The Rogues Rant

[seonajmulislam00]

The form of the Wallabies over the last 6 weeks has brought new hope to Wallaby fans young and old. With coach McKenzie starting to get the best out of his players the team’s performances has steadily improved with the team being able to put together back to back wins for the first time in 13 Test Matches. The victory over Argentina showed a new resolve from the players that has been lacking for some time. A strong effort from the forwards was carried over to the All Black match much to the surprise of many pundits. The inconsistency of form shown in the past materialized again against the Poms when after finding themselves in a winning position, the Wallabies let the match slip from their grasp. With James Slipper, Ben Alexander and man of the match Steven Moore leading the way against the Italians the team found the sort of form we have all been longing for. The old adage “forwards win matches, backs decide by how many” was never more evident than in this match. Will Genia and Quade Cooper benefited from a strong forward effort and the outside backs finished the job in style. Building on this performance in this week’s match against Ireland the team showed a much stronger commitment to one another especially in defense. The Aussie forwards completely dominated at the scrum and overpowered the Irish pack to set up the victory. The four try to nil win was a just reward for a group who are clearly working very hard with their coach to achieve the right result.

A strong group of players have been selected for the phone number list training squad for the 2014 NSW Country Championships. With original coach Shannon Fraser moving onto the coaching roll with the Cockatoos, Camden Premiership winning coach and last year’s Illawarriors mentor Brendan Schoup has agreed to take the reins for another tilt at the title. The squad has clearly been selected on form with the Premiers Camden leading the selection numbers with 14. With such a strong squad Schoupie and a significant number of the players are keen for another shot at ending the Newcastle Hunter dominance of the Caldwell Cup. I can recommend what will be a good weekend getaway to Mudgee so you can enjoy the Rugby and the local Wineries and friendly hospitality. The tournament will be played on the weekend of March 29/30.

A big group of family and friends gathered at Vikings last week to celebrate birthday number 80 for Illawarra Rugby stalwart Lennie Diggins. Lennie has spent many many years around rugby fields right across NSW Country as a championship winning coach and a country selector. An IDRU Life member and current Illawarra Board member, Lennie has served our game in the Illawarra in numerous capacities over four decades. Best known for his stranglehold on the NSW Country Under 19 Championship Trophy for 5 consecutive years in the late 1990s, Len's exploits around the traps are legendary. He has spent much of his spare time since retiring from the Illawarra Coalfields coaching numerous junior club and School teams, helping many hundreds of young players to develop their rugby skills. Happy Birthday to a true legend of Illawarra Rugby.

The Illawarra Junior Gold Cup squads are well and truly up and running preparing for the inaugural Junior Gold Cup Tournament in February March 2014. After trials in which over 90 players participated two squads of 30 players have been finalized to participate in this exciting new ARU initiative. Training two nights a week in all sorts of weather conditions the players have responded with gusto and have impressed with their attitude and willingness to work hard. Their first matches in the tournament will be played at home on the weekend of February 14/15/16. Make a note in your rugby diaries and get out and support our squads in what will be an entertaining and hard fought national competition.