Running rugby should be the name of the game at Merrylands RSL Rugby Park (l-r) Parra’s Damien Fakafanua, Dan Rawaqa & Sam Yakopo and the Rats’ Brad Dixon, Sam Ward & Dave Harvey
Photos: seiserphotography.com & karenwatsonphotography.com.au

by Paul Cook –

Merrylands RSL Rugby Park is the seventh club rugby venue to be paid a visit in 2013 as the ABC cameras continue their journey around the Shute Shield grounds every Saturday afternoon, bringing you the very best from the leading grassroots rugby competition in Australia.

The hosts are Parramatta, who entertain Warringah in what is Round 8 of the season and the very fact that the Two Blues are deemed worthy of a visit from TV land these days is in itself a boon for a club that have made significant strides in recent seasons. It wasn’t that long ago that you would have had more chance of seeing Quade Cooper back in a Wallaby shirt than a Two Blues match live in your living room but the cameras have been returning to follow the fortunes of a side that have gone from possible extinction to Shute Shield finalists in a very short period of time.

Defeat by Manly in last year’s Qualifying Final was still a benchmark moment for the club in what was their first finals appearance in 21 years, but it was a mere stepping stone in the grand plan of coach Glen Christini. He sees finals football as a minimum in 2013 as he attempts to push his charges ever closer to being realistic title challengers.

However, it’s been a mixed bag thus far as they stand with a record of only three wins from seven. Terrific performances against two of the competition’s heavweights, Manly and Eastwood, earned a famous win and an honourable defeat respectively, while they also put 50pts on an exciting West Harbour side that currently sit fifth on the ladder, but further losses to Sydney Uni and Randwick in the opening two rounds and to Eastern Suburbs last week, has left them just outside the top eight.

It is a position Christini wants to rectify and quickly.

Glen Christini & Haig Sare – Photos: seiserphotography.com & karenwatsonphotography.com.au

“We are disappointed as a group,” he admits. “Of the four losses we definitely feel we should have picked up two of them. We’ve struggled to settle through injuries and we currently have eight first graders out including long standing captain Andrew Cox and the likes of Jesse Leota and Tom Woods.  That certainly provides a challenge in terms of combinations etc but I guess it is pleasing that we can still be disappointed in ourselves for narrow losses to the likes of Randwick and Easts.”

The ladder shows that they have the fourth best attack in the competition but also the third worst defence, an area that Christini has put a lot of work into since joining the club. While obviously disappointed, he sees those statistics as a by-product of the style of game Parramatta are trying to bring to the table, albeit one that certainly needs rectifying.

“As a team we play high risk football and part of the journey is learning to balance our risk taking. We found early on in particular that we were leaking points through our attack, losing the ball and the opposition were scoring before we had a chance to transition. The Manly game showed what we are capable of and that has got to be the standard going forward.”

Two Blues’ lock Adam Coleman is having a dominant 2013 – Photo: seiserphotography.com

Their fifth place finish and subsequent finals appearance in 2012 has also raised expectations around Granville, a situation that’s relatively new to Parra players. It has also marked them as a team to be taken very seriously by their opposition. Christini welcomes that extra pressure as it is an indication of their progress, one which he feels has continued this season despite the lack of expected victories.

“As a club I think we need to deal with expectation and our new found status in the Shute Shield,” he says. “We now get the best of every opponent and as a result need to front to a new standard every week but these are just new challenges in the growth process.”

“Our first grade side has higher standards internally – the attitude is great – and our increased depth as a club, particularly in colts, will ensure that the growth and future ongoing success can be maintained long term.”

The game against Warringah offers a chance for the Two Blues to get back on track after two losses in a row and while Christini admits that a win is paramount, he’s taking a more holistic approach. “It’s too early to be a season breaker but it is important in terms of relieving some pressure down the track.  It’s also very important that we get our performance right, irrespective of the result. Having said that we have proven that a top shelf performance will bring a positive outcome.”

The Rats also come into this clash off the back of two defeats on the trot, a fiercely contested local derby loss to the Marlins being followed by a ‘basketball’ match against West Harbour, where they were outgunned 46-40. On reflection, coach Haig Sare felt that last week’s performance was as a direct result of trying to change things up after the Manly defeat.

