It will be a spectacular clash. The well drilled and relentless discipline of Sydney Uni against the dare-to-win all running and support play of Randwick in this Sunday’s Premier Rugby Grand Final at the Sydney Football Stadium.
Both sides applied their ruthless styles to win their way in to the grand-final, with Uni shutting out Eastwood 37-13 and Randwick racing away from Gordon in the latter stages of the second half 53-32.
Like outstanding thoroughbreds, both sides turned on the power of their games the further each match went, in the end simply overpowering the opposition late in the games.
So which style can prevail on Sunday: the remorseless hard men of Sydney Uni, where they leave little or no room for error with their clinical work at the breakdown, in the line-out, and precision backline play?
Or the sometimes unpredictable, chance-your-arm Randwick, with a combination of very quick backs and some heavy-weight artillery up front?
If both sides are at full strength, and at this stage it looks as though they will be, the odds have to favour University after their 55-22 slaughter of Randwick in round 18, back at the start of August.
If for no other reason, Randwick must have been left shaken psychologically by the routing they got on that day as the Students pulled further and further away from them.
Randwick made a number of errors trying to play their counter-attacking game and were punished.
On Grand Final day don’t expect them to make the same errors.
Coach Gary Ella said late last week going in to the semi-final, if it was required they were prepared to “grind it out”.
The return of Mark Chisholm from this week’s Bledisloe Cup debacle will also give them much needed strength in the line-outs and taking on the Uni pack led by Tim Davidson.
On the ground, however, it might be a different matter with Mr. Perpetual Motion, Phil Waugh, scavenging low over every tackle against the much taller Randwick trio of Steve Hoiles, Seilala Lam and Henry Venderglas.
Both sides are very well served at half and flyhalf, with the Randwick duo of Patrick Phibbs and Tim Walsh constantly troubling Gordon on Sunday and Scott Stumbles and Dan Halangahu controlling proceedings for most of their clash against Eastwood.
The centres may well be where Randwick might get some ascendancy if they can use their pace and support play and get the ball to their outside backs with some room.
Shaun Foley and Bernie Orbell kept Randwick motoring throughout their game and with the pace of Francis Fainifo and full back Marshall Milroy plus the size of Ratu Nasiganiyavi may have an advantage.
Uni’s Waratah centre Tom Carter doesn’t quite have the pace of the Randwick backs and Mitchell Inman needs some space to be effective.
In the end, whoever can dominate at the breakdown, retain their attacking and defensive shape in the backs, and keep mistakes to a minimum, should win what will be a highly entertaining and very fast grand final.
For mine, I think Sydney Uni can do it because of their greater discipline against Randwick’s often rush-of-blood approach in their effort to turn a chance into points.
Uni by 9 points.
Glenn Condell
Guest
'And you are right about giving DQ a miss … that’s advice from my father, whose copy I inherited' Your father was (is?) probably a good bloke Greg, but he's wrong about DQ. It's one of the best books anyone ever wrote - don't be put off by the fact that it sits high in the pantheon, it was originally a popular serial in a magazine and it is hugely amusing. Cervantes, who had the sort of eventful life that would be impossible nowadays, takes aim at everything and rarely misses. Sheek, I recommend it but don't bother lending it to that philistine brother of yours. Every time I tried to watch a foreign movie when we lived at Sackville St he'd say 'Glenn, this movie is rated F for f.....d', and I can't remember him ever opening a book that didn't have pictures in it. To be fair, I had a squiz at a few of the illustrations meself.
RickG
Guest
Well said Harry,as I said above, as much as I love club rugby this GF is all too predictable and overlooks the real issues facing the game.
