by Paul Cook –

And then there were four. With the 2016 Shute Shield season building up to kick-off in just three weeks time on Saturday March 19th, Rugby News has been taking a look back at how each team fared in 2015, and we’ve reached last year’s semi-finalists. First up – Southern Districts.

Having guided the Rebels to a losing Grand Final in his first season at the helm in 2014, head coach Matt Barr’s obvious target for the following year was to go one better and lead the boys from the Shire to their maiden Shute Shield Premiership. But despite improving their win/loss ratio to finish 3rd on the ladder, and seeing off Sydney University in the finals for the second year in a row with a kick after the bell, their year came to a frustrating end one week too soon at the hands of their 2014 conquerors, Eastwood.

No matter, with two Grand Finals and three other semi-final appearances in the last six years, Souths have stamped themselves firmly as a major title challenger. And with the ascension from their ranks of Ben Volavola to the World Cup with Fiji and now the Crusaders in Super Rugby, and Paul Asquith to a contract with the Melbourne Rebels, they’ve shown once again that they are a fertile breeding ground for the next levels of the game. So it was no surprise to find Matt Barr in a suitably positive mood when he sat down with Rugby News to look back at all things 2015…

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Give us a brief overview of last season from your perspective?

Matt Barr: “In 2014, we’d made things difficult for ourselves and snuck into the finals on the back of a pretty inconsistent season. So for me, one of the major goals in 2015 was consistency, and I think that in finishing 3rd overall and winning a large proportion of games, we achieved that. I really stressed that need for consistency on the group right from pre-season onwards and they responded and produced that for the most part, so I was pretty happy with how we went.

“As a team and as individuals, we’ve learned a lot in the last couple of years and we’ve still got a way to go. But I think the group are learning how to put themselves in better positions and how to get out of difficult positions and we’re starting to win the games we should and close out the games we should. I think the match against Randwick at Coogee Oval and the semi-final against Eastwood were the only games we lost all season where we were in control, only to let them slip. In all the rest we got the job done. We were there or thereabouts again last year and that’s a good place to be, but in 2016 we’re all very hungry to take it that one step further.”

It was a terrific opening month for the Rebels with wins up at Rat Park and over Parramatta, Penrith and Easts. You’d begun slowly in 2014, was that fast start a big focus in the pre-season as well?

“Yes, absolutely, and that goes back to what I said about making life hard for ourselves the previous year, because we’d started with three losses. We needed to put ourselves into a better position from the off in 2015 and make our run into the semis a lot more comfortable, if that is possible. Ultimately, what we’d had to go through just to get to the Grand Final in 2014 all caught up with us – and that’s not an excuse, we were beaten by a better team on the day. But certainly, the run into the finals and then the two big games to get into the Grand Final, came at a cost. We wanted to avoid a repeat of that and we did.”

Souths’ first loss was in round five at home to an impressive Sydney University on the day, and that was followed up by defeat at Manly. You got back on track with wins over an improving Gordon and Norths but their progress was an indication of the quality of the Shute Shield last year. There were very few so-called ‘easy’ games?

“There were a couple of tough periods there for us, and certainly, I think the competition was really good last year, you really had to be on your game and have that consistency of performance week-in, week-out because there were a number of clubs on the improve and closing the gap. We were very mindful of that and I think this year, we can expect the gap to close even more across the board. I’m expecting an even tighter season.”

You had a tough run of games in the third month with a win and a loss against Eastwood, a loss to Randwick and an impressive 44-19 win over West Harbour. Were you happy with how the side was travelling at that point?

“Yeah, I was. That was quite a big turning point for us, that West Harbour game. They’re a team and a club that we’ve always struggled against for various reasons, and they went onto beat us in the final round of the regular season. But that win over them at home really gave us a lot of confidence going forward. Defensively, we really muscled up that day, and we took a lot out of that performance.”

There was a disappointing loss at home to Warringah in round 14 but you bounced back with two terrific wins in a row over Uni and Randwick. That ability to put a defeat to bed pretty quickly and move on must have pleased you?

“That loss to Warringah was probably our worst performance of the season, very disappointing. But we didn’t panic, and that’s a sign of the growing maturity within the group. We had a great leadership group and they got their heads together, refocused the rest of the boys and just got on with it again. It’s a long season and over 18 rounds, you’re going to go through a couple of those tough periods, but it’s a testament to the group that they were able to push through those and go on a good run through to the semis.”

While you were no doubt pleased to see Ben Volavola rewarded for his fine form with a contract at the Crusaders and a place in Fiji’s World Cup squad, losing his services after round 15 left you with big shoes to fill. But Jordan McGregor performed admirably when he stepped up?

“Ben’s been one of the most exciting players in Shute Shield in recent years and a very strong performer, and to lose someone of his calibre was always going to be hard. But we were very lucky to have Jordan waiting in the wings and he was really looking forward to the opportunity to show what he could do. He’d had a couple of injuries leading into the season and picked up another during it but he’d trained really hard and we got him at just the right time. He has a very similar style to Ben and the way we played him, defending him at 15 and using his kicking game, made it a fairly easy transition thankfully.”

