From Copies of Old Collegians Rugby News courtesy of David Biven, October 2012
Old Collegians Rugby News 12th May 1972
(Note that a try was worth four points in 1972)
Match Reports, Opening games of the season, April 8th.
First Grade
The opening match of the 1972 season proved to be a disappointment for the first XV, because after leading 3-0 for most of the game, the team was beaten by Glenelg when the latter scored a converted try a few minutes before no (?) side. Glenelg, from all accounts are likely to be our main opposition again this season and with only two complete rounds to be played this season, this loss could e costly in the tussle for the minor premiership.
Collegians were most impressive in the first half and after a hotly contested beginning we looked to have Glenelg's measure for much of the term without fulling extending our resources. The grudge element was ever present which provided a couple of blatant incidents. Collegians' forwards were playing well at this stage , giving little away in the quest for possession , and most members defended well. We saw a number of well executed backline movements, which despite alittle trouble in judging passes, looks good for future games. Penalties were freely given away each way and Collegians only score was a penalty goal kicked by Schwartzer, which for a while put the team on its toes as a long passage of play ensued withinn ten yards of Glenelg's line where we did everything but score.
With the advent of rain in the second half Collegians play deteriorated, and Glenelg were allowed to look dangerous a times. They certainly had it in for or backs at times, and rightly so because our combination was working extremely well. Glenelg showed more ability to handle the wet ball than we did and scored a try, which was converted, to take the lead and eventually win.
Amongst Collegians' forwards Boswell was most impressive. The backs were dominated by the Hauser, Watters combination. Fern Szuster played a good game along with Chris Watters, Neil Schwartzer and Dave Farrow.
... J.D.
Second Grade
Main game of the day at Bailey Reserve last Saturday was Collegians II's versus Glenelg's II's. A very pleasing game for all concerned and especially for Alan Desfontaines - Team Coach.
The team was somewhat sceptical about playing what appeared to be a bigger, faster, heavier and perhaps more practiced Glenelg side. However, even from kick off we seemed to be confident and willing to dictate play despite loss of ball from most set play.
Slight advantage may have been with us in the first half, regarding slope and weather conditions. Good attacking and defensive play was the order of the half. A glorious backline combination, initiated from a short attack "25 dropout" by Gordon (always thanking) Bainbridge, between Davey Trengove and Rod Gamlin (after a few somersaults) resulting in a corner try by the former.
Second half was more of a sluggish one but at times both our forwards and backs looked dangerous. A quick backline movement with a gutsy effort by "Tulley" resulted in another try this time to Rod Gamlin. Our play was virtually marred only once, close to the end of the game, when backs failed to tackle properly and gave away an easy try for Glenelg.
Final score 8-4 (our way)!
Forwards played well (especisally Frank Millar bustling and aggravating their half and five-eighth. Tackling in the backs was generally good with Tulley dishing out a few "Heavies" (hate to be on the receiving end). Although we did not gain much ball from set play (practice required) "Dog" Roberts scored very well in "Line outs" and what ball we gained we made use of.
Best players: Forwards - Millar, Roberts, Cooper; Backs - Bainbridge, Leicke(Tull), Davidson
... A.D.
Third Grade
Sorry about the thirds but we have no match coverage from this corner. Sufficient to say that they won and Dave Biven scored his usual try.
Best players were Sanger, Tye, Goodwin, Quodling, Yeates and Owens.
It is hoped that a report from the Team Managers will be made available to the editors from the future matches.
H.K.G
Fantastic (Fit) Fabulous Fighting Fourths
The fighting fours did not have a good start to the '72 season losing badly, being unsettled with players in unaccustomed positions. No doubt this will be rectified for the second match and the Fours will once more play in the dashing style that we all know and love.
However, do not think from the scores 30-18, that the team did not fight on. All points were scored for us in the last 15 minutes, starting with a magnificent try from P.Farrah.
Best players: P.Farrah and L.Hayes
Issue 13/72, Old Collegians Rugby News, 3rd June 1972
From the Touchline
First Grade
The Firsts suffered a slight setback last week when the team was beaten 9-11 by Woodville. we're under pressure now, as it's only by beating the strongerteams that we can climb the premiership ladder.
I'll cast aside the sour grapes which surrounded the result of the match so that only the real factors which contributed to our loss remain obvious. We were beaten because we failed to score tries in the first and because Woodville crossed our line late in the game when we should have closed up play completely. Woodville had a couple of big strong blokes in their pack who made it difficult for our forwards to win enough quick ball from set play to be useful to us and so make capital of the strong diagonal breeze which should have favoured us in the first half. Play was tight, so there were only limited opportunities to break through unless we were quick enough to beat the defence. Mick Logan's penalty goal gave us a 3 point lead at half time.
Play continued in much the same vein for a good portion of the second half until Woodville equalised the score, and shortly afterwards scored a try with only eight minutes and injury time left. The high spot of the match came when the ball shot loose from a maul, was snapped up by Rod Hauser who beat his man and passed to Eric Thiele who loped toward the line to score a great try near the posts for Logan to convert, and give us a two point lead.
It was sheer suicide not to bottle up play at this time with only a couple of minutes to go but as it happened however, Woodville scored a try in the final minute. I was impressed by Grant Grace's play, his efforts in the lineouts were valiant and he did much useful work in the loose. Bob Burgess had another good game and Chris Watters also worked hard. Rod Hauser played a nice game at breakaway, although we badly missed his nimble play around the scrum. I don't think the backs ever looked really settled in this match. Mick Logan was given much work and handled the windy conditions adequately on most occasions. Tulley Leickie made good use of his strength when given a chance nd Greg Dixon had another goos showing, despite limited opportunities.
