The Meldrum Cup Subbies club that reformed this year and fielded a side for the first time in 23 years.

Well it turns out, they can play.

And tomorrow, they’ll take on local rivals Engadine in the Meldrum Cup grand final at Forshaw Rugby Park.

“At the start of the year, we thought if we could make the finals, then it’d be a really successful season and we’d be happy with that in our first year. Fortunately a few things fell into place and now we’re playing in a grand final,” coach Mark Smith told Rugby News.

The North Cronulla rugby club dates back to the 1960’s and later became Port Hacking, who merged with St George in 1989 to form Southern Districts.

North Cronulla Sea Lice, a side created by members of the North Cronulla Surf Lifesaving Club, broke away from Port Hacking in 1984 and played in several Subbies divisions through till 1995.

“Most of the guys in this side are involved in North Cronulla Surf Club or friends with someone who is. One of the boat rowers at the club started talking about how he was becoming disillusioned with the way the local rugby league comp was going,” Smith said.

“They were playing the same teams over and over again and a lot of the guys just weren’t enjoying it anymore.”

So the Sea Lice returned and made their Meldrum Cup debut in April this year.

“We picked up a lot of rugby league players, then a lot of guys who had played rugby before, but hadn’t played in quite a few years.

“They were looking for a way back into the game that didn’t require as much of a commitment as playing grade rugby does and they found it at Sea Lice and I think they’re all back enjoying rugby again.

“Most the league guys were surprised by just how constant rugby is. Their perception was that rugby is a very stop, start game but they’ve quickly learnt that everything you go into is a contest for the ball.

“If someone can steal it off you, they will and if you take a bad carry, you’ll lose the ball. Once they worked that out, they started to really enjoy the game and I think we’ve converted most of them to the XV man game now.”

As a veteran forward and former colts coach at Southern Districts, Smith knows plenty about the values of a rugby club culture, something he says the newer players have picked up quickly.

“The culture at the club is fantastic. At training this week we had 10 or so guys that can’t play this weekend down at training helping out. That’s a really important part of a rugby club in my eyes,” he said.

“We were also fortunate to pick up a sponsor who owned a bus, so we’ve been travelling to all our away games together and that’s something everyone has really enjoyed. On the way back, we have a few beers and a sing, then most of the guys head out together for the night.”

After finishing as minor premiers, North Cronulla beat Burraneer 43-17 in the major semi final to book a spot in the decider, while Engadine beat Collaroy and Burraneer to play their way into the final.

“We just need to focus on playing the way we want to play. We’ve got some very good ball runners in the forwards and we like to attack on the fringes, but we’ve also got a very good backline so we certainly want to use the ball as much as possible,” Smith said.

“The scrum has improved dramatically throughout the year, but we’ve still got a lot of guys playing tight five positions for the very first time, so hopefully we can hold our own in that areas, then let out backs play.”

North Cronulla take on Engadine in the NSW Subbies Meldrum Cup grand final at Forshaw Rugby Park at 3pm on Saturday.

The post North Cronulla Sea Lice one win away from fairytale return season appeared first on Rugby News.

Combined States is a ‘Barbarians’ style side picked from the best players not selected in their respective state teams.

NSW players dominate the squad, with three Queenslanders also named.

15-year old Kings winger Joseph Suaalii has been picked after impressing for GPS in his two appearance at the NSW All Schools trials.

