We’re into Round Six of the Shute Shield and as always the phone has been ringing hot with all the news and views from the greatest club competition in Australia. Here’s what we are hearing:

Words: MARK CASHMAN

There are a lot of great people in our game and we lost one of the special ones on Saturday with the passing of Mosman Rugby Club great MICK ‘DOC’ KENNEDY after a battle with cancer.

‘Doc’ was one of those guys that every club needs – player, coach, former player, board member, president, water bottle filler and any other job that stuck its head up.

He just got in and did the hard yards and once the game was over, passed on the oral history of the club to anyone who was willing to listen well into the third half.

“’Doctor’ epitomised all of the admirable values of grassroots rugby,” the Mosman club said in a statement.

“His dedication and friendship will very be sorely missed by generations of players and administrators at Mosman and the wider NSW rugby community

“We are privileged that Doc chose Mosman to be his club.”

‘Doc’ was a huge part of the Whales since his debut in 1974. He played 226 games, including 72 in first grade. He has also coached for 17 years winning five premierships and was a Team Manager for decades.

He was on the committee for 24 years, between 1978 and 2004, Club Secretary for seven years, club treasurer for one year and Club President for eight years.

He was awarded the Mosman Rugby Life Membership in 1990 and was also awarded life membership of NSW Suburban Rugby in 2015. The annual award for Most Improved Colt is named after him.

Vale Mick ‘Doc’ Kennedy

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IT’S BACK TO St George day at Forshaw Rugby Park on Saturday and the Rebels are marking the occasion by having a minute’s silence to mark the passing of one of their greats GLENN DA VANZO.

‘Zappa’, as he was best known, passed away towards the end of last year after a battle with cancer and he was an integral part a pretty handy St George side that featured the likes of Peter Lucas and David Nui.

Current Souths president BRAD DEVINE has fond memories of his time playing with Da Vanzo.

“I came to St George when I was 19 in 1983 and he (‘Zappa’) was a well established part of the first grade side, someone to look up to,” Devine told Rugby News.

“But it wasn’t just what he did on the field that I remember he was very much at the heart of the little things that make a good rugby club better.”

Sydney coach at the time PETER FENTON remembers ‘Zappa’ fondly for his exploits on the field for Sydney and NSW but also his energy and enthusiasm off it.

It will be a great part of the day down there at Forshaw that will also feature a Colts fixture against Bowral as well as a whole lot of minis games on the main oval.

Souths will wear their special St George jumpers for the game against the Hunter Wildfires.

For those wondering there will be a back to Port Hacking day later in the season

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DAVID ‘BOMBER’ WILSON was an integral part of the last golden age of the Wallabies winning Bledisloe Cups in 1992, 1994, 1998, 1999 and 2000 including the 1999 win as captain and a Rugby World Cup victory in 1999 to boot.

But the demands of keeping an eye on his two boys as they make their way in senior rugby in Sydney is on hell of a tough ask.

Elder son Harry is the Shute Shield fullback at Eastwood and is highly rated by Woods coach BEN BATGER while Teddy is a highly regarded scrum half at Eastern Suburbs.

Harry is in NSW Waratahs system while Teddy is still playing colts but managed to get some game time in Eastern Suburbs big win over the Two Blues at Wade Park in Orange last weekend.

And while we at Woollahra Oval another son of a famous father ARCHIE GAVIN has been doing good things in his time on the field for the Beasties.

There’s not much of Archie but he was a willing contributor in Orange to the big win.

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GOOD TO SEE the Australian Super Rugby franchises are keeping their eye on the Shute Shield for the next wave of talent.

The Waratahs picked up Northern Suburbs outside back JAMES TURNER on an injury cover contract for the next five weeks while the Melbourne Rebels have rolled the dice and got MICHAEL ICELY into their wider squad.

I hope that these franchises give these guys some game time because it’s a waste of everyone’s time if they bring guys like Turner and Icely in just to hold the tackle bags.

Turner has genuine gas and he is seriously good in the air while Icely is great over the ball and his one on one defence has been honed by his work with the NSW Sevens squad.

The coaches at Eastwood and Norths are genuinely thrilled about the opportunities that these guys have got – after all that’s part of the job description of a Shute Shield coach.

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SAD TO HEAR of the passing of two pretty major contributors to the Shute Shield this week – referee CARL COLLETT and long time sports journo BRIAN MOSSOP.

Collett refereed 176 first grade premiership matches throughout his time with the whistle, that’s fourth behind BRIAN KINSEY, DICK BYRES and FLIP VAN DER WESTHUIZEN.

He was one of the first Australian match officials to be appointed under the ‘neutral’ referee system, taking charge of the 1981 clash between New Zealand and Scotland at Eden Park during the Scots’ tour of New Zealand.

Collett was part of the fabric of the Shute Shield for a couple of decades and our thoughts are with his many friends and family.

Same goes for Mossop who would file from the various Shute Shield grounds, Coogee Oval one of his favourites, each Saturday for the Sunday Telegraph and during the week for the week for the Daily Telegraph.

His main gig at the Tele was writing about cricket but he loved his rugby and has many friends throughout the rugby community.

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CHECKED IN with BOB WILSON earlier this week to find if he and his Beaties Old Boys had survived the road trip to Orange and Eastern Suburbs game against the WS Two Blues.

Well the answer is a definite “just” after a series of lunches that worked their way into dinners and a fair whack of rugby (both Shute Shield and Super Rugby) thrown in.

Michael ‘Lucky’ Lakeman and Paul ‘Ryany’ Ryan were part of the crew along with Henry Hudson, Dugald McLeod and coach Elliot Frawley, throw in Bob ‘The Sheik’ McCormick and it’s a first grade group.

The Beasties marquee was the destination on game game day thanks to Easts president John Murray and CEO Dominic Remond and then back to the Great Western Hotel for a bite to eat and the Super Rugby fina.

‘Wilso’ reports that Dine and Discover vouchers were not used throughout the weekend but the hospitality economy in the central west of NSW were vigorously stimulated.

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FELLOW SCRIBE ADAM LUCIUS tracked down one of the original heroes from the great Battle of the Beaches between Manly and Warringah for his weekly sports column for the Northern Beaches View.

And he reports that Rats scrum half BRUCE FRASER from derby No.1 is alive and well and living in New Zealand but is headed over for the big luncheon at Terrey Hills on Friday June 4.

Fraser will visit Rat park for the first time since the 1970s and looking forward to seeing old mates from those heady days.

“When I heard about the reunion lunch there was no question about me not returning. I can’t wait to see everyone for the first time in a long,” he told Lucius.

Should be quite an afternoon and a ripping weekend.

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THESE TEAMS keep on coming in and around the countdown to the first of the battle of the Beaches lunch and game on June 4 and 5.

Here’s the teams from the 1990s and note that the election criteria wasn’t just about selecting the Wallabies of the time.

MANLY (1-15): Tony Daly, Damien Cummins, Villi Ala’atlatoa, David Hooper, Matt Stocks, Rob Gallacher, Simon Fenn, Willie Ofahengaue, Mark reber, Matt Curll, Kevin reber, Meli Nakuata, Semi Teaupeaafe, Sikeli Qua Qua, Dan Vickers.

WARRINGAH (1-15): Steve Crawford/Adrian Skeggs, Mark Bell, George Websdale, John Hearn, Rob Blyth, Jon Hart, Cameron Pither, Matt Guberina, Mark Catchpole, Rob Walston, Jon carroll, Adam Grant, Michael Gee, Greg Waldermarsson, Andrew Apps.