07/03/2010
The 2010 U18 South Australian Schoolboys Team Report
The 2010 South Australian Schoolboys team travelled to Geelong in late June to take part in the Division II National Championships. Coach Steve Dumican was completing the final year of his three year assignment and was assisted by Tyrone Tepaiho. The travelling squad was composed of three players making their second trip, seven players eligible for Under 16’s and many who would be finishing school with a year to go at Under 18 level.
The afternoon arrival at Geelong Grammar on the Friday enabled the team to complete a captains run before dinner. The first match against Western Australia kicked off at 1.30pm Saturday. SA showed that they were a competitive team and led for much of the match. A WA try late in the second half saw them win the match 15-14.
SA’s second game against LMRDT on the Monday again saw SA compete in all aspects of the game. Unfortunately LMRDT broke a number of tackles and were able to run in easy tries once through the first line of the SA defence. LMRDT 21 def SA 5.
The SA team saw the match against NT on the Tuesday as a chance to register a win and started well against a strong wind to stay within a score at half time. Unfortunately SA couldn’t capitalise on the wind advantage in the second half and NT held on to win 10-5
The final game followed a rest day in Melbourne. SA took on Victoria in the early game and pushed the home side to the end. With minutes to play and SA doing all the attacking Victoria turned over the ball and ran in a long distance try to seal the win 17-7.
Overall the management team were pleased with the development of the team in the lead up to Championships and especially over the week in Geelong. There may be as many as ten players returning for next year’s campaign.
Billy Macklin was rewarded with Best Team Man for SA. Thomas Timmo and Kayd Lane Sharp were named in the Division II merit team at Prop and Lock respectively.
With so many players eligible to play again in 2011 SA will be looking to improve on this year’s efforts. A pleasing aspect of the preparation for this year was the involvement of several Westminster students in selection trials, none of these players are involved in club rugby. We invite all school Rugby Masters to encourage their students to participate in the trials; unfortunately the squad is generally selected prior to the SA Schools Competition beginning.
Many t hanks must go to all involved in the Championships in Geelong, with special mention of Ted Matson and Andrew Elliott for their efforts in making the week flow smoothly.
Nigel Peters
Manager SA Schoolboys 2010