And he certainly made his mark in week one of the finals against Sydney Uni, in what must go down as one of the most dramatic wins at Forshaw Park in many a long year?

“That’s a very memorable game that one. There were a lot of people there and the players will certainly take a lot from that and it will be quite a special occasion to recall for many years to come. It was a great defensive effort in the first half, where we’d had very little ball. That was my message to them at half-time, that we were still very much in the game, we just needed some ball. If we could do that I knew we had the capability to score tries, and we did. I think Uni felt the pressure from there and of course, in typical Southern Districts goal-kicking fashion, Jordan went on to nail that penalty after the bell and snatch another tight one against Uni for the second year in a row.”

All of which pitted you against Eastwood in the semi-final – a fixture that seems to be forming a healthy rivalry given the narrow margins of victory between the two clubs in recent seasons. It finished 32-28 to the reigning champions, despite Souths taking a 21-0 lead early on, and the season was over a week short of your target. How frustrating was it to go out of the competition in that manner?

“Obviously, being up 21-0 after 20 minutes and well on top couldn’t have been better but the game just shifted from there and, typical Eastwood, they’re a champion side and they didn’t panic. They stuck to their structures, got a fair bit of ball and played very smart footy. I think Jai Ayoub’s been the best 10 in the competition for a couple of years now and he and Hugh Perrett – as they did in the 2014 Grand Final – just stepped up and did an amazing job leading their side home.

Salesi Maumalanga made significant progress in the Rebels’ front row in 2015

“We were a little bit undisciplined and there were also a few things that I thought we were unlucky with, but unfortunately, that momentum just shifted and we couldn’t get ourselves back into the game. That’s something we need to be smarter on moving forward, maybe rethink our policies around a few things and how we defend in certain situations. It’s a very hard competition to win and you need a lot of things to go your way but we’ll keep learning from it and getting better and as I said, everyone is very hungry to go even further in 2016.”

Across the club – there were 11th, 10th and 6th place finishes in the lower grades and 8th, 5th and 5th in the colts grades respectively. Are there any concerns that 1st grade appears to be flying the flag for the club at the moment?

“I suppose it is a concern and something we’re trying to address. Our colts program has been very successful and we benefited from that last year with guys like Matt Teki, Albert Hemopo and Rahboni Vosayaco coming through, and we probably used the services of colts players more than any other year that I’ve been involved at the club. That wasn’t through injuries, that was through just trying to give those guys an opportunity and give them a taste and when they went back to colts, they helped to lift the standard of those around them through those experiences.

“Results-wise, our 1st colts and lower grades were a little bit disappointing, but we’re still pretty excited by some of our player gains, not so much at the top end but across the grades, for this year. People talk about Souths and that we put on a good show down here, it’s a good day out and it’s a good culture, and I think the word has spread and guys of all different abilities want to come down and play. Hopefully, that translates into greater consistency across all grades this year.”

Player/s of the Year?

“Apo Latunipulu was our Player’s Player. The boys vote 3-2-1 at the end of each game and he was a standout. He is a quality player and was amazing for us. He provided so much direction and leadership in the midfield and was greatly missed in the semis due to injury.”

Rookie/s of the Year?

“You’ve got a young bloke like Matt Teki who started the year with a bang but unfortunately picked up an injury. Another guy was Brandon Paenga-Amosa who also started the year very well but got injured, and Albert Hemopo, who I mentioned earlier. But I think our Rookie of the Year would have to be our second-rower, Fili Tufui. We didn’t know a lot about him when he came, we had some good footage of him but we didn’t realise how raw he is – he’s actually only played rugby for a few seasons, he used to be a basketballer. So, to do what he did, come in and play so well for us in his first year of 1^st grade and then do the same in the NRC for the Rams, was pretty impressive.”

Most Improved Player of the Year?

“I think the big improver was Salesi Maumalanga, who played every single game in 1st grade. That boy played a lot of lower grade football and he’s worked bloody hard over the last couple of years to transform his body and he was by far the biggest improver in the club, not just in 1st grade.”

Players rewarded at the next level?

Ben Volavola (Crusaders, NZ & Fiji); Jed Holloway (Greater Sydney Rams, NRC & NSW Waratahs); Paul Asquith (Greater Sydney Rams, NRC & Melbourne Rebels); Cameron Betham (Greater Sydney Rams, NRC & FC Auch Gers, France); Alex Gibbon (Brisbane City, NRC & Queensland Reds Training Squad); Duncan Chubb (Melbourne Rising, NRC); Dewet Roos (Greater Sydney Rams, NRC); Jono Hayes (Greater Sydney Rams, NRC); Filimone Tufui (Greater Sydney Rams, NRC); Marcus Carbone (Greater Sydney Rams, NRC); Matt Teki (Greater Sydney Rams, NRC); Max Holland (Greater Sydney Rams, NRC); Jake Douglas (Greater Sydney Rams, NRC); Atieli Pakalani (Greater Sydney Rams, NRC); Matt Gibbon (Greater Sydney Rams, NRC); Denny Godinet (Greater Sydney Rams, NRC); Rahboni Vosayaco (Greater Sydney Rams, NRC); Andrew Leota (Sydney Stars, NRC); Jordan McGregor (Sydney Stars, NRC)