News

Congrats to all our teams for a great season.

A great result with five teams making semi finals.

Particularly well done to our U10G taking home some well deserved silverware. Thanks Mark for a great wrap up. The U10G match report is copied below.

Dave Rodwell
The Spirit of Rugby Lives Here

Grand Final: U10 Blues v Dural 33 – 12

Players of the Match: The Team

Try scorers: Harvey (2), Bryn, Seb and Andy
Conversions: Bryn (2) and Seb (2)

As Queen sang:
“We are the champions, my friends
And we’ll keep on fighting ’til the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
’Cause we are the champions of the world”

(We are the Champions, 1986: UK chart position, 2; Australia, 8)

A Sunday morning and a Mighty Blue sky in St Ives, it could only mean one thing, a Grand Final to play at Mittigar Reserve. As the team made the hike west, the rain started to fall and it was feeling more like rugby weather, would the U10 Blues have the stamina for one final push?
As the Blues and the hordes of supporters streamed towards the ground, it was quickly apparent that Dural meant business, with their team already assembled, camp set up and officials splendid in fluoro. Not to be outdone, St Ives quickly established a stronghold with a marquee of our own (thanks Swati).
Before the warm up, Coach Nigel, a long-standing St Ives player, introduced an old club tradition to the team that was about remembering those close to the team that had passed away during the year. It was especially poignant that on Father’s Day, the team would sadly be wearing two black armbands to remember Matt’s dad, Bernard Kullmann, and Mitch and Stirlo’s dad, Craig Chase. This was going to add an extra bit of fire and brimstone to the team’s effort; I could see it in the eyes, I could sense it in the team squeeze – it had power and feeling. They were ready; we were in for something special.

Try scoring sensation of the year, Harvey was captain of the day and he wanted to see his team tackle and support their team-mates.
The game kicked-off and Dural were quickly on the attack but St Ives’ defence held firm with Bryn, Mitch H, Seb and Mitch C making a succession of tackles. The rest of team was there with Ashwin, Will and Emily making the breakdowns their own, and it was only a matter of time before we managed to turn the ball over.
From the quick ball, Seb made a break and went to ground, Bryn dashed and passed to Matt and then to Quinn. However there was one pass too many and the ball was knocked on; scrum down, Dural ball. “Bring it on,” said forwards’ Coach Nigel, in the first but not last utterance from the bench. What did he know? What was the call: 250, 350 or turbo? Wow! What a scrum. Dural were back-peddling faster than a politician in Canberra, and we took the ball against the head. This was not going to be an uncommon occurrence; Dural had nine scrums during the game, and only managed to win two. Even the 2003 Dad’s Army world cup winning front row of Woodman, Thompson and Vickery couldn’t have managed that.

Hats off to the front row steamrollers of Mitch C, Ashwin and Mitch H, the second row diggers of Andy and Will, and bulldozer number 8, Emily – I salute you and so do the backs. There is a lot of hard work on the training paddock to get that good and there’s not a lot of glory on the game field. This finely tuned, well-oiled machine was greased by Bob the Builder, Coach Nigel.
Without this aggressive set piece dominance, Dural would have seen more ball and scored more tries. But without the ball, you can’t score. In addition, when the Blues had the ball they kept it; pass, run, contact, ground, ruck and plug, recycle and repeat. This forward platform allowed the Mighty St Ives Blues backs to carve Dural up. Harvey, Matt, Quinn and Charlie preferring the outside lines with Luke, Bryn and Seb direct up the middle. Charlie had several good runs, and is demonstrating a ruthlessness in attack and defence.Dural defended well but the weight of possession finally took its toll and Luke grab the ball and scampered to the line. Quinn also gained a few more yards and then after more good approach work by Seb, Matt and Charlie, Harvey was able to spot a gap to sneak over. Bryn successfully converted.

From the restart, Dural were knocked down and the ball was recycled by the ever-hungry pack of Emily, Ashwin and Will. A quick tap penalty by Bryn sent Mitch H on the charge and with a lower body position in contact he was doing significant damage. The ball found its way to Luke who stepped on the gas but was just brought down. Quinn was there to take it on but he was also stopped.