LeftArmSpinner
Roar Guru
Here are the teams for the 1-4th grade grand finals. Rob Horne is playing 1st grade colts GF for Southern Districts. Poor bugger whoever is marking him. Chris Jarvis from Uni. the colts are playing on Saturday at Concord. Also, no Steve Walsh. Lets hope he's still on the waggon and is on the touch line for the GF. Sydney Football Stadium Tooheys New Shute Shield Grand Final (1st Grade) SYDNEY UNIVERSITY V RANDWICK (ABC TV Game, 3:10pm) Sydney University: 1. Jerry Yanuyanutawa, 2. Nathan Charles, 3. Pat Ryan; 4. Dave Dennis, 5. Ben McCalman, 6. Pat McCutcheon, 7. Phil Waugh, 8. Tim Davidson [c]; 9. Scott Stumbles, 10. Daniel Halangahu; 11. Nick Edwards, 12. Tom Carter, 13. Mitch Inman, 14. Peter Betham; 15. Jacob Taylor. Reserves: 16. Jono Owen, 17. Ben Roberts, 18. Dean Mumm, 19. Jono Jenkins, 20. Luke Burgess, 21. Dan Kelly, 22. Rob O’Reilly, 23. Scott Cameron. Randwick: 1. Sekope Kepu, 2. Atonio Halangahu [c], 3. Lotu Taukeiaho; 4. Tim Maxwell, 5. Mark Chisholm; 6. Henry Vanderglas, 7. Seilala Lam, 8. Stephen Hoiles; 9. Patrick Phibbs, 10. Tim Walsh; 11. Drew Mitchell, 12. Shaun Foley, 13. Bernie Orbell, 14. Francis Fainifo; 15. Marshall Milroy. Reserves: 16. Daniel Spencer, 17. Nick Cummins, 18. Steve Brennan, 19. Dave Vizer, 20. Josh Valentine, 21. Ratu Nasiganiyavi, 22. Adam Freier, 23. Manning Doughty. Referee: Stuart Dickinson Colin Caird Shield Grand Final (2nd Grade) EASTERN SUBURBS V GORDON (1:20pm) Eastern Suburbs: 1. Rhys Ward, 2. Daniel Aaron, 3. Adam Hill; 4. Matt McGann, 5. Ed Slater; 6. Ben Hopkins, 7. Will Brock, 8. Alex Munro; 9. James Burroughs, 10. Sam Windsor; 11. Warwick Percival, 12. Nathan Lowe [c], 13. Joe Azar, 14. James Rowles; 15. Lloyd Jones. Gordon: 1. Tobias Gukibau, 2. Dustin McGregor, 3. Lamarn Ma’a; 4. Mark Johnson, 5. Jared Barry; 6. Vili Napa’a, 7. Lex Fairley, 8. Chris Alcock; 9. Dan Robinson, 10. Donny Nepia; 11. Greg Wade, 12. Luke Duncan, 13. Josh Whittaker, 14. Lachie Mitchell; 15. Joe Metuisela. Referee: James Leckie JR Henderson Shield Grand Final (3rd Grade) GORDON V SYDNEY UNIVERSITY (11:40am) Gordon: 1.James Atwill, 2. Blake Williams, 3. Michael Schmidt; 4. Pierre Durrand, 5. Andrew McCarthy; 6. Mark Williams, 7. Jayden Nisbett, 8. Brian Perry; 9. Sikuti Vunipola, 10. Pete Smith; 11. Tim Bowen, 12. Kimon Tellidas, 13. Beau Wilson, 14. Andrew Niles; 15. Dan Nieass. Sydney University: 1. Alastair King, 2. Tom Coolican, 3. Duncan Hardy; 4. Michael Woodward, 5. Dane Cole-Clarke; 6. Josh Ellice-Flint, 7. Dan Lewinski, 8. Sam Hosking [c]; 9. Simon Mieklejohn, 10. Josh Dillon; 11. Matthew Stewart, 12. James McMahon, 13. Dave Burnett, 14. Tim Broomham; 15. Hayden Bushell. Referee: Callan O’Neill JR Henderson Cup Grand Final (4th Grade) RANDWICK V WEST HARBOUR (10:00am) Randwick: 1. Sam Lolo, 2. Jeff Ivory, 3. Maraki Toa; 4. Dave Armstrong, 5. Tim Satiu; 6. Ewan Wylie, 7. Gareth Williams, 8. Tom Jenkins; 9. Rocy Dumigan, 10. Dale Lindsay; 11. Andrew Paine, 12. Iosua Leasusu, 13. Finau Makamaka, 14. Andrew Wing Kee; 15. Marty Kiernan. West Harbour: 1. George Fifita, 2. Clint Borle, 3. Sim Tooala; 4. Luke Stewart, 5. Sean Little; 6. Terry Langi [c], 7. Luke Phillips, 8. Mana Vi; 9. Luke Schafer, 10. Se Yeon Lee; 11. Taani Kaliti, 12. John Lemoto, 13. Fatani Finefeuiaki, 14. Vesi Tokakaulevu; 15. Steve Page. Referee: Guy Grinham
Harry Callahan
Guest
As I stated several weeks ago I am no longer interested in even finding out the score of a Sydney Uni V Randwick GF for the millionth year in a row. Sharing the talent is the only way club Rugby can compete with NRL in Sydney. Waratahs and Wallabies must play at every club with bias given to clubs where extra attention is needed (eg Parra / Penrith). Without assistance for these clubs to become regular semi finalists and occasional grand finalists (like Eastwood) Rugby will be confined to second rate status west of that club. The player pool will be further eroded and NSW / Aust Rugby will slowly fall away to also ran status. Wait and see!!
sheek
Guest
Greg, Thanks for clearing that up. But what concerned me was that the good Don was deluded, & struggled to separate reality from fantasy. I was hoping that wasn't me! Besides, didn't he think those windmills were imaginary monsters? Reading all the comments on the various posts, I get the impression many people might now know where I'm coming from..... not that I'm expecting them to thank me!!!
