The Country Championships at Mudgee last weekend turned out to be a triumph for the hosts. Central West took out both trophies winning the Caldwell Cup and the Colts title as well. I speculated a couple of rants ago about the possibility of an ambush by the Blue Bulls and that’s just what happened. The Bulls have obviously done a lot of work on their defensive pattern and put their plans into very effective action in the semi-final against the Illawarriors. Their very strong straight line defense put the Illawarra boys under plenty of pressure. Coupled with a couple of early Illawarra injuries, the Bulls superiority at the breakdown and an atrocious mistake rate Illawarra just never got into the game, going down 19 – 5. One certain try and two more scoring opportunities went begging in the second half thanks to some uncharacteristic schoolboy handling errors. It was a game everyone involved with would rather wipe from their memories. Fast forward to Sunday and the Illawarriors were up against Central North in the play off for third. The winner would stay in the Caldwell Cup next year and the loser would lose their right to compete in Tier one. This fact was not lost on the players and they came out on Sunday and played the footy we all knew they were capable of to win the match 43 – 8. So we live to fight another day.
During the colts match on Sunday Illawarra No. 8 Kieran Bonin went down with a neck injury. The on-ground medical staff did a great job looking after Kieran and, as a precautionary measure, he was taken to hospital for the usual checks. I’m happy to report that after X-rays and all the scans no fracture was detected and the soft tissue damage is on the mend. All the best to you Kieran from all your Illawarra Rugby friends.
The Sharks have cleared out to a 6 point lead in the phone number library Super 15, after their strong win over the Waratahs on Sunday morning. With a bye this week for the Sharks, their lead will probably be less next week with some interesting match ups on the weekend. A loss for the Waratahs against The Stormers, will see either the Reds or the Force leapfrog them on the table. The Brumbies won’t have it easy at home against The Blues either as the Blues continue to show some form. My tipping form has been consistent with three wrong for the last three weeks. Here are my tips for this week: Highlanders, Brumbies, Hurricanes, Reds, Chiefs, Crusaders, and Stormers.
The sickening injury suffered by the Knights Alex McKinnon surely has alarm bells ringing throughout the NRL. The ever increasing drive to make the game faster and the players more powerful surely needs to be reconsidered. The NRL is bordering on becoming physically impossible to play. I don’t know about you but I reckon the Super 15 this year is noticeably faster than past years. I fear Rugby may be going down the same path in the drive for bums on seats. Let’s hope not.
The Junior Gold Cup has reached the Grand Final stage this weekend. It will come as no surprise to anyone who watched the Victorian sides in Wollongong a month ago to see that they have both made the Grand Final. In the Under 17’s the Vics travel to Perth to play Western Australia after accounting for Sydney North West 29 – 15 in Melbourne last week. Western Australia beat Brisbane Purple 23 - 8 to take the Northern Conference. In the Under 15’s Brisbane Purple knocked off Brisbane Yellow 15 – 9 and Victoria beat ACT 19 – 15 to make the Grand Final to be played at Suncorp Stadium before the Reds game on Saturday. The whole Gold Program has been great and has been very well received right across the country. It will undoubtedly grow bigger and better from here.
Round 1 of the IDRU comp is just over a week away. Saturdays open tournament at Vikings will give us all a chance to see how teams are shaping up for season 2014. I think I’ll head down to try and get a line on who will be doing the job when the real stuff starts. Do you think that you can beat the Rogue in tipping winners when the comp starts? Here’s your chance. Keep an eye on the website in the next week for details on how you can compete against the Rogue. Tip the winners of all Premier Division first grade matches and a selected number of First Division matches and beat the Rogue. My first tip. If you tip your team to win each week no matter what, you'll never beat the Rogue. That is unless your team goes through the comp undefeated. You’ll have to be good to beat the Rogue!