Weekly news

Round 7 v Forest

 


Round 6 recap v Knox

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Colleagues enters the final round of the first half of the draw with all teams inside the top 4 and four grades at the top of the ladder (Kentwell, Whiddon, Sutherland and Halligan).

Last weekend, Sutherland and Juddenjoyed a gift 5 competition points after Knox forfeited both fixtures.

It was left to Whiddon Cup to get the day off to a good start and the defending champs duly obliged with a 31-0 win to remain unbeaten.

Barbour Cup continued their resurgence with a 69-0 win as they move up to third place on the ladder.

After a strong start to the season, Burke Cup have faultered over the last two weeks and they went down to a spirited Knox side last Saturday. They’ll be looking to bounce this weekend against a tough Forest side.

Kentwell Cup continued their unbeaten start to the season with a 40-14 win as they moved four points clear at the top of the table. The top grade will be looking to finish off a 7/7 first half to the season against 7th place Forest.

Elsewhere, Radford Cup claimed a big 63-0 win over Balmain and they’ll need a bonus point win this weekend to secure their spot in the top 4.

Halligan Cup bounced back from their lost to our Convicts brothers with a tough 10-5 win over Lindfield.

Round 7 v Forest

Waverley @ Woollahra Oval No.2

Woollahra No.3

  • 11:30am – Radford Cup v Chatswood
  • 12:50pm – Whiddon Cup v Forest

Elsewhere

  • 2:00pm – Halligan Cup v King’s Old Boys
  • 11:45am – Radford Cup II v Sydney University

Kentwell Team List

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50 year Kentwell reunion

We look forward to hosting a 50 year reunion this Saturday down at Blue Giant Stadium.

15 of the side will be coming down for an exclusive lunch in the clubhouse until 3pm, then they will join the crowd on the balcony to cheer the boys on!

NSW Rugby TV

This year, all Kentwell, Burke and Barbour Cup matches will be available live and on-demand via NSW Rugby TV on the Cluch TV App.

Anyone can tune in to watch the games live or catch replays and highlights throughout the week

Round 2 v Petersham

Round 1 recap v Mosman

We’re back!

The 2021 season kicked off in earnest last Saturday with the Blue Giants hosting arch rivals Mosman at home.

It turned out to be one of the more memorable days in recent Colleagues memory as Colleagues claimed 6/6 in grade, while our three colts sides also put in strong performances.

Halligan Cup followed up their round 1 victory over Mosman with a comfortable 22-10 victory over King’s Old Boys to have them sitting pretty atop the table.

In a repeat of last year’s grand final, Sutherland Cup claimed sweet revenge with a close 17-15 victory before Judd Cup ground out a tough 13-5 win.

Whiddon Cup got their premiership defence off to a strong start with a bonus point victory, highlighted by an Ed Harry double.

Burke Cup bounced back from their defeat to Mosman in last year’s semi final to claim a decisive 45-10 victory, with the only try against coming from a dubious penalty try decision.

But the match of the round was undoubtedly Kentwell Cup. Colleagues were down 24-6 at the 60 minute mark but came roaring home to claim a 27-24 win for the ages. Check out the highlights here.

It was great to see crowds back at the game cheering the boys home as they lifted in the last 5 minutes.

Meanwhile in the colts, Barbour Cup bounced back from a tough trial game to record a much-improved 24-7 defeat against Mosman – who are always early season high-flyers whereas the Colleagues boys prefer to peak come finals time.

Radford 1 and Radford 2 also went down but will be looking to bounce back this week.

It’s fantastic to see Colleagues with 3 cotls sides once again this year.

Round 2

Petersham @ Camperdown Oval

9:50am – Sutherland Cup
10:45am – Judd Cup
11:40am – Whiddon Cup
12:45pm – Barbour Cup
2:00pm – Burke Cup
3:15pm – Kentwell Cup
Around the grounds

1:00pm – Halligan Cup v Renegades 3rds at Redfield College
9:30am – Radford Cup v Hunters Hill at Somerville Oval
9am – Radford Cup II v Easts 5ths at Woollahra Oval
2:00pm – Convicts v King’s Old Boys 2nds at McKay Oval

Kentwell Team List

2021 Colleagues Long Lunch

The Long Lunch is back on Friday 21 May at Dockside in Cockle Bay.