Combined States Squad:

Ben Bryden (Barker College), Alex Davies (Brisbane Grammar School), Dominic Easy (St Ignatius’ College Riverview), Harry Flaherty (Barker College), Maea Fonua (Xavier College, Llandillo), Jude Gibbs (St Josephs College, Hunters Hill), Saxon Gillies (St Ignatius’ College, Riverview), Thomas Gore (Downlands College), Lathan Hutchinson-Walters (Waverley College), Jayden Lynch (Alstonville High School), Hamish Mac Smith (The King’s School), Conor Molloy (Waverley College), Oscar Moran (Oxley College), Nicholas Murray (St Josephs College, Hunters Hill), Ben Pollack (St Aloysius’ College), Aaron Prosser (Anglican Church Grammar School), Alex Rahme (St Aloysius’ College), Ben Robson (The Scots College), Dylan Saunders (Windsor High School), Joseph Suaalii (The King’s School), Brett Wellington (The Scots College), Harry Whiteman (Waverley College), Nathan Zylstra (The Scots College).​

The post Aust Schools: NSW & QLD players named in Combined States side appeared first on Rugby News.

The Heelers have claimed the trophy thanks to last-gasp tries in both of the last two years, but after an undefeated tour of New Zealand they’re brimming with confidence and look to be red-hot favourites heading in to the 2018 edition.

While there’s no doubting the ability across both sides, there is a handful of players to keep your eye on.

NSW COUNTRY COCKATOOS

KEVIN McNAMARA (Prop)

A bookend from the Central Coast, McNamara has been around the Cockatoos’ camp for a while but has truly cemented his spot in 2018. Excellent at scrum-time and as dynamic with ball in hand as any NSW Country forward.

CHRIS LOGAN (Fullback)

Was overlooked for Newcastle-Hunter’s side but was handed a second chance with Mid North Coast, and he impressed at country week. He’s impressed Thomas since being named for the Cockatoos too, and NSW Country’s coach pointer to Logan’s running game – particularly on the counter – as his real strength.

BEN DAMEN (Five-eighth)

Not much to say about the Far North Coast star that hasn’t already been said. Cockatoos coach Mat Thomas calls him Mr Consistency, and his level head is a huge advantage for any side that’s lucky enough to boast him somewhere through the backline.

QUEENSLAND COUNTRY HEELERS

TOM VINSON (Halfback)

From Townsville’s Teachers West club, Vinson’s been at this level before and knows what he’s doing. He’s quick, he’s elusive, he communicates well and his service is exceptional – everything you could want in a half basically. Returned from a knee injury in the Heelers’ tour of New Zealand.

SAM TWEEDY (second row)

Queensland Country is a real family affair for Tweedy. His father Rob and his uncle Richard both played for the Heelers in their time and his brother James played at the under-19 level too. A Goondiwindi Emu, Saturday’s clash gives him a chance to wear Heelers colours in front of his home crowd, the big second-rower won’t miss that opportunity to shine.

JOSH FLETCHER (Five-eighth)

Fletcher directed traffic in North Queensland’s country championship win and retained his spot in the Heelers side too, considering his combination with Vinson stretches all the way back to the club level, there’ll be no lack of familiarity in Queensland Country’s halves and that’s a massive advantage against a side that has only played together once.

The post NSW Country Cockatoos v QLD Country Heelers: Six players to watch appeared first on Rugby News.

Queensland Country and NSW Country’s preparation for Saturday’s Battle of the Border Cup clash couldn’t be more different and because of that the Heelers head in with plenty of momentum while the Cockatoos, well, they’re expecting somewhat of an ambush at Goondiwindi.

The Heelers are fresh from an undefeated, two-game tour of New Zealand and hit the training paddock almost immediately after landing back in Australia on Friday, on the flip side the Cockatoos will have just two training sessions and one game, which they won, under their belts leading in.

One of those sessions will be on Friday night too, after the entire side’s made the long trek north.

“It’ll be a tough slog, but that’s what country rugby is about,” NSW Country coach Mat Thomas said.

“Queensland Country has travelled a bit leading in too, so we’ll just have to overcome it. They’re coming off the tour though so no doubt they’ll be a bit more polished than us, and pretty confident too I’d say.”

Queensland Country skipper Sam Hogarth confirmed exactly that, that his side is brimming with confidence after downing Ellesmere (29-10) and North Canterbury (42-17) in Aotearoa.

