The 2011 Shute Shield Grand Final between Eastwood and Sydney University at Concord Oval is less than hours away, and is shaping up to be an off-the-hook encounter.
The story is setup. Eastwood are the minor premiers having suffered only one loss this season and destroyed runners up from last year, Randwick, 77-15 to reach the final.
Sydney University have won the last six premierships, who some jokingly call call the Waratahs with their squad packed in with quality Waratah troops.
Uni made it to the final defeating a defiant Manly 31-16 in a performance nowhere near as dominant as that of Eastwood, but we know how the ‘Students’ perform in grand finals.
Another attractive feature of the match is the neutral fan’s hatred for Uni.
There are many vocal Shute Shield supporters that don’t want to see Sydney University win seven in a row and many will turn up or tune in just to see Sydney University finally fall.
The Eastwood lineup is headlined by some well known names such as Turner, Alcock, Dunning as well as solid regulars like Batger and Perrett, while Sydney University can boast names such as Carter, Halangahu, Mumm and Waugh.
The history this season has Eastwood winning both previous matches 45-27 (Round 2) and 22-7 (Round 13) where Eastwood put on a defense clinic, keeping Uni out of their try line until moments before the final whistle.
Admittedly, the University side Eastwood dismantled in the regular season is nowhere as strong as they are now and haven’t lost since they were boosted by their Super Rugby personnel in the latter rounds.
The last time these teams met in the big one was 2006 when Unviversity scraped through 17-10.
A decade has almost passed since Eastwood won in ’02 – will they finally be the team to take down the ‘Students’ and end their huge run of success?
The 2011 Shute Shield Grand Final will be played at Concord Oval on Saturday 24 September.
Kick-off: 3:10pm AEST
Television: Live on ABC1 (NSW/ACT) from 3:00pm AEST
Mals
Guest
Well done Woodies great overtime win!!!
Galaxy Hop
Guest
Wish I could have been there for the glorious Woodies win.
Uncle Argyle
Guest
Pish, Brothers V Sunnybank -Go the Bretheren!
Jimbo
Guest
I thought Manly were the Manly of Shute Shield...
Crashy
Guest
Can't make the game this year sadly but imagine the eastwood crowd will be there in numbers. Last year, the randwick crowd was bigger than uni's so will expect the same. A woodies win would be tefreshing for all- they have been the form team this year and I expect them to win this time.
formeropenside
Guest
The Queensland Premier Rugby grand final is also on this weekend, with Brothers up against Sunnybank, with Sunnybank probably the favourites after convincingly defeating defending premiers Qld Uni last week. While both these teams have won premierships in the last few years - Brothers in 09 and the Bank in 07, in between it has been Easts in 08 and Uni in 10, with Sunny Coast making the final last year (and this year slipping a ways down the ladder). Wests have also won a Premiership of recent times too (06) and before that the Gold Coast had a good run for a while in the early part of the century. I should point out too that irrespective of who has won the Qld comp for the last three years, they have gone on to beat the Shute Shield titleholder (ie Syd Uni) for the Australian Club Champion trophy every time. Anyway, go Eastwood.
Johnno
Guest
Love the shut shield this year. I have watched mire shute shied matches this year than NRL. Maybe because stephanie brantz is on ABC shut shield now and the other attractive female journalists to covering the shut shield for ABC. But more exciting would love club rugby to go pro even just a NSW club rugby comp and adding on canberra.
Conrad Rines
Guest
I think you will find that in 2006 Eastwood won 17-10 after a Daniel halangahu kick was charged down late in the game resulting in a try to Chris Donnelly! Do not be surprised to see Eastwood run in another large score tomorrow and a Halangahu kick WILL be charged down again!
Midfielder
Guest
Come on Woodies.... Uni are the Manly of the Shute Shield .... Went to the match last week ... loved all 77 points... had a little to much of that brown stuff ... but what a great day ...
Lellers
Guest
Up the Woodies.... 77-15 over Randwick ... I have been waiting 25 years to see a score like after Randwick did that to everyone else. Now for the students.....
snato
Guest
One of my happiest memories is of seeing Eastwood take out their first Shute Shield at the SFS in 1999. After such a dominant year I can't wait to see them lift it again!! WOODS WOODS WOODS!!
Carl Unger
Roar Pro
I really don't think I wrote "is less than hours away" but I did rush this out. Was it you editor? :-/ ANYWAY, is anybody else making the trip to Concord for the game? I believe the last grand final there last year got a crowd of about 5,500 down from previous years.
Rhys
Guest
Anybody who supports having a healthy Shute Shield competition should support the woods this weekend. It is time for clubs who "warehouse" talent, like Uni (well actually...the only one that really does it is Uni), to be knocked off their perch. WOODS WOODS WOODS!!!!
Galaxy Hop
Guest
C'marn Woodies.