“We thought that against Manly, we got brought into the emotion of it all and I summarised the first hour of that performance as one-pass footy. We wanted to have a crack against West Harbour and show the wider range of skill sets that we’ve got but in doing so, the focus in defence just went out the window. The Pirates have got some serious game breakers in their team, guys with great feet that will chance their arm and when we did spread the ball wider and made a few mistakes, they just swooped on it and bang – try.”

After conceding an average of only 16pts through the first five rounds, 88pts in those last two games has been a rude awakening and Sare says that addressing that sudden vulnerability has formed a large part of their preparation as they ready themselves for another team with great running skills and try scoring capability.

Rats flyer David Feltscheer offers a constant threat
Photo: karenwatsonphotography.com.au

“They’re a similar sort of footy team that will chance their arm and use their big, athletic players so there’s been a defensive focus this week,” he says. “I don’t think it’s so much our attitude or our toughness but more a lack of mental toughness for 80 minutes, just switching off and all of a sudden making a stupid error, that’s all it takes.”

“We’ve allowed teams to play all the footy and get ourselves penalised out of the game, either through poor discipline or simple errors at the breakdown so hopefully, we can arrive, not just ready for a physical confrontation, but also ready to play some smart footy and counteract that momentum that they might generate. I was really pleased with the attacking rugby that we played last week so we want to keep sticking with those patterns that worked quite well for us.”

History has been kind to Parramatta in this fixture in recent years, with the Two Blues holding the Noddy Sawtell Cup (Noddy Sawtell played over 300 grade games during his time with both clubs) for the last two seasons and Sare admits that the Rats travel to ‘Death Valley’ wary of past experiences.

“It is a tough ask and I think if you ask a lot of the Warringah supporters who our bogey team is, a lot of them would say Parramatta. They’ve upset us on a number of occasions, at home and at their place so it’s going to be a big challenge for the boys. I think they’re perhaps a little tired off the back of a few hard games and they’re looking forward to the break so it’s going to be a real test for them to go to Parramatta and come up against a team that is searching for the win as well.

“We spoke about games at the beginning of the year that nobody expects us to win,” he continues “and then games that we were expected to win and unfortunately, West Harbour was one of them so the fact that we’ve labelled that as a game where we want to pick up some points and failed puts a little bit more pressure on this game. The week after we’re going to have our backs up against it when we play Eastwood so we really need to pick up some points this week.”

Despite adopting the unwanted ‘favourites’ tag for this one then, Two Blues coach Christini is still mindful of the abilities of this talented young Rats side. However, he is quietly confident.

“We have to balance our attack with the need to limit the broken play opportunities for the likes of David Feltscheer and co who have outstanding abilities with ball in hand. They are very handy in the back row and discipline will also be a big focus with Dave Harvey on the paddock.

“We should be in good shape. Although we have no-one returning from injury we are managing to put out a similar side. I see it as a massive test for us in terms of attitude and desire.”

Team Lists:

Parramatta v Warringah @ Merrylands RSL Rugby Park (3pm, ABC TV Game)

Parramatta: 1 Nick Blacklock, 2 Myles Hunkin, 3 Luke Troy, 4 Pena Dakuainiviti, 5 Adam Coleman, 6 Josh Kaifa, 7 Rodney Ma’a, 8 William Tuitupou, 9 Troy Lobendahn, 10 Sam Yakopo, 11 Damien Fakafanua, 12 Tukia Muli, 13 Dan Yakopo, 14 Moses Tavola, 15 Sosene Anesi (C).

Warringah: 1 Ben Ryan, 2 Rob Kelly, 3 Wayne Borsak, 4 Ben Adams, 5 Vincent Wright, 6 Sam Ward, 7 Mark Porpiglia, 8 Pierce Howell, 9 Joshua Holmes, 10 David Harvey, 11 Brad Dixon, 12 Edmond Doyle, 13 Michael Adams, 14 Conrad Gillingham, 15 David Feltscheer (C).

Referee: Damien Mitchelmore

West Harbour v Penrith @ Concord Oval (3pm)

West Harbour: 1 David Lolohea, 2 Reg De Jager, 3 Vaughan Lomax, 4 Tom Hikila, 5 Chris Simons, 6 Tom Games (C) 7 Cohen Masson, 8 Matt Coles 9 Max Beer, 10 Jack Debreczeni, 11 Tito Mua, 12 Henry Seavula, 13 Alofa Alofa, 14 Dylan Taikato-Simpson, 15 Shaun Treweek.