“We will head in confident, definitely. The tour was good, the boys came together really well, we played some pretty good rugby and got a couple of good wins,” Hogarth, who’ll line up on the side of the Heelers’ scrum, said.

“Any team playing at this level will be strong though, so I’m sure they’ll be tough. We don’t know much about them really, we know they had a win (earlier this month) but individually we don’t know their players so we’ll focus on ourselves, our game.

“That’s mainly defence, for us. Defensively we were really good in New Zealand so a big thing will be making sure we’re good there again, we can attack from that.”

The Cockatoos’ win, a 34-24 victory, came over the ACT Brumbies’ Provincial outfit and while Thomas said the result was pleasing, he conceded his side has plenty to improve on if it’s to be a chance against the powerful Heelers.

“We let that game slip a bit towards the end, we probably didn’t score as many as we should’ve and they probably scored too many,” he explained.

“We defended for a lot of the game against ACT, which was our fault through errors and penalties, and we had three yellow cards as well.

“Two of those guys, Tom Green and Charlie French, were off the same time, and we just can’t afford to do that against the Heelers, they’re a quality side and they’re very experienced, they’ll run riot if we do.

“They’re stacked, from what I know they’ve got a very good side and I think they’ll be desperate to win and retain the trophy.”

The Heelers hold the Battle for the Border Cup after a thrilling 18-16 victory at Newcastle last year, which came thanks to a last-gasp try.

Queensland Country is actually gunning for a three-peat, after winning a similarly thrilling clash the year before.

The Heelers prevailed 29-27 at Toowoomba in 2016, again thanks to a try in the final minutes.

Both Queensland Country and NSW Country’s colts will face-off at Goondiwindi too, the former comes in after a 73-0 demolition of the University of Queensland while the Cockatoos boys lost three straight games at the NSW Gen Blue trials earlier this month.

The colts clash kicks off at 2pm, before the main game at 3.30pm.

The post Match Preview: QLD Country Heelers v NSW Country Cockatoos appeared first on Rugby News.

Considering his Cockatoos’ preparation, or lack thereof, NSW Country head coach Mat Thomas was stoked with his side’s campaign-opening 34-24 win over the ACT Brumbies Provincial side at Camden on Sunday.

“Considering we only trained together as a group for an hour-and-a-half before the game and had a lot of debutants as well it was a pretty impressive effort, especially to score 34 points in the way we did,” Thomas said, virtually every time the Cockatoos retained possession effectively they scored.

“In that respect, considering those circumstances, it was the perfect way to start the program and we showed glimpses of what we’re capable of which was promising, but there’s plenty to work on before we play Queensland Country later this month.”

However while the result was pleasing Thomas said the performance was “far from perfect”, with discipline and tenacity at the breakdown two big areas he says the side needs to work on before facing their Queensland counterparts at Goondiwindi on June 30.

Discipline was also an issue, the Cockatoos received three yellow cards, and Thomas said his side turned over far too much ball, “missing the target” plenty of times on both sides of the breakdown.

“We didn’t really have the ball at all for the first 20 or 25 minutes and even though our defensive effort was good, we let the ACT into the game with our own mistakes and turnovers,” Thomas said.

“We probably slipped back into club rugby mode a little bit too much and we were missing our targets at the breakdown too, we probably weren’t vigorous enough there in attack or defence and we can’t do that against Queensland Country. If we turn over that much ball they’ll crucify us.

“But in saying that these guys are pumped full of information and structures and don’t get long to come together before these games, so it’s all a by-product of that and they have done really well considering that.

“But we do need to improve being at the level we’re at because it’s a huge step up, so they’ll be a couple of big focuses for us before going to Goondiwindi.”

NSW Country take a week off before preparing to play Queensland Country at Goondiwindi on June 30.

The post NSW Country Cockatoos grind out 34-24 win over ACT Provincial appeared first on Rugby News.

