Round 8 recap & COVID update

By now you will all be aware that Woollahra is among 4 LGAs under stay at home orders for the next week.

As such, NSW Subbies have made the decision to call off all of this weekend’s games.

We will await further updates next week and keep you all updated as we know more.

After a beautiful winter’s day at BGS the week prior, Rawson Oval turned on a typically miserable day as the Magnificent Men headed over the bridge to take on arch rivals Mosman.

As always, it was a tough day across the grades but the Blue Giants emerged with some hard-fought victories in atrocious conditions.

To kick off the day, Sutherland Cup suffered their first loss of the season as they went down in a grand final rematch, however they’ve retained their place in the top 2.

The Judd boys claimed a tough 15-7 win to push them ahead of Mosman on the table and to within striking distance of the second-placed Waverley.

Whiddon also went down for the first time this season but they remain first equal on top of a very congested ladder.

In what is often a grand final rehearsal, Barbour Cup went down 18-5 in a valiant effort despite being low on cattle as a number of regular reserves lined up for Radford Cup in their semi final.

Burke Cup continued their resergance, grinding out a 12-7 win as the conditions were at their worse thanks to a howling wind and torrential rain. The win moves the team clear of Mosman in second-place.

By the time Kentwell took the field, Rawson Oval more closely resembled the mud baths that many of the Mosman players frequent during the week.

Despite the awful conditions, Colleagues’ skills shone through with some great interplay and passing – including a cracking try for the Front Row Club as Bushy charged over from anywhere between 15-60 metres out, depending who you ask.

The win ensured Kentwell stayed undefeated with an 8 point buffer atop the leaderboard.

Elsewhere, Radford Cup came up against #1 ranked Manly Savers in their knockout semi final. Despite a gallant showing, Manly proved too strong and the boys unfortunately couldn’t progress to the final.

Hats off to the team for a great year (so far) and we look forward to seeing you get redemption in the back half of the season.

Halligan maintained their #1 ranking with a domaint 25-0 win over King’s Old Boys and the fellas are looking good for another spot in the semis this year.

From the archives – “Cowboy Cup”

The Cowboy Cup is named in honour of NSW Suburban Rugby Union Life Member, Ian “Cowboy” Ross.

“Cowboy”, who is well known to older Old Colleagues, was the long time leader of Hunters Hill Rugby at at time when they dominated the Kentwell Cup.

During that period (late 70s early 80s), games between Hunters and Colleagues were epic battles.

The 1980 Grand Final is regarded by Old Colleagues as the toughest ever played and heralded the changing of the guard with Colleagues taking no prisoners (the game included several red cards and one broken jaw) while disposing Hunters Rugby.

The Cowboy Cup is an inter-divisional competition based on club championship points from all club grades and finals series results.

The Mosman Whales have won this comp for the last three years, while the Colleagues Blue Giants are yet to win the cup in its 10 years history.

In an interesting twist of fate, the club currently sits just 51 points behind Hunters Hill in second place in the standings.

Please send any Old Colleague bits to tim_b@bigpond.net.au.

Three Colleagues players feature in this week’s Tries of the Round on Cluch TV.

Check out the link here to see Burke Cup’s Robin Allen, Barbour’s Digby Cooke and Kentwell’s Sam Bush crossing the chalk.

This year, all Kentwell, Burke and Barbour Cup matches will be available live and on-demand via NSW Rugby TV on the Cluch TV App.

Anyone can tune in to watch the games live or catch replays and highlights throughout the week.