, the schoolboy production line available to the game, especially to the Sydney clubs, was an absolute goldmine.  The Waratah Shield was a competition open to all secondary schools, and when a trio of young superstars from Matraville High first appeared in the winning team in 1976, it triggered a spectacular rise in the fortunes of both the local Randwick club, and ultimately the Australian team as well.  The final of the Waratah Shield played that year at Coogee Oval drew a crowd estimated at better than 5000, and a 12-6 win by an emerging school like Matraville against a traditional powerhouse like North Sydney announced a significant shift in the game. Nearly 100 teams were entering the Waratah Shield in those days, so the net spread wide. Matraville won it again in 1977. Their coach Geoff Mould took an Australian Schoolboys team on a tour of Britain later that year, and achieved such a stunning level of performance in an undefeate
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