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State 16s

2008 State 16

Congratulations to the following players on their selection in the State 16s team to represent at the U16 National Championships.

The National 16s Tournament will run from 29 September to 3 October in Brisbane. The first match is against Sydney Juniors on Monday 29th September.

Head Coach                 Brenden Loag (Former RugbyWA Coach Education Manager, Level 3 Coach)

Assistant Coach            Dwayne Nestor (RugbyWA Junior Elite Coach, Level 3 Coach)

Coaching Coordinator    Matt Tink (RugbyWA Community Rugby Manager, level 3 Coach, former Waratah player)

Manager                       Ross Dopson (RugbyWA State 20s Manager 2008, State 16s Manager 2004 – current)

Physio                          Anita McCrystal (Ascend Physio)

Strength & Conditioning Amy Richards (not touring)

State Champs Report

North completed the clean sweep winning the 2008 State Champs to go with their 15s title in 2007 and 14s title in 2006.

With a close 5 nil win over Central on Day 1 and 22 - 7 win over South on Day 2 North set themselves up to take the title. Central needed a commanding victory over South on Day 3 to take the title from North. Central looked good at times but ran out of time and needed nine unanswered points to get the Chmapionship.

The State 16s trialling squad will be named on Wednesday, 23rd July for a match on Sunday 27th July. The squad will then be named on Monday, 28th July.

The results are as follows:

2007 State 16s

Division 1 National Championships, Nudgee College, Brisbane

Games were scheduled on Monday, Wednesday and Friday with the draw based on the previous years results. As a result of finishing in 8^th place in 2006 WA was drawn to play NSW Schools (2006 winners) in the opening match of the Championships.

Match results were as follows:

Game One                             V  NSW Schools                                   Loss nil to 62
Game Two                             V  NSW Country                                    Win   24 to 15 
Game Three                          V  Victoria                                              Loss 10 to 15 

Game 1
WA V NSW Schools
Monday, 1^st October
Result: NSW Schools 62 def WA 0 

NSW Schools showed from the outset the pace that is required to play at the top level of the National Champs, setting up a blindside attack from phase play to score after three minutes.

The Schools scrum was very strong early on, putting pressure on WA’s feed.

WA worked back into the game but had little opportunity to do much with the ball; NSW Schools dominated the possession.

Schools maintained the pressure and were rewarded in the 14^th minute with another try.

WA were their own worse enemy not ensuring that their kicks went into touch. The WA lineout was very strong winning their own ball and putting pressure on the Schools throw.

WA struggled to maintain a solid defensive line from phase play and kick receipts and paid the price with Schools scoring three more tries in the first half and five in the second half.

WA finally got some continuity in the second half through solid pick and drive; this opened up space out wide and a try went beckoning to Ed Melville after he ran over the deadball line.

Bruce Smith-Wright was impressive showing plenty of heart and solid tackles, and along with Ben Hales looked good at lineout time. Heremaia Te Aute shut down some of the Schools backline attacks by pushing up hard in defence, whilst Kayne Tamati made an impact at inside centre in the second half.

Game 2
WA V NSW Country
Wednesday, 3rd October
Result: WA 24 def NSW Country 15 

WA’s second game was against NSW Country and it was a completely different team that took field for this game. The WA players were more focused and stuck to the coaches’ game plan and executed it almost perfectly. The forwards were very good at all set piece play and their aggression at ruck and maul allowed them to use the pick and drive to great effect. The passion and commitment from the forwards was very good and as such the platform they provided for the backs allowed them to display their ability to the full extent. The backs scored three of the four tries; two to fullback Trent Griffin and one to halfback Troy Skiba. The fourth try was scored by captain and No.8 Michael Loubser. Two of the tries were converted by fly half Daryl Mitchell. Once again all players were given game time and all players shared the joy of victory. 

Game 3
WA V Victoria
Friday, 5th October
Result: Vic 15 def WA 10 

The final game was against Victoria for the Nick Farr-Jones Shield and 5^th place in the tournament. WA were faced with a much bigger team certainly in the physical sense. However, the WA players were not overawed by this and threw themselves into the task with great relish. Victoria opened the scoring in the 20^th minute with a converted try as a result of a planned move from an attacking scrum close to the WA line. WA responded with a penalty five minutes later and went into half time trailing 3 - 7 but well and truly in the game. The defence of all players in this half kept WA in the game; the Victoria had the majority of possession. In the second half again WA was forced to defend grimly with the Victoria having much better possession and territory. WA flyhalf Daryl Mitchell scored in the 17^th minute and converted his own try. WA now lead 10 – 7 and looking better as the game progressed. Five minutes later WA had the opportunity to put the game away as a result of an error by the Vic fullback but we were unable to capitalise on this mistake. A quick turn around in fortunes though had Victoria receive a penalty which they successfully kicked. At 10 all the pressure was mounting. With a minute to go Victoria was awarded a five metre scrum from which WA was unable to stop the big Victorian No.8 from scoring and the game was lost. Again all players received game time with the exception of Lorenzo De Villers who was injured in the previous game against NSW Country. 

WA finished 6^th in the 2007 Division 1 National Championships.

The following players have been invited to participate in the National Talent Squad for 2008 from the WA State U16’s:

Mark Cornell                        Flanker                  Wests Subiaco
Heremaia Te Aute               Centre                    Wests Subiaco
Lorenzo De Villiers              Flanker                  Southern Lions
Bruce Smith-Wright             Lock                       Denmark Brothers
Daryl Mitchell                       Fly half                   Hale School
Michael Loubser                  No.8                       Joondalup
Hadley Swan                         Lock                       Joondalup
Ben Hales                             Lock                       Scotch College
Krysten Lawrence                Flanker                  Wesley College 

Ben Hales received the “Best Team Man” award for WA at the Championships this year. Ben was a unanimous choice among the management of the team.

Regional Training will be held at the following venues starting this Wednesday, 18th June.

North - Perth-Bayswater Rugby Club, Pat O'Hara Reserve, Morley 6:30pm

Central - Associates Rugby Club, Allen Park, Swanbourne 5:30pm

South - Rockingham Rugby Club, Lark Hill Sporting Complex 6:30pm

• Regional Map  (pdf - 158 kb)