... J.D.
Second Grade
Once again lack of training by many second's players resulted in a poorly played game. We were lucky to reach drawn scores by full time - because we only settled down to a decent game in the final 15 minutes.
Woodville played a very stereo-type of game all day - this we failed to adjust to and consequently were beaten in most positions on the field. We lost about 90 percent of the set play. Forwards were slow and seemingly uninterested in loose play whilst the backs saw little of the ball and failed to tackle safely or strongly enough.
Half-time score was 3-10 Woodville's way.
Second half was played along the same lines as the first until the final 15 minutes when it appeared we may have "clicked". Back line movements began to look good and the forwards seemed to have gained determination. We had just enough time to bring scores to 13 all at full time.
Given a couple of extra minutes we may have won the game but why be given this when we waste the first 65 anyway! Had we played the whole game in the same vein as the final burst we should have won by a margin of about 30 points.
... A.J.D.
Third Grade
The Third Xv continued its unbeaten run by winning 68-3 against Woodville. The forwards showed improved form, with good rucking and tight play. the backs handled much better than in recent games, of the 13 tries scored 11 came from the back line movements.
Tries were scored by Sel Lipscomb (4), Tony Maxwell and Harry Clark (3 each), Warwick Graceson (2) and Anton Sanger. Merrick Goodwin kicked 7 conversions and Harry Clark one.
The best of the backs were, Graceson, Morrie Tye and Sanger. The best forwards were Ian Wood, Maxwell and Paul Mooney.
... H.E.C.
Fourth Grade
Once again the Fighting Fourths won by a forfeit, this time to North Adelaide who have pulled out of the 4th grade competition. Well done boys, keep up the good work. (Premiership points have never seemed so easy).
... H.K.G.
From Old Collegians Rugby News, Undated - the week before the end of the first round
From the Touchline
First Grade
The First XV showed no mercy in its match against Southern Suburbs last week and gave the opposition a hiding with a glorious 76-9 victory. Games against lower order teams are most valuable for practicing tactics and perfecting strategy, so let's end the first round on a high note with profitable results over the well rated Woodville and Elizabeth teams.
Collegians were well on top from start to finish against S.Suburbs and little else can be said about the trend of play. We won virtually all set play, and both forwards and backs had no trouble in running, making breaks and scoring tries. S.S. defence was practically non existent which was a pity because a few more successful tackles against our men would have been of value in testing our ability to back up, or regain the loose ball. We had a slump just after half time however, when play was confined to our territory and unforgiveably we allowed the opposition to cross our line due to our slowness to cover defend.
Of our total score, 42 points were scored in the first half and came from eight tries and five conversions. We scored only six tries in the second half and converted four. Neil Schwartzer scored four tries, Dave Jacobs three, John Boswell and John Manson (sub for Farrow after half time) each two. One try was scored by Eric Thiele, Rod Hauser and Greg Dixon. Ten goals were kicked by Mick Logan.
Most members of the team played very well and many of our tries were scored because players combined well, throwing the ball around and backing up with a reasonable amount of certainty. My list of good players is too long to relate with reasons, but congratulations due to the whole team for a magnificent spectacle.
Second Grade (The Big Red)
A much improved highly polished game was witnessed at Bailey on Sunday where the seconds strongly defeated Whyalla. In comparison to last week's game the rise in standard of play was unreal. The game was almost faultless with everyone doing the right thing (knuckles).
From the start the game appeared to be very even with no score eventuating until well into the half, although we missed a couple of tough penalties. Forwards were working well together gaining plenty of ball from both set and loose play which in turn was fed constantly to the backs. Mike Millar (charger) played a very versatile game at full back. Joining into the back line to give us the overlap, resulting in a couple of good tries. Half time 15-0.
The second half was not as attacking and we were lucky to keep Whyalla's score to zero after our backs missed a few easy tackles. The game ended in a slightly disappointing way with players losing their tempers and with several injuries. Final score 21-0.
Bainbridge played another beauty, Frank Miller as well - if we can keep our standard as high as this there should be no worries. Good work.
Thirds Report
The thirds had a convincing win over Southern Suburbs on Saturday to stay on the top of the table. The team started strongly with the backs utilising quick hand work to send Chris Sweeting over for the first try. At this stage of the game Collegians did not appear to be rucking the loose ball fast enough, and so we lost a lot of the advantage they gained. From this stage of the game until half time the score continued to mount steadily, mainly due to the quick passing in the back line. Scores at half time were 35-4.
After half time OC's started to slow down in the heat and enthusiasm waned. The forwards then started to hunt more as a pack and this resulted in a couple of tries. Once again Southern Suburbs seemed to become demoralised and OC's scored time after time. However once again a combination of fitness and heat began to tell on the team and they began to give away penalties, which resulted in two penalty goals for Southern Suburbs. Final score 73-1.
The thirds played well against weak opposition and kept the pressure on for most of the game. However, the few times OC were forced on the defensive the tackling was appalling. Against stronger teams we will have trouble unless the tackling is improved.
We appreciated Dick Dutton's action in turning out stripped to act as a reserve, he saw no reserves had been named
... HEC
Fourth Grade
On the Sunday the 4ths played a good game to beat a tight opposition in Whyalla who looked dangerous the full time. Final score was 10-6.
The game was played hard and at times unruly with light relief being given to the spectators by Dick Dutton and Dave Strachan.
It was good to see the 4ths playing a hard tight game and it is hoped that this form will continue with the 4ths along with the other teams living up to expectations.
