7th July 2007

1sts: Old Collegians 21 v 11 Burnside
2nds: Old Collegians 43 v 3 Burnside
3rds: Woodville 20 v 7 Old Collegians
4ths: Barossa Rams 27 v 15 Old Collegians

President's Cup & Champs Award: Tom Horne.

College Cup: The College Cup actually went to Alex Berce, but he wasn't there so Stewart Douglas gave it to Tom Horne. Tom later passed to Crossy who had scored a beautiful try in the 1st XV and he in turn gave it to Alex when Alex turned up (having left a 21st to come and claim it).

 

19th May 2007

1sts: Burnside 34 v Old Collegians 23

Best Player: Kini Tavui

A great performance despite the loss. With something like 17 players missing across the first and second grade (due to injury, illness, personal circumstances and Falcon's duty) this was always going to be a haaard weekend. We had a lot of youth in the 1st XV this week and they did very well against a nearly full strength Burnside team at Parkinson, and were only clearly beaten in the final 10 minutes of the game.

Kini Tavui made a great impact and Brydon Twedell attacked and defended well. A win would have been nice, but the Coach has no complaints about the effort this week.

2nds: Old Collegians 14 v Burnside 12

Best Player & President's Award: David King
A great effort from everyone this week, given the lack of numbers across the four grades. David King, Simon Allport, Peter Cross, Andrew Shepherd and Rob Lowe all had conspicuously good games, but every player got at least one point in the tally for best player this week, which indicates how well the squad played as whole. A great game!

3rds: Old Collegians 36 v Burnside 7

4ths: Old Collegians 15 v Brighton 36

 

12th May 2007

1sts: Old Collegians 45 v Port Adelaide 15

Best Player: Brydon Twedell (and College Cup) Tries: Aaron Edmunds, Brydon Twedell, Simon Burmester, Paul Reynolds, James Stalley, James Finkmeyer, Henry Nutt

Convs: Juan Aguiar (5)

President's Award: Henry Nutt

Despite the pleasing result, this was not the best of games. Good moments were too often interspersed with team patterns being abandoned and poor ball being flung about. "Misunderstandings" between players were common and can be explained (if not forgiven) by the absence of nine regular players to the Falcons ARS season.

Port had also lost two strong players, the Mattin brothers, to the ARS and at least half their team played in both 1s and 2s.

Very soon after kick off, a great run down centre pitch by Simon Burmester resulted in a try by James Stalley. Shortly afterwards a scrum close to the 22 ended in an easy try by Aaron Edmunds cruising through gaps in Port's defensive line. Port responded with a try of their own as a result of our sloppy passing. A harsh penalty call against us not long later resulted in Port kicking for points, bouncing it off the posts and regathering and scoring the try instead. We came back at them, with Leigh Rebbeck charging down the wing and setting up a good try by Paul Reynolds. Ten minutes later a huge run by James Hall on the left wing quickly linked up with Brydon Twedell on the right wing, resulting in our fourth try (and the promise of a bonus point).

We came back in the second half with 10 minutes of scrappy play and alack of ball retention. Two quick penalties against us in our 22 gave Port their third try. We settled down for some hard Forwards' work on Port's 22, eventually allowing Simon Burmester to break through three tackles for a close-in try. Ten minutes later, in almost the same spot James Finkmeyer cruises through with half a dozen defenders seemingly not keen to get to know him. In the last minutes of the game Henry Nutt picked up the most popular try of the day, selling the dummy and running 35 metres to score under the posts to the cries of "Nutty!" from the crowd.

2nds: Old Collegians 39 v Port Adelaide 12

Best Player: Rob Lowe
Tries: Rob Lowe, James Hall (3), Peter Cross (2), Franky Van Wyk, Alex Berce

3rds: Old Collegians 14 v North Torrens 12

Best Player: Simon Allport Tries: Simon Allport, Stewart Douglas Conv: Leighton Edwards

4ths: Elizabeth 17 v Old Collegians 12

Best Player: Leon Bowley Tries: Guy Lithgow, Lawrence Hartney (2)

Womens: Old Collegians 15 v Port Adelaide/Burnside 24

Best Player: Kate Reynolds

Tries: Phoebe Hope (2), Conv: Tara Naige

The merged Burnside and Port Adelaide had, at one point, 13 players, with the result being that they and Old Collegians played 11 aside, 12 aside and even 13 aside this weekend. Port Adelaide were the clear winners, 24 to 14.

The game played not dissimilarly to our last outing against them at Port Adelaide, with them scoring four good tries in the first half and early in the second half thanks to strong running combination of Lee Fata and Lee Fry in the centres.

Old Collegians fought back well against the 24 - 0 lead and played good running rugby and won a great deal of possession in the last third of the game. Two excellent tries were scored by the speedy fullback, new recruit Phoebe Hope, and converted by Tara Naige. However, it was too little, too late.

 

6th May 2007

1st XV: OC 14 v Woodville 10

Best Player, Lee Rebbeck

This game was closer than it should have been but it was great to see us win away from home despite the absence of several of our best players to the Adelaide Black Falcons squad.

2nd XV: Barossa Rams 16 v Old Collegians 10

Best Player: Stitchface 9 (otherwise known as Rory Sheppard) Tries: Rob Lowe, James Hall

A close game and one that could and should have been won. Nevertheless, a generally pleasing performance from a squad which has had many players called up for 1st grade duty in the absence on our Falcons, and playing away from both the 1st s and the 3rds.