LeftArmSpinner
Roar Guru
yep, moved from easts. he is studying there.
Greg Russell
Roar Guru
Hi Sheek, I was referring to tilting at windmills (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilting_at_windmills). Your battle for an Australian national rugby competition (the point of the comment you made here, although I suspect this was lost on most people) is philosophically correct, but is a case of: "fighting unwinnable or futile battles", "courses of action that are based on ... heroic, romantic, or idealistic justifications" (quotes from wikipedia). Or is it? I was very interested in this line from Wayne Smith (Australian version) in the wake of the Wellington walloping: "No doubt the thing that would lighten Deans' mood would be for Australia to have its own version of the Air New Zealand Cup. ... But if NZ, with its modest economy, can sustain such a valuable stepping-stone competition, why cannot Australia do the same?" Keep up the tilting, mon ami! And you are right about giving DQ a miss ... that's advice from my father, whose copy I inherited.
Dogs Of War
Roar Guru
I like both League and Union, though Internationals aren't that great these days. Shute Shield has been good to watch, but the standard isn't quite their, not to mention they still use the more exciting ELV's to play with, so it will be interesting to see what happens next year to the style of play when it returns to the old rules. That said, as the standard isn't the greatest, I am sure we will still see plenty of tries from the likes of Randwick and co who like to play ball in hand Rugby.
Working Class Rugger
Guest
Should be a belter of a game. Cannot wait to watch. Randwick to break Uni's grip on the Premiership.
Working Class Rugger
Guest
John Have a question for you. Being a RL fan do you think that the style of Rugby played in Sydney Club Rugby would attractr RL fans if it was A) Marketed better and B) On own of the major commercial channels or HD.
Working Class Rugger
Guest
Jameswm Dead on. I played age group reps and Colts for Randwick and the vast majority of the player's were very much working class. In fact there were only half a dozen or so 'silevetails' in the bunch.
sheek
Guest
Naaa Greg, I think I'll give Don Quixote a miss. Doesn't srtike me as my kind of book at all.....
sheek
Guest
Greg, You have totally lost me. I have never read Don Quixote, but have just read a brief synopsis of the plot at wikipedia. I might assume there are perhaps up to a dozen characteristics or themes, of the book, but which one you're suggesting has a relevance to me, is lost on me! Maybe the theme about pursuing a quest, I don't really know?
JK
Guest
Just a question, can someone confirm ,I read in the SMH Burgess plays for Uni?
Greg Russell
Roar Guru
I was at Syd Uni from 1982-90, years when the club - much like the present Wallabies against NZ - was incapable of winning the premiership. Since then I have not lived in Sydney and would have watched barely a moment of Sydney club rugby. As a complete outsider I would have to say that having the better forwards and the better 10 is a recipe that rarely fails to deliver a win in a big match, just as in the past 4 years for Syd Uni. So the likelihood is of 5 in a row. Sheek, I think the next book you read should be Don Quixote.
John allyne
Guest
Its a pity John you don`t research your facts re the two Uni centres, they are big and very fast, and the best pairing in sydney club rugby and i`m a rugby league fan who watchs rugby on T V.
DaniE
Guest
Blinky, just to confirm what James' said http://www.nswrugby.com.au/TooheysNewShuteShieldSydneyGrade/TooheysNewShuteShield/DrawResults.aspx I used to love watching games at the SFS, from Bays 14, 15 or 16... not sure how much that would cost now. Enjoy, I hope your SWMBO has fun too :D Wish I was going!
Blinky Bill of Bellingen
Guest
Shhhhh .......... I'm typing very quietly. Thanks for the info. Cheers
Jameswm
Guest
Sheek - I definitely agree with you about the Sydney Mafia though. I know one of them (on or was on Syd Uni Board) and you should hear how he talks about grass roots rugby, as if Sydney Uni's 1st grade team qualifies. I keep reminding him that the U10 team I coach is real grass roots rugby and that part of the game needs the money. Where does he think all the Sydney Uni imports came from initially? Blinky I assume it's at the SFS. Kickoff 3 or 3:15, 2nds maybe 1:15 kickoff. Weather forecast is mostly sunny, max 23!
Blinky Bill of Bellingen
Guest
Chaps I'm sorry to be an even bigger pain in the a$#e but............ Could someone please assist with details of Sundays Uni v Wicks game as I'm getting into all kinds of strife from SWMBO. We're trying to pack for an overseas trip (that's why I'll be in Sydney) but here I am (and I quote) "busy playing with your dumb internet friends. Are you guys poofs or something"? 'Dumb internet friends'. Sounds like a good title of a novel. So DIF can you please assist with details that will help me? Require venue. Times for 2nds too (thanks for that tip LAS). Best viewing spot etc. Any & all tips greatfully accepted. Like is rain likely? I may have Mrs. Blinky with me & she's already not happy, so I'd better plan.