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ADDED
SATURDAY 04/10/2008
DAY
THREE, FINALS, UNDER 16 NATIONALS 2008,
NUDGEE COLLEGE
The sun had returned to
it's skin blistering best for the final day of matches, matches of
finals in the Northern reaches of our capital city yesterday. It was
going to be hot. Imagine my surprise then to see Jordan Tuapou (last
year's Under 16 Red Captain), soon joined by Chris Sautia, in
beanies. I did ask Jordie if he had a real problem with cold ears,
but apparently it was a problem with hair colour!! Chris is another
story and I am not sure of that story!
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I might say while I
ramble on today, that Jordie looks fit, strong and ready to
play, except apparently for the hair. The word also was that
young Chris had developed a nasty boil and had to have it lanced by a
doctor the previous night.
I am not sure what
club Jordie will be at in 2009, but I am told that Robbie Deans
was enormously impressed with him at the recent NTS in service day at
Nudgee.
I
ran into one of the Red Team's coaches early on, and was given
some insights into the day's plan. The gentleman was relaxed,
and excited by the day ahead.
Then one of the Downs' favourite sons, from one of the Downs
favourite families, big Red Bermingham came and had a chat.
Very mature young man is Mick and he gave me an honest and forthright
assessment of how he saw his performance over the week to date. |
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After that chat, I felt Mick, and probably the whole red
team was primed for a big performance, and secretly hoped also
that for the sake of a good contest, the White team was similarly
primed. We were not to be disappointed as the day wore on,
and the sun got hotter. |
Tasmania and the Northern Territory got proceedings underway on Oval 2 at
about 8:30am. South Australia had a win, and consigned Tasmania
to a last placing in division 2. The Territory won by 40 to 3.
The other Division 2 game looked to be a bit closer with South Australia
getting done by the National Indigenous side by 29 to 20.
Meanwhile, the
Nudgee main oval was seeing Western Australia exorcise a demon or two to
beat Victoria in a tight, entertaining match, by 13 to 12.
Arch rivals NSW Schools
and Sydney Juniors then faced off, and there was plenty of emotion in
this one. The juniors ended up with the match, another quite
entertaining affair by 22 to 7. NSW Schools and their associations
probably will not like that result, and coming fourth in the
tournament, very much, but it is some testament to the
development of the code in NSW outside that concentrated, more elite
school's system that for some unknown reason still believes it has a
mortgage on the code.
Desperately unlucky NSW
Country, who could have been playing off for one and two, faced
off against the Brumbies on oval 2 for 5th and 6th. NSW Country won
the match by 11 to 7, and were the only team in the whole tournament
not to experience the main oval. My
early call on the NSW Country 7, Tom Connor may have been
premature after watching Liam Gill's Wednesday and Friday performance,
but he certainly would have been in the mix somewhere and it would have been
very good to see them go head to head.
Under the clearest of clear
blue skies, and in front of a pretty reasonable crowd, the Qld
face off got underway at around the 11:30am mark.
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The
game was willing, with plenty of massive exchanges in the tackle
contest, it was going to be a no holds barred affair which was
good from a spectator's point of view.
The
Qld rugby offices were essentially emptied, as well as the
training paddock, with the dark, |
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shaded northern end lined with Reds, Reds coaches and QRU
officials. This is a great thing to have the older,
professional footballers along watching the contest.
Queensland White, with the wind in half one, picked up a
series of penalties and consequent field position, and Dion
Taumata sneaked one over to put the White guys up by 3 to nil. The
Red side replied pretty quickly, with a great snipe from Cayden
Matahaere. This is the best game I have seen Cayden play,
the first time I have seen him go to the line and question the defence.
I was happy to see this happen, as the guy that wears 10 must be
able to do this, as well as catch and pass, pick runners and
of course kick. I had seen Cayden give us all the other skills,
but not any work at and through the line. Yesterday he went to and
through the line on a number of occasions, making me quite happy
to see the whole of his game. Having said that, I have only
seen him play a handful of games, and also am not aware of his
coach's instructions, which may well have been to underplay the
hand a little, and run with a catch/pass/kick/field position game.
He doesn't miss too many kicks, and the Red guys were up pretty
quickly by 10 to 7.
White were next on the scoreboard, through I think Conrad Brown
with a nicely constructed try down the right flank, converted by
Dion Taumata, and they sneaked back in front by 10 to 7. I
also haven't heard much mention of the Qld White fullback, I
thought he had a great tournament, did alot of good things.
Half time saw the white side lead by 10 to 7, but I felt that the
Nudgee Doctor (wind/breeze) was worth about 10, not quite as
strong as Wednesday but prevalent nonetheless. As already
mentioned, the tackle contest exchanges had been quite willing,
and just when you thought one side was getting on top in that area, the
other side came back with a vengeance. I thought the White side
had the dominant scrum, but the Red side had the dominant lineout.
Half two started with a massive dominant and long range carry from Waita
Setu; again I had been concerned about his discipline and ability
to give penalties, but he knuckled down and did his work really
well, and was probably the tournament's dominant ball carrying
forward, with limited indiscretions it seemed. That set the
scene for a penalty and three tries, unanswered to Qld Red in the
second half. That is not to say Qld White gave up the ghost,
they went close to a couple themselves, one saved by a tremendous
tackle from young Matt Lucas. Another almost sparked by a kick
return from Liam Law, who with a sensational turn of speed and
directional change almost made it through the whole Red side on his own.