Parramatta won the U12s and U13s titles and Penrith won the U14s tournament, all of which were played over three days.

A combined Parramatta and Randwick side also took out the U15s girls division, West Harbour won the U17s girls final and Penrith also featured in the U12s final.

Earlier this year, Penrith’s senior club was removed from the Shute Shield competition after struggling to field competitive teams in most grades.

While Sydney Rugby Union president David Begg confirmed a senior club will replace the Emus in the Sydney grade competition eventually, no firm plans have been announced.

“We mentioned that to the boys with the seniors not doing so well we needed to show the world we’ve still got talent at the club and we did that today,” Penrith U14s coach Ronnie Patea said.

“It’s a great experience for some of them, they’re a bunch of champions, most of them were there last year so we’re really excited.”

In other results, Norths were too good for Eastwood in the under 15s decider, Gordon beat ACT in the U17s and Manly defeated Hunter in the Opens (U18s).

“It was a magnificent weekend – probably one of the best State Champs we have run in recent years, NSW Juniors president Ben Gregory said.

“Our host clubs did a super job – especially with the wet weather we had last week. I must commend the councils on helping the tournaments proceed. But some of the grounds – particularly Drummoyne and Concord were is such good shape you would not even know it had rained.”

NSWJRU 2018 STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS – FINALS

U12: Parramatta 33 def Penrith 5

U13: Parramatta 54 def Victoria 12

U14: Penrith 29 def Gordon 10

U15: Northern Suburbs 32 def Eastwood 7

U15 Girls: Randwick/Parramatta 22 def Central North 7

U16: Gordon 38 def ACTJRU Brumbies 22

U17 Girls: West Harbour 29 def Illawarra 5

Opens: Manly 31 def Hunter 21

Photo: Central Western Daily

The post Penrith & Parramatta dominate NSW Junior State Championships in positive sign for rugby in Sydney’s west appeared first on Rugby News.

Thomas named an extended training squad following this year’s NSW Country Championship carnival in Warren, but trimmed the group down to 23 following a training camp in Newcastle earlier this month.

The Cockatoos will take part in a shortened program in 2018 following the cancellation of the annual fixture against NSW Subbies.

NSW Country plays ACT Provincial at Camden on June 17 before taking on QLD Country in late June.

NSW Country Cockatoos squad to play ACT Provincial:

Tom Baker – University of Wollongong

Sam Callow – Southern Cross University

Takunda Chimwaza – University of Wollongong

Andrew Collins – Tamworth Pirates

Ed Cordingley – Walcha

Leighton Cowley – Kiama

Ben Damen – Wollongbar

Mahe Fangupo – Forbes

Peter Fitzsimmons – Bathurst Bulldogs

Tom Green – Orange Emus

Marc Koteczky – Terrigal

Sam Latu – University of Wollongong

Eddie Laupola – Ourimbah

Amos Leef – University of Wollongong

Chris Logan – Gloucester

Kevin McNamara – Warnervale

Chris Miller – Cowra

Sam Pearce – Ballina

Dan Ryan – Parkes

Jay Spencer – Camden

Richie Steele – Warren

Tuumuliilevao Taiti-Taanoa – Avondale

Aisake Tuevu – Wollongong Waratahs

The post NSW Country Cockatoos name squad to play ACT Provincial appeared first on Rugby News.

Newcastle Hunter and Central West have dominated the 30-man squad, taking 24 spots between them.

Newcastle Hunter proved far too good for an injury riddled Central West side in the final on Sunday in Warren.

