Colleagues Rugby » Round 5 vs Mosman

Colleagues out to have a Whale of a time at Mosman

With only one loss in four rounds from teams competing for the 2016 Club Champions, Colleagues head to Rawson Oval to take on bitter rivals the Mosman Whales for round 5. There is never any love lost between these two sides. Some say it’s the Rugby, some say it’s the Eastside/Northside battle and some say it’s the debate over who has the better Charcoal Charlies. It’s safe to say we win on all fronts.

Although the Blue Giants have had a successful start to the season, which also included a preseason win over Mosman, all Colleagues know that winning at Rawson Oval is no easy task.

Two sides that will be particularly keen to finish on the right side of the ledger, are the Burke and Barbour Cup teams who are playing out 2015 Grand Final re-matches. As coach Pete Minucos details below, the Burke Cup team will be almost a completely different outfit than the side that went down by 2 points at TG Milner last year. And as most colts teams, the Colleagues Barbour Cup side will also be a very new team to run out, hoping to recreate the success of the 2015 GF.

This week’s Kentwell Cup side will also see some changes from that that beat the defending premiers last week. Injuries to Dan Kelly, Mitch Mansfield, replacement centre Gus McGregor and the unavailability of new centre James McMahon will see inform Burke inside centre Jason Date (pictured) get his chance to impress the coaches in the top grade against the Whales.

“Jason’s recent form has been very strong. Good hard running and solid defence has been a trade mark of his play so far.” said Kentwell coach Ben Waters. “We are excited to see him getting an opportunity in Kentwell and feel sorry for his opposite from Mosman.”

Burke Cup Grand Final Re-Match

by Pete Minucos Burke Cup Coach

Burke Cup sees a GF replay after Mosman upset the Blue Giants 23-21 in last year’s decider. Plenty of new faces in the playing roster means the pain probably lingers more in coaches Minucos and Ireland – with the memory of 70m intercept tries and 35m rogue field goals…

The 2016 Burke boys, however, are off to a flyer like the rest of the club. A few lads have been rewarded with a shot in Kentwell this week and there’s a new look back-line in particular.

Look for the back row of Greeny Boults and DT (pictured) to take it to these Whales and take another step towards reclaiming The Colleagues’ Cup.

Colties Grand Final Re-Match

by Richard Buttenshaw Colts Coach

This weekend sees the Colties take on one of the traditional foes in Mosman in what happens to be a Grand Final rematch from 2015. After a convincing major semifinal win by the giants mOsman proved to be a much stronger opposition in the final with Colleagues getting home by just 5 points. Although not travelling as well as previous years mOsman always manage to put on a show with their younger guys and wuill be looking for some revenge from last year.

As is the case every year we have mostly a new crop of chargers, however the inspirational captain Jack “piggy” Williams (pictured) is back to steer the ship in his 3rd year of colts and a couple of previous colts in Oliver Lembke and Josh Moloney have joined the coaching panel. After a relatively slow start to the season we are looking to build on some momentum gained during last week’s win over Balmain to keep charging up the table.

Third Blue Rinse in a Row

Well you couldn’t have asked for a better Saturday of rugby, to that that was delivered at Blue Giant Stadium last Saturday 7th May.

The crisp Autumn morning started with a bushfire haze from some back burning in the Blue Mountains, but that only added to the intensity to the first match of the day which saw Colleagues Sutherland (5ths) take on Colleagues Halligan (6ths) in a legitimate Halligan Cup competition match.

The Colleagues Halligan team lead by out inspirational clubman Rob Rush, playing his 200th match for Colleagues, used their underdog status to catch the Suthos boys by surprise. With seismic collisions coming in at every breakdown, side line spectators would not have guessed this was mate against mate. In a game that saw some tremendous defensive efforts, it was the Halligan boys that came away with bragging rights and the two tries to nil win.

As the day started off, it also finished with a match that kept the spectators’ eyes glued to the field. The Kentwell Cup match up saw our boys take on 2015 Premiers Balmain. The same match last season saw the away team notch up 60 points against the Blue Giants, but this season with a renewed sense of camaraderie amongst the players, the Kentwell team ensured this result was not replicated.

The Blue Giants almost had a perfect start with a try next to the posts in the first five minutes to fly eigth and captain Dan Kelly. But it was only after the try was scored that DK’s teammate noticed the discomfort the old skip was in. The last minute acceleration to the try line cost the 100+ Kentwell fly eighth his right hamstring. Thankfully the Blue Giants didn’t have to look far for quality replacements. New Colleagues Toby L’Estrange moved from 12 to 10, and charging centre Mitch Mansfield came off the bench into the centres.

From that explosive opening stanza to the final whistle, the home side controlled the game at every turn. Pin point cross field kicking by L’Estange followed by tremendous defensive lineout pressure caused the 2015 Premiers to cough up possession on numerous occasions.