Another try came off a great defensive read by Matt Garland, who
left the tackling to someone else, slid wider and effected a wide
turnover and raced away. some say the ball was dropped, some
say he hit the post before placing the ball. The whole movement,
at pace, deserved a try, but looking back, the brave
defensive effort from the White number 8 deserved to save the try.
In reality, some good play and courage ended up in a try to Red.
I think that wide effort is probably the one Cayden missed.
The
match continued to be physical, and continued to be hard and tough
in the middle. The Red outside backs just had an edge in speed and
class at the end of the day, and the Red side had a very dominant
7 in Liam Gill and the most dominant ball carrying forward of the
tournament in Waita Setu, who on critical occasions, drove
the side into effective attack positions.
The
29 to 10 scoreline is probably about right, maybe 29 to 17 or 20,
but no one can deny it was a great game of footy, in fact a great
day of footy.
Gill was named player of the tournament. Matt Lucas, what an
operator, like a bull ant, plenty of bite, not too
big, and once he gets his jaws in continues to hurt and sting.
Someone told me he weighs 54 kilos, plays like he weighs 90.
I bet he was bashed up in the backyard by big brother Ben, those
12 year old vs 7 year old things that go on amongst siblings.
A
comment was made to me yesterday that the Under 16 age group is not as
talented in 2008 as it has been. I have to guess that comment came
out of NSW. Not sure what everyone is watching, but wearing
11 for Qld Red could be one of the best outside backs league or rugby
has seen in Chris Sautia. Not yet 15 and doing some pretty mature
things on a footy field, I reckon he went just OK. Plenty of
others there with enormous amounts of talent and ability, and
plenty of others that will develop over time. I personally thought
this tournament was of a very high standard, enjoyed it immensely.
Now
to my philosophizing finale. Had plenty of time to think
yesterday, as at 1:30, traffic was heavy all the way back to
Toombul and pretty much all the way to Palm Beach. There had been
plenty said during the week about players, about tactics,
about lots of stuff.
I
am always happy to question adults, administrators, tactics,
referees, but we should be mindful of letting the young play for
the reason they play, at schools, at clubs, in the
backyard, because they enjoy it, because they are having fun
running around in 35 degree heat chasing a bit of plastic, and
having to run into each other doing it.
Firstly though, and I hark back to Wednesday and the Qld Red game,
from where I sat, poorly officiated, the whole game,
not just one way.
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It is a great trait to play badly and claw back from a deficit.
Many would throw in the towel, some dig deep and never believe
in defeat. Not that the Red side, nor the Sydney Juniors
side played badly, the game was never let get going by the
official, perhaps some players and situations required
management, not sure, I wasn't there. |
There are a number of things that I personally look for in people,
not just football players:
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Honesty and integrity, key pillars of life
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Respect, respect for life, respect for environment and
surroundings, respect for rules, laws, regulations,
respect for peers, and respect for opponents and officials.
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Tenacity, people need to be single minded in their quest for
their goals.
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I
like people that don't let setbacks fluster them, that accept,
analyse and reset the course for the bigger picture.
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I
like people that want to be as good as they can be (that does not
necessarily mean the best) and that challenge themselves to rise to
new personal levels at each performance, whether that be a day
at work or a training session, whatever, fits everywhere.
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Success is a many faceted thing, different things to different
people, for some it is just walking, for some it is just
surviving, never believe that success is the same to everyone.
I do believe that every coach, in a rugby sense, needs to
coach at a level like Under 11 or Under 12, where some can't
catch, and some are quite good, and get their heads around
designing programmes and sessions suitable to all levels. Might
not make you a great coach, but certainly helps with thought
processes and thinking outside squares.
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I
like good losers, graceful losers are a must
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I
like even more humble winners, nothing worse than an over the
top, arrogant winner.
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In a rugby sense, I very much like a steely determination,
an ability to tough out situations, defend grimly and under
tough circumstances.
I
think everyone needs to:
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Experience playing well and losing |
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Experience playing badly and winning |
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Having to carry a team mate from time to time, and helping to
rebuild a confidence. |
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Lose and experience emotion |
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Win and experience emotion |
This is what Under 16/Junior Rugby is about? I don't know,
but it's sure my feelings, as young blokes experience a range of
things, emotions included, with the odd sane, and
rational adult around to help through those things.
Just as importantly, they meet new people, and trust me it
is one of the foundations of the code, and should remain so.
The relationships that develop within and across teams are what should
be held dear and close by all of us.
I
have already heard some great stories out of the week about new
friendships happening. I am always encouraged when I see guys from
different schools, parents from different schools and walks of
life getting together.
Remember, life is a journey, and we are or will be judged by
our peers at that final moment. We should always be asking how we
want to be remembered by others when we reach that final destination,
whether it be a short journey, or a long journey and conduct
ourselves accordingly. If we want to be remembered poorly,
then act that way.
A
man gave me a great analogy yesterday, and the footballer involved
will no doubt remember the conversation, it went like this:
You
play football for 80 minutes a week, for half a year. You
are very good at it. How though do you want to be remembered for
the rest of the week, because right at the moment, we all
see you as being just a prick off the football field.
While rugby has some great lessons of life, there is so much more
to being a complete person; lets be sure we all keep it all in
perspective as we make the journey through life. There are about
200 professional rugby union contracts in Australia, and 10000
people playing the game, indicating that most play the game for
reasons other than remuneration.
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