NSW COUNTRY COLTS:

Pat Berryman, Lachlan Buckton, Nick Fisher, Hayden Goodall, Sam Greatbatch, Josh Jasprizza, Hayden Leopold, Alex Saint (Central West), Jack Allen, Will Archer, Jacob Barrett, Reece Bray, Dal Molin Harrison, Hone Edwards, Ethan Fowles, Caleb Hopping, Eli McCulloch, Beau Merrick, Lachlan Miller, Connor Mulhearn, Isaac Ulberg, Alex Vaughan, Ben Wood (Newcastle-Hunter), Reece Apollo, Nicholas Cracknell, Opeti Taufahema, Mani Tuigamala (Ilawarra), Will McDonald (Central Coast), Will Morley (North West Bushrangers)

The post NSW Country Cockatoos Colts 2018 Training Squad announced appeared first on Rugby News.

Champions Illawarra and grand finalists Central West are both well represented.

The squad will attend a training camp later this month, before Thomas selects a team to play Southern Inland in Sydney and QLD Country on the Gold Coast in June.

NSW Country Cockatoos 2018 Training Squad:

Tom Baker (Uni Wollongong), Takunda Chimwaza (Uni Wollongong), Andrew Collins (Tamworth), Ed Cordingley (SCU), Leighton Cowley (Kiama), Ben Damen (Wollongbar), Mahe Fangupo (Forbes), Peter Fitzsimons (Bathurst), Charlie French (Forbes), Anthony Fuller (Warren), Tom Green (Orange Emus), Nick Hughes-Clapp (Orange Emus), Pat Keen (Wallamba), Jack Kelly (Warren), Marc Koteczky (Terrigal), Sam Latu (Uni Wollongong), Elekana Laupola (Ourimbah), Amos Leef (Uni Wollongong), Chris Logan (Gloucester), Barcelona Lupematasila (Lake Macquarie), Sekope Maea (Terrigal), Ethan McInnes (Terrigal), Kevin McNamara (Warnervale), Chris Miller (Cowra), Dane Nethery (Wollongong Vikings), Sam Pearce (Ballina), Lochie Robinson (CSU Bathurst), Daniel Rollinson (Bangalow), Dan Ryan (Parkes), Tim Small (Bowral), Jay Spencer (Camden), Ritchie Steele (Warren), Tuumuliileuao Tait-Tania (Avondale), Pauli Tuala (Uni Wollongong), Asiake Tuevu (Kiama), Harry Webber (Bathurst), Henry Yuill (Bowral).

The post NSW Country Cockatoos 2018 Training Squad announced appeared first on Rugby News.

Ariel Durant wrote, “a great civilisation is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within”.

She was referring in the Story of Civilisation to the Roman Empire but her words equally describe the current climate of our game.  Australian Rugby is not yet dead, but it’s doing a pretty good job at killing itself – sadly from within.

In my eyes, one of the major problems with the game in Australia presently is the general negativity and mood of pessimism among long-time supporters, former and current players and former and current administrators – except of course for those on the board of Rugby Australia.

It is hard to know how to lift the collective out of this mood particularly when there is objectively not much about which to be happy.

Only recently one of the shining lights in Australian Rugby, the Sydney Shute Shield competition, has killed one of its own. It has excluded the Penrith Emus only five games into the season.

The merits of that decision are probably beyond debate. Penrith has not been competitive for the entire time the club has participated in the Shute Shield except for the 1998 season when Peter Fenton was first grade coach and recruited a hard core group of first graders to the club. It was however only a short-term Band-Aid solution.

It is the reaction to the exclusion of Penrith Emus that betrays much of what is currently wrong with the game in this country.

The narrative goes as follows: ARU and NSWRU have ignored Western Sydney for years, Private School take all the good schoolboy players, Sydney Uni takes all the rest, we’ve been done over by a bunch of latte sipping North Shore types.

Well that just ignores objective evidence, it is emoting, complaining but not offering solutions, contending that money is a fix all, and of course blames others for one’s own inadequacies.

I personally feel that forcing Penrith Emus to regroup and participate in the first division of subdistrict rugby and permitting a competitive and probably winning culture to develop, will do more for the game in the region then continual and inevitable floggings.

And it will obviously improve the week to week standard of the Shute Shield; and Subbies rugby.