It’s going to be another cracking day with Morgan Turinui and a few special guests set to join us for the afternoon.

Please head here to book your ticket or reach out to Cam Ireland to discuss a table or alternative booking methods: CameronI@agrow.com.au.

Referees Wanted

In a new edict from Subbies, Colleagues must provide 2 qualified referees.

We are putting the call out to the Colleagues network for any volunteers – it’s all fully paid for and of course your services will be rewarded with a couple of cold schooners and a sausage sandwich!

Please email Cam Ireland if you are interested – CameronI@agrow.com.au.

NSW Rugby TV

This year, all Kentwell, Burke and Barbour Cup matches will be available live and on-demand via NSW Rugby TV on the Cluch TV App.

Anyone can tune in to watch the games live or catch replays and highlights throughout the week.

Thanks to our Partners

2020 Season Update

Latest Results

The Blue Giants came away from Waverley Oval with 5 victories from 7 grades in what was another successful day for the Blue Giants.

Halligan continued their unbeaten streak and they head into their final round robin match this weekend looking to lock up the minor premiership. The lads are looking strong in their quest for a four-peat.

Sutherland, Whiddon and Burke all claimed hard-fought victories to consolidate their spots in the top 4, with Whiddon edging 5 points clear at the top of the table.

The coaches would have been pleased to see these sides grind out the win in low-scoring matches, after becoming accustomed to some runaway scorelines at times this year.

Judd and Kentwell both went down but the final scores weren’t fully reflective of the effort and endeavour shown.

Round 6 preview v Blue Mountains

The boys have returned to training with a spring in their step this week (excuse the pun) after enjoying a well-deserved bye weekend last week.

We’re back at Blue Giant Stadium for our second and final home game of the year, with Blue Mountains making their way across town for what is sure to be a physical day out.

It’s 6 v 7 in Kentwell, with the Blue Giants needing a victory to keep our finals hopes alive.

All other grades will be looking to further cement their spots in the top 4 with just two regular season games remaining before finals.

Game times and the Kentwell starting side are below. Head to our Instagram or Facebook for the full team lists.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, unfortunately we have to ask that supporters avoid attending games wherever possible.

We will have a photographer at the ground to catch all the action this week so keep an eye on our socials next week.

Up the Giants!

Season Update August 2020

Round 2 recap

Round 2 produced a similar story to Round 1 for Colleagues, with some strong performances across the grades.

Drummoyne put out typically physical sides across the grades but Colleagues rose to the challenge with wins all grades except Whiddon, who fought out a tough draw, and Kentwell who went down fighting to a strong Drummoyne side who will no doubt feature at the pointy end of the comp.

Colleagues now has 5 out of 6 grade sides inside the top 4, with Burke Cup, Whiddon Cup and Halligan Cup all sitting pretty atop their respective tables.

Our two colts sides are also in the playoff zone, despite Radford’s narrow loss on the weekend.

Round 3 v Mosman

As this newsletter goes to print, our round 3 fixtures against Mosman are scheduled to go ahead however they will be played at Rawson Oval as BGS has been deemed off limits by Council.

Mosman at home is always a tough day out and they will no doubt seek to use the wet weather to their advantage.

It was only 3 weeks ago that we faced off in a trial match, with Colleagues taking the honours for the day.

This weekend will no doubt present a greater challenge across all grades and it should give us an idea of where we stand as we approach the halfway mark of the regular season.

Kentwell Cup will once again be live-streamed on Cluch.tv so tune in for all the action.

June 2020 Season Update

Calling all Colleagues

 

 

Finally some good news!! Our season is back and we will kick off round 1 on 25th July with a home game against Knox.

Stay tuned on what we have planned for the home games as crowd gathering at sporting grounds is still subject to much conjecture and debate at the moment.

You will find the full season draw on this website but please note our home games are:

  • 25th July
  • 8th August
  • 5th September

There will be a two week finals series, Semi Final on Saturday 19th September and the Grand Final being held Saturday 26th September.