3rd XV: OC lost to Woodville, Best Player Andew Sheppeard

4th XV: OC beat Barossa Rams

All Junior grades lost to Onkaparinga

 

28th April 2007

Women's XV: Port Adelaide/Burnside 19 v Old Collegians 31

Best Player: Belinda Wade Tries: Belinda Wade, Kate Reynolds (2), Naomi Woodstock, Liz Gabb

Convs: Tara Naige

Burnside and Port Adelaide have merged and their combined team met Old Collegians this weekend, leaving Souths with the bye. Old Collegians travelled out to Port Adelaide to play in windswept and pouring conditions, winning convincingly 31 - 19.

Port Adelaide put their stamp on the game early with two quick tries in the first five or so minutes. Despite not historically being a team that comes back from behind, the Frocs showed good discipline and kept battering away. After a scrum only a few metres of the line, half back Belinda Wade took a quick run down the blind side to score in the corner. Another scrum delivered clean ball to the backline and Katie Reynolds dodged through some sloppy defence to run in a 60 metre try. Another try from Port took the half time score to 19 v 12. After half time, some of the early hiccoughs were ironed out; Port Adelaide/Burnside were kept scoreless in the second half and a further three tries were run in, by Kate Reynolds, Naomi Woodstock and Liz Gabb. The three conversions were kicked by Tara Naige.

This was a great result for the team who have already suffered some unfortunate injuries and absences at this early stage of the season.

4th XV: OC 15 v Brighton 22;

Best Player: Simon Allport

3rd XV: OC 0 v Brighton 53;

Best Player: Michael Bell

2nd XV: OC 0 v Brighton 10;

Best Player: Brad McDonald

1st XV: OC 22 v Brighton 10

Best Player: Josh Badcock; Tries: Christian Tedge, Jon Collins, Kini Tavui, Charlie Sheppeard;

Conv: Andy Farquharson

The two grand finalists from 2006 (and 2005, for that matter) met again at Tregenza with Old Collegians being clearly dominant throughout. It was a day for heavy forwards work; it absolutely poured down. Our pack had a great game and pushed Brighton all around the park, to the delight of the crowd.

College Cup & Champs Voucher: Ben Suttell; President's Award: Leigh Marsland

 

21st April 2007

1st XV: Southern Suburbs 21 v Old Collegians 17

Best Player: Josh Badcock, Tries: Jon Collins and Christian Tedge,

Conv: Andy Farquharson (2), Pen: Andy Farquharson,

Best Player: Josh Badcock

The game against Onkaparinga last week may have lulled us into a false sense of security. We were a bit sleepy against Souths and this was well short of our best performance. That said, after four games Souths are top of the table and undefeated and should obviously not be underestimated in 2007. We'll have to do much better than this.

2nd XV: Southern Suburbs 10 v Old Collegians 22

Tries: James Stalley, Aaron Edmunds, Harry Dobson, James Hall,

Conv: Juan Aguiar,

Best Player: James Stalley

3rd XV: Bye

4th XV: Brighton 24 v Old Collegians 8

Try: Tony Bird?, Pen: Michael Bell, Best Players: Ed Mitchell, Tony Mills and Rob Papryscki

Women's: Southern Suburbs 22 v Old Collegians 7

Try: Penalty Try (would have been Kate Reynold's),

Conv: Tara Naige, Best

Player: Kristie Hume

Last year's grand finalists Souths and Old Collegians met again at Bailey with Souths winning convincingly 22 - 7. Despite having most of the possession, the Frocs failed to turn it into points. The Frocs were awarded a penalty try when Kate Reynolds toed a loose ball over the line only to be held off the ball by Souths' new winger. The try was converted by Tara Naige. Souths took advantage of their speed outside, running in four tries.

 

14th April 2007

Women's: Old Collegians defeat Burnside by forfeit

Shocking start to the season. Neither Port Adelaide nor Burnside could field a team, so both Souths and Old Collegians won their respective games by forfeit. Boo.

4th XV: OC 0 v Elizabeth 32.

(Best Player, David King)

3rd XV: OC 12 v Onkaparinga 12.

(Best Player, Alex Berce. Tries: Ed Mitchell, ?.

Conv: Leighton Edwards)

2nd XV: OC 19 v Onkaparinga 10.

(Best Player, Brad McDonald.

Tries: Peter Cross, Henry Nutt.

Pens: Franky Van Wyk

1st XV: OC 78 v Onkaparinga 0

Best Player, Andy Farquharson.

Tries: Andy Farquharson 4, Charlie Sheppeard 2, Simon Burmester 2, Richard Czeglik, Lee Rebbeck, Tedgie, James Hopkins.

Convs: Andy Farquharson (9)).

This cricket score was a great start to the season. We were well ahead very quickly and it was encouraging to see that we never relaxed; we are renowned for letting teams back in the game once we've pulled ahead but in this game we proved we can apply pressure throughout 80 minutes, keeping Onkaparinga scoreless. Good performances all round!

College Cup: Andy Farquharson

President's Award: Henry Nutt

 

BARTERCARD CUP

Coach: Rob Sadler

Managers: Hamish Cranna and Harry Clark

In our three games of the pre-season Bartercard Cup, Old Collegians was defeated by Burnside (17 to nil, an improvement on last year) and then defeated Uni 5 - 0 (Uni beat us in the same game last year, so this was also an improvement) and then drew to Woodville in the Plate Final 5 - 5 but lost in a penalty shoot out.

At least one punter took violent exception to the very concept of a penalty shoot out. He called the entire process the Whatever Cup. It would be fair to say the Old Collegians views the Bartercard Cup as simply a good opportunity to trial new players and run old players in new positions, and without minding very much what the score-board says.

There were some strong performances. We were very interested to have a look at Brad McDonald and Henry Nutt in action. They both played Under 18s last year and performed very well in their senior debut. We were also impressed by newcomers such as Seru, Paul Reynolds and Matt.