All Class: Henry Clunies-Ross (grounded) watches as his pass releases Jock Merriman to the posts for another Uni try. The Students wore green socks in honour of cancer pioneer, Chris O’Brien
Photo: AJF Photography

by Paul Cook –

Sydney University have sounded a warning shot to the rest of the Shute Shield competition that their title defence is still well and truly on, with a resounding 85-19 victory over Eastern Suburbs at Uni Oval No.1. Running in 13 tries with some sizzling attacking rugby, the Students took a young Beasties line-up apart and at one stage looked like they would run up a century before putting the cue in the rack with 15 minutes to play.

Although they may not be many people’s favourites to triumph for the 9th time in 10 years given their record against the top three this season, they have the attacking weapons to hurt anyone and with Angus Roberts back in the fold, Peter Betham and Michael Hodge making their returns from long term injury and the potential injection of more Super Rugby talent in the weeks ahead, they are certainly a team to be wary of as the season reaches crunch time.

Captain for the day in the absence of the injured Tom Boidin, Tom Carter was another on the comeback trail after missing three weeks with a hairline leg fracture. He felt his young accomplices were starting to tick over nicely ahead of next week’s trip to Rat Park to face Warringah in the Qualifying Final.

“It was really pleasing to put on a performance like that,” he told Rugby News. “We’ve probably been a bit scratchy all year and Easts have beaten Manly and Eastwood which is no mean feat, so it was about getting the process right leading into next week. l think there was a real clarity and focus around what we wanted to do today and that was the most impressive thing, that we were able to execute what we’d practiced and spoken about all week.”

Rebel Returns: Angus Roberts has now scored 4 tries in 2 starts since returning to Uni colours after a two year hiatus – Photo: AJF Photography

Head coach Chris Malone was pleased with the execution from his dazzling backline but insisted that the age old mantra of going forward before you can go wide still holds true. “We’ve tried to promote our backs and when you’ve got some talent like that it makes your game a hell of a lot better and good to watch but we also had to win the ball up front and once we did that, we could launch those guys into the game,” he said.

“We’ve known for a while that we were going to Warringah next weekend and playing them in their own backyard so we had to prepare for it today but we won’t get ahead of ourselves,” he continued. “It’s one performance but the intensity was there today and there was a genuine feel within the camp before the game that we were ready to go and that was good to see.”

Easts’ coach Campbell Aitken said his side could only hold their hands up in the face of Uni’s onslaught but felt they were also largely the architects of their own downfall. “Uni were impressive but there were just far too many missed tackles for us, it was embarrassing to be honest,” he admitted. “They hit 85 with about 15 minutes to go and I think everyone was looking at the scoreboard with some concern.

“It’s been a hard year in terms of no weekends off and the amount of injuries we’ve had but that’s no excuse for getting beat like that – we were just falling off tackles, I’ve never seen anything like it. There’s been some highlights this season but today was probably the low point.”

The writing was on the wall early, the electric Henry Clunies-Ross running home in only the 2nd minute to serve notice of what he would produce all afternoon and when Angus Roberts stepped through the visitors line to put blindside Sam Quinn away for a second on 7 minutes, a long day at the office loomed for the visitors.

Uni’s execution and handling skills were exemplary from the opening whistle and time and again, quick hands, great support play and smart lines carved the Beasties open, Dan Kelly the architect of try no.3 with a long, looping pass that bypassed two defenders and made space for his backs to play catch-and-pass for Clunies-Ross to run in his second.

Hat-trick Hero No.1: Aussie U20s rep Jim Stewart was a handful all afternoon alongside Tom Carter in the centres
Photo: AJF Photography

19-0 after only 12 minutes but in the face of mounting adversity, Easts hit back in what was their first real foray into the Uni 22. Promising flyhalf Archie King breaking the line and finding a willing Ben Willis off his shoulder.

It was the briefest of ripostes, Uni’s backline clicking into gear again to put Angus Roberts in for his third try in two starts since he returned to club colours last weekend after a two year hiatus. But as slick as Uni’s attacking play undoubtedly was, they were being given more than a helping hand from an Easts’ defence that – as coach Aitken bemoaned – was simply missing too many tackles.

The Students went coast to coast in the 25th minute and some neat hands from Tom Carter – a feature of his game these days – freed up a run to the chalk for Roberts’ second before the impressive Aussie U20s rep Jim Stewart got in on the act, stepping his way in off the flank to race home for 38-7.

From a position of increasing despondency, the Beasties did rally towards the end of the half as Uni perhaps had one eye on the half-time break. It took a superb try saving tackle from James Dargaville to thwart Anton La Vin but having earned a penalty earlier in the play, Easts reset and used their potent lineout maul to drive Billy Johnston over.

Resuming hostilities 38-12 behind, you would assume that one of the mantra’s coming out of the sheds for the Beasties was ‘Don’t concede early’ but, as with their opening two minute effort, they switched off once more to allow prop Sam Talakai to get his name on the scoresheet.

Five minutes later, Uni had try no.8, some nice interplay through the midfield creating a line break for Jordan Chapman, who waited for the perfect moment to release his support runner Sam Quinn to the posts.

That was the cue for coach Malone to keep one eye on next weekend’s Qualifying Final against Warringah by giving Carter and David Hickey an early bath but with Peter Betham coming on for his first action since injuring his ankle on the Waratahs’ South African trip back in March, there was hardly any let-up for their battered opposition.

The Uni backline now contained one former Waratah, one current Waratah and – it’s perhaps not too fanciful to suggest – three future Waratahs in the shape of the excellent Clunies-Ross, Stewart and Dargaville. It’s Dargaville who has grabbed the lion’s share of headlines this season for his try scoring exploits but this was an afternoon for his fellow tyros to shine and shine they did.

Hat-trick Hero No.2 – Henry Clunies-Ross was simply unstoppable at times
as he moved onto 14 tries for the season – Photo: AJF Photography

Clunies-Ross showed off his blistering pace to burn off the defence and feed Jock Merriman around to the posts for 57-12 before Stewart was simply too strong on a run down the line, flattening a couple of Beasties with ‘don’t argues’ to rack up the Students 10th try and make it 64-12.

The floodgates were well and truly open and even the front row were joining in the fun now. Sam Talakai threw a lovely show and go to race clear and find Stewart who fired a pass for Clunies-Ross to streak away for his hat-trick and not to be outdone, hooker Gerrard Ellis went over from in close to open his 1st Grade account.

Clunies-Ross then made mincemeat of the Easts defence once more, speeding away with the ball in both hands, arcing inside and popping the ball back to Stewart for his hat-trick.

That was 85-12 and with a touch over 15 minutes to go, the memory banks were being trawled for the last time a side racked up a century in the Shute Shield. But with Uni emptying the bench – good to see Michael Hodge back on the paddock – they cantered to the final whistle like a cat that has suddenly become bored with its ball of wool.

There was still time for Easts to go out on a muted high, producing a terrific score from their own half with two minutes to go which saw replacement Damon Anderson go over, but damage limitation had long since been irrelevant.

Sydney University 85 (Henry Clunies-Ross 3, Jim Stewart 3, Angus Roberts 2, Sam Quinn 2, Sam Talakai, Jock Merriman, Gerrard Ellis tries; Dan Kelly 7 cons, Byron Hodge 3 cons) defeated Eastern Suburbs 19 (Ben Willis, Billy Johnston, Damon Anderson tries; Warwick Percival con, Sam Windsor con)