We are still working towards having a long lunch later in the year, so please watch this space.

If you have any comments, concerns or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to contact me at any time.

We will hopefully get to catch up down at Blue Giant Stadium some time in the next few months.

Best Regards,

Cam Ireland

Season Update April 2020

Fellow Colleagues and Supporters,

The past few weeks have been challenging for everyone and our thoughts are with each and every one of you as you navigate these unchartered waters.

Season Update

An update on the rugby front for you. Like every sporting organisation around the world, Subbies rugby is watching the developments of COVID-19 very closely with the intention of getting us all back on the field as quickly as possible whilst maintaining our health and safety as the primary objective. We have had a phone hook up with Subbies management who outlined a draft plan to play half of the 2020 season, commencing in July, and culminating in one day of Finals in mid September. As you can imagine, this is nothing more than a concept at this stage given the great uncertainty around how long we are going to be restricted to semi-isolation.

As a club, we are drafting plans to carry out a second pre-season which will be conducted remotely/online. Watch this space for more details as this gets finalised. Every week, we will be hosting a discussion forum (drinks) at 6:30pm on Thursdays for anyone who wants to sign into the zoom call. The link will be sent around on the Players Portal. If you are not on that and would like to participate, please contact me.

I will keep you closely updated on the developments for the 2020 season and a new date for the Long Lunch as soon as we get the all clear!!

As always, if you have any questions or comments or just want to chat, please don’t hesitate calling.

Stay safe and keep your distance!!

Best regards,

Cam Ireland

Season 2020 Update

To all Colleagues,

We find ourselves in a really horrible and difficult situation as our society struggles with adapting to working from home, minimal social interaction and no organised sport.

To anyone who finds themselves out of work, our thoughts are with you. I am not sure what we can do to help in the short term but we are open to all ideas. To our sponsors who are suffering as a result, we assure you, we will be there to support you on the other side of this. If there is anything we can do in the meantime, please reach out to me.

We ask all of you to please be sensible and act responsibly with your social interactions, and equally as important, stay in touch with your mates.

Unless you’re in isolation, get outside and go for a run or go for a ride. Macca will be sending through some programs players can do from home and others you can do at different locations close to home.

Whilst I would love to say let’s all catch up for a beer, this isn’t what we need to be doing right now! We will make up for it when the coast clears!

Stay healthy, be sensible and I look forward to having a game of footy and a beer with everyone as soon as possible!!

Regards,

Cam Ireland

Season 2020 News

All Colleagues

I would firstly like to take this opportunity to thank all of our returning sponsors and financial supporters for 2020. The support of the Bellevue / Oak HotelsQube LogisticsSharp IT, Fortius Funds ManagementEscala Partners, Kemosabe Capital, Belle Property Surry HillsRyans BarGordon BrothersVerandah BarMad HattersJan LoganSV PartnersQGSWoodstock Resources and new sponsor Flagon Dry Productions allows our rugby club to function week in week and out provide an opportunity for everyone to have a game of footy.

We had a great trial against Bowral last weekend with over 40 blokes having a hit out, a great result for the first trial with over 4 weeks until the regular season was due to start…With incredible numbers of new players, returning colts and grade players alike turning up to pre-season, 2020 is shaping up to be a cracking year for the Blue Giants!!

With one hiccup…..

As you will all have seen by now, the ARU has postponed the commencement of all community rugby until early May. This includes tournaments, training and scheduled matches. The ARU and their in house health professionals are obviously watching the developing situation closely and will keep all clubs closely advised.

At this stage, we are also planning to postpone our annual Long Lunch which was scheduled to be held on Friday 8th May and Old Colleagues Day, Saturday 9th May. Please watch this space closely as we will lock in a new date as soon as we are 100% confident we can provide a safe environment for everyone to enjoy themselves and shake hands with their mates! With a disrupted season, we strong urge everyone to get behind the lunch, when we know the date, as we will need all your support!!