Penrith: 1 Peter Niumata, 2 Kerren Straker, 3 Nigel Vaifale, 4 Leo Burgess, 5 David Reopoama, 6 Vai Sosaite 7 Pita Tupou, 8 Willie Tooala, 9 Siaa Taveuvu (C), 10 Fokolulu Taumalolo, 11 Paula Katoa, 12 James Umu, 13 Wilson Silipa, 14 Keori Okati, 15 Campbell Hislop.

Referee: Jamie McGregor

Manly v Northern Suburbs @ Manly Oval (3pm)

Manly: 1 Andrew Collins, 2 Dave Porecki, 3 Tim Fairbrother (C), 4 Ryan Melrose, 5 Dylan Sigg, 6 Harry Bergelin, 7 Kotoni Ale, 8 Daniel Alley, 9 Adam Crerar, 10 Marshall Milroy, 11 Damien Reti, 12 Joe Christie, 13 Brian Sefanaia, 14 Richard Hooper, 15 Jacob Woodhouse.

Northern Suburbs: 1 Gody Schuster, 2 Will Weeks, 3 Nick Lah, 4 Ben Matwijow, 5 Michael O’Hea, 6 Hugh Sinclair, 7 Tim Fitzgerald, 8 AJ Gilbert (C), 9 Liam Walker, 10 Jack Grant, 11 Blake Murray, 12 Sam Myers, 13 Bill Meakes, 14 Peter Schuster, 15 Liam Windon.

Referee: Edward Martin

Randwick v Southern Districts @ Coogee Oval (3pm)

Randwick: 1 Faitotoa Asa, 2 Nio Halangahu, 3 Richard Aho, 4 Geoff Ingram, 5 Lai Vatadroka, 6 Seilala Lam (C), 7 Tom Conor, 8 Peter Samu, 9 Harrison Boileau, 10 Cayden Matehaere, 11 Timothy Wright, 12 David Horwitz, 13 Terrence Hepetema, 14 Rennie Lautolo, 15 Ethan Ford.

Southern Districts: 1 Michael Alaalatoa, 2 Duncan Chubb 3 Tim Metcher, 4 Andrew Leota, 5 Jed Holloway, 6 Luke Smart, 7 Jono Hayes (C), 8 Lopeti Timani, 9 Grayson Hart, 10 Rohan Saifoloi, 11 Alex Gibbon, 12 Rayhan Laulala, 13 Denny Godinet, 14 Oleni Ngungutau, 15 Ben Volavola.

Referee: William Houstone

Gordon v Sydney University @ Chatswood Oval (3pm)

Gordon: 1 Tobias Gukibau (C), 2 Jim Handlin, 3 Willy Maumalanga, 4 Seb Murphy, 5 Mark Johnson, 6 Andrew Turner, 7 Gordon Broome, 8 Jono Broome, 9 Terry Preston, 10 Erik Moss, 11 Vesi Tokalaulevu, 12 Tom Mathews, 13 Mark Preston, 14 Matt McDougall, 15 Mitch Walton.

Sydney University: 1 Alasdair King, 2 James Willan, 3 Sam Talakai, 4 Byron Hodge, 5 Liam Winton, 6 Tom Boidin (C), 7 David Hickey, 8 Hugo Dessens, 9 Jake Gordon, 10 Stuart Dunbar, 11 Greg Jeloudev, 12 Tom Carter, 13 Michael Hodge, 14 James Dargaville, 15 Nathan Trist.

Referee: Graham Cooper

Eastwood v Eastern Suburbs @ T.G Millner Field (3pm)

Eastwood: 1 Jed Gillespie, 2 Hugh Roach, 3 Dylan Brass, 4 Jared Barry, 5 Mitch Lees, 6 Gareth Palamo, 7 Hugh Perrett (C), 8 Sione Tau, 9 Shanin Proctor, 10 Jimmy Hilgendorf, 11 Nick Batger, 12 Tom Hill, 13  Michael McDougall, 14 Nick Reily, 15 Ben Batger

Eastern Suburbs: 1 Cooper Chapman, 2 Alex Walker, 3 Rob McMickan, 4 Keliti Vaingalo 5 Richard Stanford, 6 Pauli Taumoepeau (C), 7 Ryan Hodson, 8 Andrew Hodson, 9 Luke Irwin, 10 Henry Hudson, 11 Damon Anderson, 12 Angus Sinclair, 13 Apakuki Ma’afu, 14 Anton La Vin, 15 Will Fay.