Randwick Rugby Club in the Grand Final in Every Grade!

What an amazing day shaping up for Randwick Rugby this Saturday at Concord Oval. After last Saturday's win in Fifth Grade the club is set to repeat their efforts of 1992 when every grade made the finals and we had wins in first, second, third and fifth grade (4^th and 6^th grade being unsuccessful).

In First grade Randwick defeated Eastwood 23-21 on Saturday and you can read the full match report below.

In Second grade Randwick had a nail biting last minute win against Southern Districts with the final score 33 - 26. You can also read the full match report below.

In Fourth grade, Randwick defeated Northern Suburbs 15-7 and in Third Grade they accounted for Gordon 17-0.

GRAND FINAL DAY

Concord Oval

Saturday 2 October 2010

Gates open at 9.30am

• 9:50am Henderson Cup (4th Grade): Eastern Suburbs v Randwick

• 11:25am Henderson Shield (3rd Grade): Eastern Suburbs v Randwick

• 1:00pm Colin Caird Shield (2nd Grade): Randwick v Warringah

• 3:10pm Tooheys New Shute Shield (1st Grade): Randwick v Sydney University

Grand Final tickets now on sale

While tickets will be available to purchase at the gate, tickets purchased online before the event will be subject to a discount across all categories.

Ticket Information
Pre-Sale Prices:
Adult: $25
Concession*: $14
Junior#: $9
All prices include booking fee

Gate Prices:
Adult: $30
Concession*: $15
Junior#: $10
* Pensioners and full-time students (aged, TPI, War Service Widows)
# 15 years and under

Visit www.moshtix.com.au and search for ‘Shute Shield'

Parking
Off-street parking is available for $5 per vehicle at the northern end of Concord Oval (access via Loftus Street) and in St Luke's Park (access via Gibbs Street)

Supporters buses will leave Coogee at 9am and depending on numbers we may have other buses leaving from the club at other times. Email tony.lewis@randwickrugby.com.au

Cost will be $15.

First Grade Match Report

Unlikely Stars Inspire Randwick to Earn Grand Final Appearance

In the Tooheys New Shute Shield Preliminary Final at Woollahra Oval on Saturday Randwick had a 23-21 victory over minor premiers Eastwood. It was Seilala Lam, with his inspiring performance, and try scoring Junior Maninoa, who proved to be the true heroes for the victorious Galloping Greens.

The presence of Kurtley Beale and Rocky Elsom certainly helped, with the HSBC Waratahs and Wallabies fullback Beale nailing a 50m penalty to give Randwick the lead for the first time. And with five minutes to go until full time, it was the Australian captain Elsom who threw the last pass to Junior Maninoa for the match-winning try.

Randwick's second upset win in seven days sees them qualify for their third Grand Final in a row. The 2008 and 2009 runners up have now booked a place in next Saturday's premiership decider at Concord Oval.

Eastwood dominated field position in the opening minutes and had the best early chance off the back of a close-range scrum but Locky McCaffrey lost control of the ball within inches of the line. Finally a good sequence of passes found an overlap with Lachie Turner crossing in the right corner. Ben Batger's sideline conversion gave Eastwood a 7-0 lead after ten minutes.

Toby Browne kicked an easy penalty in the 17th minute to close the margin to four.

Unfortunately Randwick suffered two serious injury blows heading into the latter part of the half with Nick Cummins (shoulder) and Mark Chisholm (knee) both forced from the field. Wright and Maxwell took their positions and lifted their performance to play crucial roles.

Batger (Eastwood) and Browne (Randwick) then traded penalties.

After some brilliant interchange between both backs and forwards, Browne scored and converted his own try. Browne's try was set up by Beale and Sekope Kepu who both managed to create space down the blindside before Browne strolled over after Phibbs switched play.

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Bringing back memories of his match-winning kick in Bloemfontein earlier this month, Beale then smashed a 51m penalty goal to give Randwick the lead for the first time.

After Randwick dominated play for a lengthy period Browne had an opportunity to double the lead to six, however an easy penalty attempt hit the posts and while Randwick went close to scoring eleven phases later, they came away without points.