As Colleagues, we are unfortunately not able to sanction any training events until further notice. Our upcoming charity Bondi Tens tournament and trial games have had to be cancelled. Our fitness coach is currently putting together individual programs for those interested (please contact Matt directly) and will also issue a general club fitness plan that we encourage everyone to partake in, good for players and those retired alike!!

Players, please keep an eye on team group chats and social notices for further updates.

As always, please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any feedback, questions or comments.

Stay safe, stay healthy and we look forward to welcoming you down to Blue Giant Stadium soon!!

All the best,

Cam Ireland
0418 246 460

New Season (2020) Update

Happy 2020 Colleagues and extended Colleagues community.
As the season approaches, I would like to update you on what has been happening down at Blue Giant Stadium in the off season.

Clubhouse
New floors were installed prior to Christmas. The previous floors were extremely damaged around the balcony area and were not able to be sanded back again. We have replaced them with an all purpose / weather floor that will give us much more durability, better acoustics and it looks fantastic!
New joinery will be installed next week at the northern end of the clubhouse to store merchandise and gear as well as wet weather training equipment. This will reduce the clutter sitting on floors and make the clubhouse a lot more functional and tidy.
Grants have been applied for to partially contribute to both of these projects. We have not been advised whether we were successful as yet.

Fields
Woollahra #2 and #3 look amazing. New turf has been laid across most of the fields and they are under constant groundskeeper maintenance in preparation for Cranbrook 1st XI summer cricket season. The new turf pitch will also allow our Colleagues cricket team to play some home ground features on Sundays over the summer. Watch this space for dates and summer events!!
The new digital scoreboard should be installed prior to the season start. This project has been delayed due to a redesign to allow for more than one grade scores appearing. The result will be a fantastic contribution to the grounds and spectator experience.
We have also applied for a grant to install storage cages and a cement pad for the scrum machine, to be located adjacent to the score board. Fingers crossed for this one.

Season Ahead
With a great 2019 campaign behind us we are looking forward to an even more successful 2020!
We are delighted to have a large chunk of our colts returning in 2020 into grade. There are several of these guys who will feel right at home in Kentwell having appeared off the bench on many occasions last year.
Rumour has it that recruitment has been hot and strong in the off season also.
We have a new strength and conditioning coach, Matt Mackay. Matt is a local eastern suburbs boy, playing many years of first grade at Randwick and more latterly having a run with Easts. Matt has been in high demand with invitational 7s teams across Australia and has been a personal trainer for the past 11 years. He has fought in two amateur fights and is a rugby tragic. Matt is running our Tuesday night and Saturday morning sessions and will also run drills prior to training on Thursday nights throughout the season.
If there are any of our old boys or friends of the club wanting to help out coaching or managing teams or in any capacity really, we would only be too grateful for your involvement. Please contact me directly.

Long Lunch
Please lock in Friday 8th May for the annual Colleagues Long Lunch. More details on entertainment etc to follow.
Old Colleagues Day will be held on the day after, Saturday 9th May. We will have a jumping castle for the kids and a food and drinks package for the old boys.

Sponsorship
We were exceptionally blessed with the support received in 2019 (see below sponsors logos) and we hope that we can maintain those relationships into 2020.
The social media committee worked overtime this year to promote these businesses and on ground exposure for our sponsors was fantastic.
As is always the case with an amateur rugby club, we run close to the line with finances. Ground hire fees are constantly increasing as are insurance costs to run such a large club.
If you or your business would like to discuss a partnership with the greatest amateur rugby club in Australia, arguably the world, please contact me directly (0418 246 460 or cameroni@agrow.com.au).

Colleagues Farewell two Colleagues Greats
As you are aware, the Colleagues family has lost two of its legends in early 2020.
John ‘Wal’ Corlis and Hans ‘Dutchy’ Lamens were both integral members of the Colleagues Rugby Club for many years.
To hear some stories, to pay your respects and get together with some old friends to farewell these two great men, we would like to welcome you down to Colleagues Clubhouse on Sunday 1st
March from 2:30pm.

…………………………………………..

Keep an eye on the emails for fixtures, come down to the club and support and I look forward to seeing you throughout the season.

