Rugby Report
Saturday 31 May 2025
Shore vs Newington College (Newington) and Sydney Grammar (Grammar)
Shore took on Newington and Grammar last weekend in a round spread across Sydney. Newington is always dangerous – fielding strong A-sides but, unfortunately then not having the depth to match all the Shore sides. This is then an excellent chance to play some games against Sydney Grammar. This does mean that many Shore teams have to play higher opposing teams. However, Shore managed to win many of these arrangements or come very close to some upsets.
Our 14C’s continue to be Shore’s remaining undefeated team. They took on Newington 14B’s and closed out the game in the last few minutes in a thriller. Great to watch.
Our Sixth XV also deserves a shout-out. They took on Newington’s Fourth XV and narrowly went down 10-13. Considering the strength of Newington’s Firsts and Seconds, this was a huge result and illustrates great heart and progress from the team. Our Fourth XV also deserve a mention. They came within a whisker of defeating Newington’s Third XV and showed real grit against a side that would do well in the Third XV Competition if they were in it.
Shore’s 13A’s were on fire on the weekend, recording a massive win at Newington. The team welcomed back Gilbert Cay and he certainly made his mark. six tries!
And good work to our Under 15s age group, who played a mixture of St Stanislaus College and Newington. Newington withdrew their A side from the weekend, and we are grateful that St Stanislaus College offered our boys a match instead. Our 15A’s had a tidy win, and our B’s played Grammar 15A’s and had perhaps an untidy win.
And a final shout out to the 16D’s. It always gets harder to match up a team when we get older and bigger, but they had a 36-22 win against Newington’s 16C’s. Both the 16D and Es are playing a good brand of rugby at the moment, playing different Newington and Grammar sides led by Coach Papworth and our Old Boy cohort.
The Third XV started its Competition with a Round 1 clash against the Grammar First XV at Weigall. The team has been in good form and prepared well in the week; however, no plans survive contact with the opposition, and the first half was tight. Shore went into the sheds 7-0 up. Shore lifted a gear in the second half and played some of our best rugby, when we received a yellow card. Two tries were scored in that time, and a try-of-the-year contender from George Lane really electrified the game and crowd. David Campese would have been proud of the goose step. A good all-round performance saw the Thirds win 28-5.
The Second XV played in another really close tussle on the weekend and were unlucky to go down 7-15. The side welcomed back Luke Maclennan from injury, and it was great to see him show some attacking flair. Lachie Longes was also up for his debut and did not disappoint. This was a game that could have gone either way, and the Seconds are a real threat of cutting loose against the opposition.
And in the First XV, unfortunately, the opposition cut loose against us. Starting slowly again, the Shore side let first points in and never got the ascendency back. Multiple length of the field tries from Newington actually did not illustrate the possession and territory that Shore had during the game. It was, however, an example of a side executing on opportunities and Shore not converting theirs. This was a game to put away and forget about. Shout out to Oscar d’Almeida, who dislocated his shoulder during the game. He has been in tremendous form, and we’ll miss him.
Enjoy the long weekend, boys and see you back at training next week!
Go Shore!
Mr David Mason-Jones
MIC Rugby
Results
| Shore | NC/SGS/SSC | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First XV | NC 1 | L | 5 | 47 |
| Second XV | NC 2 | L | 7 | 15 |
| Third XV | SGS | W | 28 | 5 |
| Fourth XV | NC 3 | L | 7 | 12 |
| Fifth XV | SGS 2 | L | 17 | 20 |
| Sixth XV | NC 4 | L | 10 | 13 |
| Seventh XV | NC 5 | L | 0 | 55 |
| Eighth XV | SGS 3 | L | 17 | 22 |
| 16A | NC A | L | 21 | 36 |
| 16B | NC B | W | 22 | 10 |
| 16C | SGS A | L | 7 | 14 |
| 16D | NC C | W | 36 | 22 |
| 16E | SGS B | L | 14 | 19 |
| 15A | SSC A | W | 36 | 0 |
| 15B | SGS A | W | 33 | 31 |
| 15C | SSC B | |||
| 15D | NC B | L | 15 | 22 |
| 15E | NC C | L | 0 | 38 |
| 14A | NC A | L | ||
| 14B | SSC B | W | 43 | 0 |
| 14C | NC B | W | 26 | 21 |
| 14D | SGS A | L | 21 | 55 |
| 14E | NC C | L | 21 | 46 |
| 13A | NC A | W | 64 | 0 |
| 13B | WC C | W | 33 | 12 |
| 13C | NC B | W | 38 | 0 |
| 13D | NC C | L | 29 | 35 |