BY MARK CASHMAN

We’ve hit grand final time of the Shute Shield competition and 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: 

It’s been 50 years since Sydney Uni and Gordon last played in a Shute Shield grand final – at the old Sydney Sports Ground in 1972.

And the memories have come flowing back this week!

That great, great man Norman Tasker got in touch with Around The Traps to share the drama that happened that day.

Tasker recalled that the Highlanders had had a pretty good year in 1972 and leading into the Shute Shield premiership decider they had won grand finals in fifth grade, fourth grade, third grade and reserve grade.

So obviously no pressure on the first grade side that day that was led by Terry Rigney and featured Peter Sullivan on the side of the scrum with Sandy Muston doing his stuff in the front row and Graham Brown in the second row.

Gordon were leading late in the game and looking like they might pull off a very rare clean sweep of titles until the Uni flyhalf Rupert Rosenblum put up a “Gary Owen” right under the posts.

Highlanders fullback Bob Forsberg unfortunately fumbled the hot potato and Uni swooped to get the score that would prove decisive on the day.

Rosenblum wasn’t the only gun in that Uni side that day – Gary Smoker played fullback and the pack featured Roger Davis, Chris Carberry and Jake Howard.

That great Uni man Dave Brokhoff was the coach.

There’s also a connection to the present day team to that day in 1972 with Darcy Breen’s grand father playing a role in that premiership decider.

Great stuff!

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Great to see that Stan Sport are throwing some of their big commentary dogs at the coverage of the Shute Shield grand final.

Andrew Swain, the co-host of the weekly Clubland show, will do the play by play calling and he will be backed up by Sean Maloney and Tim Horan.

Swain has been lucky enough to call some cracking games in recent times with Argentina’s win over the All Blacks in Sydney a couple of years back just one of them.

He says he’s expecting plenty of drama at Leichhardt Oval before heading into the city and the Wallabies v South Africa game.

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There’s always the behind the scenes people that make things like a Shute Shield grand final happen.

None more so than SRU competitions manager Kerry Brady who has presided over a mind-boggling 728 games of footy over these past few months.

She’s also found grounds to play finals at when the demands of early season cricket makes things a little bit testy and of course there is also the rain that has been with us for most of the winter.

There’s three to tick off at Leichhardt Oval this weekend before Kerry can take one of those deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth.

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Sydney Uni didn’t waste any time getting ready for this weekend’s grand final – hightailing it to North Narrabeen beach to start their recovery within an hour of full-time of their game against Eastwood.

The water was a chilly 16 degrees but it was just the thing to wash away the barnacles from their 10-9 win over Eastwood.

With the grand final operating on a six-day turnaround – the only one of the Shute Shield this season – there was no time to waste getting mind and body in the right place, according to Uni boss Sean Hedger.

There was also plenty of genuine empathy for the Woods No.10 Tane Edmed.

“I thought he was going to get that second last penalty goal, I thought he was going to get that last penalty goal and when he tucked into the pocket I thought ‘he can’t miss’ (the field goal),” Hedger told Rugby News.

“The poor kid, I feel sorry for him. He’s been the best player in the competition the last five weeks, he’s really revitalised that team and he was shattered afterwards.”

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Northern Suburbs were absolutely shattered after the loss to Gordon last weekend at Rat Park but the journey to get better continues.

The Shoremen have announced a strategic partnership with aspirational English club the Ealing Trailfinders that will see their academy players come down under for some game time and exposure to the Shute Shield.

It’s the type of arrangement that worked well for the Two Blues this year with the Sale Sharks and a couple of years back at Randwick with Northampton.

The Trailfinders have 54 players on their books and recently signed Shute Shield regulars Jack Grant and Carlo Tizzano.

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What can we expect from this premiership decider? We discussed all the options at length on the ShuteCast podcast this week and the general feeling was that the likes of Tristan Fuli and Harrison Goddard gave Gordon a bit of an upper hand.

Fuli, judo black belt and all, has really made his mark since coming on board. He has stablised the Highlanders scrum while Goddard has given the whole crew a certain calmness. Look for the new Waratahs squad scrum half to take his time and once he feels the time is right to snipe down the short side.

It was a feature of the way that his father played back in the day when the Two Blues were winning titles.

Uni were far from being the real deal against Eastwood and must consider themselves lucky to be about this weekend.They won’t stray too far away from the game that has got them this far – done well it works!

IMAGE: KAREN WATSON