Kind regards,
Cam Ireland
0418 246 460

Grand Final Week

Finals Week 2 recap

It was a largely positive day at David Phillips Field, with Burke Cup and Sutherland Cup booking their tickets to the Grand Final after clinical performances in rainy conditions.

Unfortunately Judd Cup lost their sudden death match, which brings an end to their title defence.

Burke Cup continued where they left off against Waverley the week before, with the forwards muscling up and the backs demonstrating their full array of skills in a dominant performance to beat minor premiers Mosman 18-9 – who had defeated Colleagues comfortably during the regular season.

Burke will now face off with a strong Drummoyne side, who feature in finals across the top 3 grades, as we look to claim our first Burke Cup title since 2016.

Sutherland Cup were even more dominant as they took the direct route to overpower a cocky Waverley side 41-0. In rainy conditions, the boys played smart rugby to ensure Waverley never had a chance and they will now take on Mosman in a repeat of the preliminary final match that Mosman claimed 12-5. Mosman are chasing a three-peat of Sutherland Cups while our boys are looking to claim their first since 2015.

Barbour Cup enjoyed a week off after winning their preliminary final and will face off against Mosman for the 5th time this season in what is set to be another tough battle. Colleagues’ last Barbour Cup victory came in 2015, when the Jack Williams-led side beat Mosman.

Good luck to all grades competing this weekend – let’s get as many current and former Colleagues out to TG Millner as possible.

Game times are below.

Match Times – Grand Finals

TG Millner Field 

  • 10:00am – Sutherland v Mosman (Field #2)
  • 11:40am – Barbour v Mosman
  • 1:20pm – Burke v Drummoyne

Player Profile – Retraction

Here at Blue Giants TV, we always pride ourselves on award winning journalism and the ability to ask the hard questions.

Not only that, but our access to some of the legends of Colleagues such as Tom “The Dreamboat’ BorowskiChris “KB / Retired Diesel Mechanic” Knights and Harry “Angry Bulldog” Aboud, have us at the cutting edge.

Therefore it is with much regret that we would like to offer a retraction to our interview from last week’s newsletter with one of the most punishing blokes to ever don the sky blue of colleagues – Richard Mercedes Chardonnay Harvey.

Unfortunately we have made two glaring journalistic errors.

The accusation that Richard had a 5 year battle with Jiff multi-purpose and Pino-clean all-surface spray addiction was factually incorrect. In fact we all know it was the more common Mr Muscle Lemon Pledge flavouring that gets this Wounder going.

The second retraction is in regards to the book cover. We incorrectly displayed the wrong book. Please find the correct cover adjacent to this retraction.

The Bellevue Hotel Presents… Taylors Wines Rugby Long Lunch

Colleagues’ major sponsor, The Bellevue Hotel, is proudly a Qantas Wallabies ‘Fan HQ’ for The Rugby World Cup this year and is thrilled to be hosting the annual Taylors Wines Rugby Long Lunch on Friday, 20th September from 1pm-5pm.

For those who attended the Colleagues Long Lunch and heard Owen Finegan in full flight, this is another great opportunity to hear 3 Wallaby legends talk rugby while enjoying 3 courses paired with the following delicious range of Taylors Wines:

Canapes: Duck spring rolls – plum sauce + Four Cheese Arancini – lime aioli
Pairing: Sparkling Pinot Noir Chardonnay Brute Cuve­e

Entree: Chicken Liver Pate – grape & green apple jam, cornichons, toasted sour dough
Pairing: St Andrews Chardonnay

Mains: Crumbed Lamb Cutlets & Peas – individually plated roast potatoes, bacon & sprouts, gravy
Pairing: St Andrews Shiraz

Hero Tasting: The Visionary Cabernet Sauvignon
Dessert: Cheese Board – share style

You will also enjoy entertainment from our host for the afternoon Dave Stanley from The Big Sports Breakfast and a few words from special guests, former Wallabies player’s Owen FineganPhil Waugh & Stephen Hoiles.

Please use the link below to purchase your tickets.

//bit.ly/wallabiesrugbyluncheon

Join us as we cheer on the Qantas Wallabies for The Rugby World Cup 2019!

Social Media

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Thanks to our Partners