Batger's third penalty of the afternoon brought the scores back together with ten minutes left on the clock to set up a grandstand finish.

Eastwood were back in good field position on the back of a searching kick by Turner to the corner. When Randwick lost the ensuing lineout, Turner was on the end of some quick hands and beat the cover defense to score his second try. Batger failed with his second sideline attempt of the day with the score at 21-16 with seven minutes to play.

Randwick quickly regained possession straight from the kick-off and shifted the ball forward and sideways before the ball eventually ended up in the hands of Junior Maninoa who scored his third try in as many weeks to tie up the scores for the third time.

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From 15m in from touch Browne showed no nerves and made no mistake with the conversion to put Randwick back into the lead 23-21.

Eastwood then went back on the attack after Turner won the restart and the minor premiers edged their way to within a metre of the line before a knock on with two minutes to go cruelled their chances.

It was a magnificent team performance from the Galloping Greens but the performances of the players who have been there all season were crucial to a memorable victory. The front row of Kepu, Fonokalafi and Taukeiaho had the better of their more fancied opponents. Maninoa and Elsom ruled the lineout while both Lam and McGann were dominating both with ball in hand or on the ground. Both Phibbs and Valentine were strong in defense and clearing the ball with Valentine's fresh legs important in the final crusade that resulted in Maniona scoring his match winning try. Browne kicked the crucial goals and scored a very good team try, Tamanika was strong with ball in hand and the two wingers Tombleson and Foley had limited opportunities but had excellent defensive games against their more favoured rivals.

Randwick has the chance to win the Grand Finals in the top two grades after coming from behind to beat Southern Districts 33-26 in second grade. Eastern Suburbs will appear in the first two matches on Grand Final Day after defeating Warringah 21-6 in the 3rd Grade Preliminary Final and overcoming Sydney University 16-13 in 4th Grade.

Randwick 23 (Toby Browne, Junior Maninoa tries; Toby Browne 2 pens, 2 cons, Kurtley Beale pen) d Eastwood 21 (Lachie Turner 2 tries; Ben Batger 3 pens, con) at Woollahra Oval. HT: Eastwood 10-3. Referee: James Leckie.

Second Grade Match Report

By Craig Morrison

The Randwick Rugby Club 2nd grade were the first of the four Randwick sides to book a spot on grand final day after a nail biting last minute win against a talented and spirited Southern Districts side at Woollahra on Saturday.

Souths were first to score against the run of play after Randwick controlled possession for the first fifteen minutes but were slow to react after turning over possession. From this point the lead changed hands no fewer than four times with no team getting much of a lead at any time in the match. Tony Luxford was finding a large hole in the opposition defence around the rucks and Justin Terry was outstanding early with his go forward in traffic up the middle. Dave Vizer worked tirelessly and was dynamic with ball in hand. Randwick lead at halftime having dominated possession however it was Souths who were looking more dangerous with the ball as they were prepared to move it wide quickly.

Having lost captain David Parsons to the bin for the opening ten minutes of the second half, the 'Wicks' were in trouble early with Souths moving the ball back down a very large blindside on second phase, and before we could put our fifteenth man back on the field, Souths had scored two tries and gone in front again. Randwick had to try and stop the onslaught and there is no better way than to score straight after the opposition. With some great passing interchanges from flyhalf Pat Mekuri Randwick scored and gained seven points. With scores levelled at 23 all and ten minutes to go, Souths worked to the posts for their fullback to kick a field gold - a bit premature. Randwick bounced back and attacked the South's line falling just short of the line but earning a penalty in front of the sticks and Danny Kroll brought scores level with four minutes to play. From the kick off Souths secured possession and began working the ball to the posts again but aggressive defence forced a knock on and from the scrum, Kroll and Paul Hanniffy worked magic down the short side passing to each other four times to score down the right side ending a thrilling match with a 33-26 victory.

We were at least 20% off our best and this won't be good enough next week when we face Warringah who beat Uni on Sunday. We finished on equal points through the rounds so it's a fitting grand final contest. The team will benefit from minimal personnel changes this week and an uninterrupted preparation, something that all grades have struggled for in the last month. We are looking forward to the day and will certainly enjoy the build up this week.