Another Dural scrum and you know what happened; the ball was won bt St Ives and popped to Harvey who battered his way over the line for his second try. This time it was Seb who slotted the conversion.
St Ives were in total dominance; Andy had a couple of runs up the field, held onto the ball in contact and went to ground. The recycle grew hit the ruck hard, Will (glass), Ashwin (plastics) and Emily (cardboard). Charlie got the ball and flew towards the line, with Matt taking it further before he was tackled. This time the ruck was scrappy, and the ball was lost forward.
Scrum time! And with another nudge, Bryn was presented with an opening that he took full advantage of to dot down under the posts. He converted his own try.
Mitch C was next to demonstrate the improvement that has been as dramatic as some of his runs; he now has self-belief to go along with a surprising turn of pace for a front rower. He also hit the mauls and rucks all day.
Will was not one to be left out, and is showing an amazing jump in development over the last few games. He not only runs hard with the ball, searching for weaknesses in the defence but is also becoming one of most effective break-away forwards, sealing off the rucks and ensuring the Mighty Blues retain possession.
Was the first half ever going to end? Not before Seb scored a well-taken try, busting through tackles and carrying enough Dural deadwood to make a Christmas tree. This try was been earnt by doing the hard yards up the middle of the park in game after game. Not to be outdone by Bryn, Seb converted his own try.
Half-time and with the Coach finally allowed on the field to speak to his troops (ARU rule 2.12.3.xxxiv.a.III), they all wanted to know the score – 28-0 for anyone that has lost count. Not that the team was told that; it was reinforced that the score was 0-0 again, and that we’d nearly lost our last game against Dural after we went to sleep in the second half.
The second half was a repeat of the first, with Dural attacking but solid defence by Emily, Quinn, Seb, Will, Bryn, Charlie and Harvey repelling the attacks. Unfortunately after so much effort, it was only natural that the Blues started to tire, conceding a well-converted try.

However that seemed to antagonise the Blues and not for the first time in the season, heads did not drop and they fought back, with the rolling maul – short-steps, short-steps – put to good use. The forwards had seen enough of the backs taking all the glory, and with Mitch C and Mitch H at the fore, a mass of players edged toward and then over the line. It collapsed in a heap.
The referee gave the try but who had scored? Emily was the odds-on favourite with Ashwin and Will just behind in the betting stakes. No, it was none of them. And with an Irish jig and grin that a Cheshire cat would have been proud of it, Andy came bounding back to half way! His first try of the season and boy was he happy!
Andy is another player who has really found his feet in the forwards in the last few weeks, and has hit the accelerator when it comes to his rugby skills.

With only seconds remaining, Dural score again in the corner. The conversion was missed and the bell rang for full-time. The players deserved the win, and jumped for joy, hugged each other and slapped backs. The coaching staff, unshackled from watching inanimately, shouted their approval and high-fived. Job done against a competent and competitive Dural side!

Thanks to the young referee, Max, who dealt incredibly well with several difficult situations during the game and an unsavoury incident at the end. I hope you know you had a great game and made the game flow; it was a fantastic spectacle to watch. Also a big thank you to the Western Raptors for hosting great day.

And finally as well as thanking the players for committing to the training regime and listening to my random rants, Coach Nigel and Manager Andy can take a well-deserved bow. As you know Nigel has worked wonders on the forward pack that today was on full display and Andy who has navigated paperwork better than any Judge Judy.
Also a hat-tip to ever-present, Assistant Manager, Stirlo who was ready to go on if needed and tee-boy Ethan.

Last but not least, a big, big, big thank you to all the parents for making my job as easy as it was pleasurable. Thank you for the all the support and help, it is honestly appreciated and makes my job fun. Your encouragement for the players made it an enjoyable and positive environment for them to learn in; they never lost even when they didn’t win.

So the Mighty Mighty Plate Winning U10 Blues’ campaign comes to an end, and the season finishes on a high. We built in the second half of the crusade; our last eight games contained seven wins and one, one point loss.
But best yet, I finally get to add Queen’s song to the Might U10 Blues mix-tape.
“Cause we are the champions of the world”
That’s all folks!
So look after yourselves and if you can persuade Emily to don the boots again, I hope to see you all next year for more fun and games, and maybe, just maybe more silverware!

Up the Mighty U10 Blues, Coach Mark.