Sykes Randwick Rugby Primary School Gala day

Sykes Randwick Rugby Primary School Gala day - Click here for photos

On Thursday 19 May the Randwick Rugby club convened the Sykes Randwick Rugby Primary School Gala day for Years 3 - 4; it was a ten-a-side rugby tournament with both boys and girls participating.

Sykes Randwick Rugby Primary School Gala day had twenty teams (300 plus players) from 13 schools participating at Latham Park.

The tournament was broken up into 3 divisions:-

1.     Division one for the experienced players

2.     Division two for the schools who have a mixture of League & Union players

3.     Division three for players who have never played the game (9 teams).

The highlight for rugby in the Randwick area was captured by Jim Dubos who said "I believe that half the players (150) experienced Rugby for the first time, a big percentage of these players will be making Rugby their winter sport next year at Randwick. The Randwick Rugby Club will be doing everything possible to ensure that these players are playing rugby in 2012".

At the Sykes Randwick Rugby Primary School Gala day there were 44 games of rugby played at Latham Park. There were some interesting facts:-

1.     Seven games were drawn (including two semi-finals)

2.     Thirty games were won by a margin of two tries or less.

The key to the success of the Sykes Randwick Rugby Primary School Gala day was the grading of the teams to their ability. The Randwick Rugby Club through the sponsorship from the Sykes Group employed a development officer in 2011. Jim Dubos offered pre-tournament training to all schools entering the tournament which resulted in 40 training sessions being held before and after school and during the school day.

We had two schools entering the Sykes Randwick Rugby Primary School Gala day for the first time, Botany PS & St Bernard's Botany, and Coogee PS was welcomed back to the tournament entering two teams after a break of ten years.

Results
Div 1 Bronte PS 15 def Mascot PS 10
Div 2 St Anthonys Clovelly 10 def OL Rosary Kensington 5
Div 3 South Coogee PS 10 OL Rosary 5

Sykes Randwick Rugby Primary School Gala day also welcomed St Andrews Malabar, Claremont College Randwick, Moriah College Queens Park, St Brigids Coogee, Willoughby PS.

Sykes Randwick Rugby Primary School Gala will hold a second tournament for Years 5 and 6 on 21 June at Latham Park. If you wish to enter a team please contact tony.lewis@randwickrugby.com.au or Jim Dubos Randwick Rugby Development 0434 281 862.

The Randwick Rugby Club would like to thank the Australian Rugby Union for their operations assistance and the referees for their time and expertise - we salute Meagan, Grippy, Feakesy, Dale, Jamie, Matt and Bossy.

The Randwick Rugby Club also acknowledges Jim Dubos (Randwick Rugby Development Officer) for his superb organisation and passion for schools rugby. Without him the Sykes Randwick Rugby Primary School Gala Day would never get off the ground.

Additionally Randwick Rugby Club also wishes to express gratitude to Jon Collins from the Sykes Group. Jon has not only sponsored the gala day for schools in the Randwick area but has financially supported the salary of the Randwick Development Officer. Finally the Randwick Rugby club would like to acknowledge the support of the Randwick Council and the General Manager Ray Brownlee for the use of the grounds at Latham Park.