That is absolutely not a knock on the good people involved; they would have been doing their very best. Unfortunately that has just not been good enough to compete at the level. It is hoped that all involved at Penrith Emus are not permanently lost to the game. They should not be.

To argue that in some way Penrith’s failures are due to variously the governing bodies for failure to develop and other clubs for poaching talent is difficult to understand.

Penrith has not succeeded because it has not had enough quality players and coaches. It is no more complex than that.

I believe that the reaction to the exclusion of Penrith Emus is a symptom and product of 20 years of the professional era in Australia.

I don’t wish to be overly nostalgic but there is a certain something that has disappeared from the game since professionalism was introduced.

What has emerged is the “what is in it for me” attitude.

This can be seen right across the game from juniors through to the leading elite players.

The professional era also seems to have bred a culture of jealousy. It seems that every one associated with club rugby in Sydney hates Sydney University, including some lower grade players at Sydney University who leave because they want to play first grade elsewhere.

I don’t understand that. University is a club that was in a similar position to Penrith Emus in the mid 1990s but through hard work and deployment of its various advantages has developed a culture of success and has produced numerous representative players.

The culture of jealousy and blame shifting is pervasive. I read a social media comment by the president of a rugby club in a small town two years ago bemoaning the state of rugby and blaming the situation in his town on the clubs in larger neighbouring towns.

His comment was to the effect that clubs X, Y and Z have done bugger all for the game in his town.

When I challenged him to substantiate his comments, days before the large town was set to play preseason trials and a junior gala day at his club, he was unable to do so.

I bet that does not stop him mouthing off and peddling fake news.

You cannot go anywhere without hearing complaints about rich private schools taking all the good players.

Right….and?

What is to stop Public Schools starting their own competitions. What is wrong with a young man being given an opportunity he would not otherwise have? It has a few downsides put I hardly think the GPS Rugby competition is why the Wallabies cannot consistently beat the All Blacks.

This Saturday a Shute Shield game is being played in Orange.

An initiative of the Easts Rugby Club in Sydney sees Easts playing Parramatta. Easts played Gordon in Orange last year and it was a magnificent success.

Last year the two Orange clubs played the game after the Shute Shield game. This year one of the Orange clubs is to play Forbes.

Forbes Rugby Club is a great story; a consistently successful Club with hard-working people involved, and the Central West premiers in 2017.

However for some impenetrable reason Forbes objected to playing this weekend after the Shute Shield game despite it having been scheduled for many months, insisting that the game occur before the Shute Shield game.

I asked for a spokesperson of the Forbes Club to comment and none was provided. There may have been other reasons that may have had merit but where was the eye to the greater good of the game?

This is but one example of the prevailing attitude that ignores what is good for the game as a whole and prefers self interest.

A groundswell of rusted on goodwill still exists for the game. This weekend, as it happens in the small town where the complaining club president resides, there will be over 300 junior rugby players participating in their first game for the season.

That scene will be replicated across the country. A lot of people in Australia love rugby and want to see it succeed and prosper. I do not suggest anyone is deliberately sabotaging the game, but perhaps more concern for the bigger picture might not go astray.

I am not suggesting that what ails the game in Australia will be solved by joining hands and singing Kumbaya My Lord.

Rivalry is important, healthy and inevitable.

Jealousy, empire building, naked self-interest and dare I say financial gain is not.

The game is at a tipping point. Unless people involved in rugby work together it will exist only as a mere curiosity in twenty years.

Maybe there needs to be an all comers invited forum facilitated by an elder of the game with broad respect, where no idea no matter how hare brained is off limits.

Someone like Michael Lynagh, who has achieved everything there is in the game, and is removed enough to bring a healthy perspective.

And if you ask me – make black boots compulsory, and all problems will be solved.

Toby Tancred

The post Opinion: Self interest is killing Australian rugby but there’s time to turn things around appeared first on Rugby News.