The icing on the cake came when Man of the Match winger Alex Cheng split the Balmain backline defence with a well-executed set piece move to score under the sticks. The cheers of the 200+ ladies on the sidelines, the good guys secured a 31-17 win.

Man of Match Performances

• Alex Cheng (11) – Kentwell
• Hugh Campbell (5) – Burke (pictured)
• Archie Walter (9) – Whiddon
• Jack Hale (13) – Judd
• Elliot Wolgamont (15) – Sutherland
• Lachlan Strachan (3) – Halligan
• David MacIntyre (1) – Barbour

Scores
• Kentwell 31 – 17 Balmain
• Burke 36 – 6 Balmain
• Barbour 55 – 24 Balmain
• Widddon 46 – 0 Balmain
• Judd 26 – 6 Balmain
• Sutherland 0 – 10 Halligan
Professional photos courtesy of SPA Images from the Saturday’s matches can be found on our Facebook page. Cick here

Players can also access match videos on the Colleagues Player Portal. Details at the bottom of the newsletter.

Biggest Ladies Day Yet

by Jkel and Mkel

Last weekend saw the mighty blue giants take on their greatest challenge this season…. Ladies day! With 196 wristbands sold, surpassing our previous record by 50, it was always going to be a big day both on and off the field.

On the day there was 200 bottles of champagne consumed, 12 kegs of endeavour beer and the fridges were drunk dry. This was with the exception of the magners blonde which remains in the fridge. Seriously we need to be digging into those reserves for the next blue rinse so that the club doesn’t go bankrupt.

Special thanks must go to Tim Waddell, Goochy, Johnny Ryan, DB, DJ Manatee and Cam Ireland for making it all happen. Also to all the boys who pitched in for our guests pouring drinks, taking around food, selling raffle tickets and by just being good looking roosters for all the single ladies. Well done.

Until the second instalment of ladies day,

Photos from Ladies Day can be found on our Facebook page. Cick here

The Manatee Mumble

What can I say!

A blue rinse on ladies day, what a ripper! The sun was shining, girls everywhere and the blue giants belting Balmain in every grade, it doesn’t get much better. Special mention to the Whiddo boys, 4 games and have not conceded a point, great effort lads!

Ladies day was a success once again, a big shout out to Jon Ryan, Goochie & Leigh (awesome work on the operations) Dave Burnett (mad organising skills), Michael and John Kelly (music and marketing skills), Dave Wright (for the sparkling), Tim Waddell (for the food). On top of this was the work by the colleagues men throughout the day, it would not have been half the event it was without the solid contribution from everyone, a fantastic effort by all!!

This week we have Mosman across the harbour, ensure your GPS is on as we venture into unknown territory over the bridge. Mosman are a very similar club to us and boast a bit of size in a couple of grades, they always seem to lift against us so we can’t rest on our laurels. Mosman are also in second place behind us in the Club Championship so we all have an opportunity to put a bit of daylight between us and the rest of the pack.

Rip in lads!

Manatee Out

(Mark Blackmore Club Captain)

Long Lunch 2016

There was an enthusiastic gathering of 200 Colleagues at the clubs annual Long Lunch. Premiership teams of 1996 (4 from 4) and 2011 (5 from 5) relived those magnificent triumphs with magnificent men. The days MC Vince Sorenti revelled in an off the cuff performance that saw the room with filled with tears of laughter as he shone the spot light on a variety of Blue Giant Legends.

Michael Cheika revealed his Colleagues philosophy of if you trying to be a good bloke you will be a good bloke and harden up. The Australian coach was no doubt impressed with the depth of knowledge of the questions and the manner in which they were asked.

The day was a great success as a fund raiser for the club and for catching up with old team mates. Look forward to seeing many more on Old Colleagues Day June 4.

Social Calendar

2016 Events

28th May – WAGs Cocktail class & dinner at the Woollahra Hotel $90 per head (4 cocktails, two course dinner with wines). Email DB for a spot for your WAGdaveburnett.aus@gmail.com

4th June – Old Colleagues Day v Drummoyne

16th July – Colleagues Black Tie Ball and fundraiser for the Australian Women’s Olympic 7s Team

30th July – Ladies Day 2 v Mosman

Woollahra Hotel renews Partnership with Colleagues

The Woollahra Colleagues Rugby Club and the Woollahra Hotel are please to confirm the continuing partnership between the two organisations in 2016

After 4 years of sponsorship under Ryan Hotels, the Woollahra Hotel’s new ownership, the Public House Management Group, confirmed earlier this season that they would renew the sponsorship deal with Woollahra’s most social rugby club.

The Colleagues playing community are thrilled that the partnership is continuing .

2016 Black Tie Ball

The Colleagues Black Tie Ball will be back again this season. The date is the 16th July after our away match with Petersham. Stay tuned for more details.

Check out last years photos here