The Rogues Rant #244

Welcome to The Rogues Rant, an occasional look at all things Rugby

There were a couple of interesting participants in the second grade match at Vikings Oval on Saturday. Taking the field for Vikings in the match was a couple of brothers from down Canberra way. Jack and Henry Vanderglas made their first appearance for the Blueys and turned a few heads. Both the boys have had long and successful careers down south having come through St Edmonds College and the Canberra Easts club. Henry is an ex Brumbies player who also played Sevens for Australia in 2019 as well as spending time at Bristol and of late with FC Grenoble. Jack might be remembered by a few Illawarra people from his days at Wollongong University in the early 2000’s. He was a member of the very good Illawarrarior Colts side that took all before them in the ACT comp in 2003. After finishing Uni he returned to his Canberra Easts club where he enjoyed a long and Premiership winning playing career. Welcome aboard Henry and welcome back Jack. Just to whet your appetite check out some highlights of Henry on YouTube. Go to https://youtu.be/kgGKlH-D8U8

Former Wallaby Hooker Phill Kearns has been appointed as Executive Director by Rugby Australia of their 2027 Rugby World Cup Australia Bid Team. Kearns has been spoken of as a future Chief Exec. of RA recently but this appointment would suggest that his chances of becoming the Boss of RA are not likely just yet. Kearns will work with an Advisory Board made up of Business and Rugby identities. Among the group is Olympic Chairman John Coates, BA Chair Rod Edington, Elizabeth Cairns (Fortesque Metals), Olivia Worth (Qantas), and a few familiar Rugby types, namely Gary Ella, John Eales, Peter Cosgrove and some bloke named John Howard. They should keep Kearnsy on his toes! The panel starts work in Feb next year with the process going through to May 2022.

Super Rugby AU over the last couple of weeks has been quite entertaining with a couple of close hard fought matches. I think it’s right to say the standard has improved considerably but there is still a long way to go to match what we are seeing across the ditch. It’s good to see the coaches putting faith in the younger brigade of players so they can get the sort of experience needed to bring them on. With Rob Simmons announcing that he is joining the player exodus and heading off to London Irish at the end of the Super Rugby season these young guys need all the work they can get if we are going to be able to put out a competitive Wallaby side.

Round 1 of the Peter Woods Challenge Shield was an entertaining one. Avondale pulled off a late win over Shamrocks after it looked as though the Rocks would get their revenge for last year’s GF loss when they lead by ten points going into the final ten minutes of the match. Avondale however showed strong resolve to put on three late tries to take the points. Vikings snuck home with a late try to beat Shoalhaven 17 – 12 at Vikings Oval, while Tech Waratahs showed sound early form with a resounding 41 – 12 win at Camden. It will be interesting to see how they go this week against the Premiers. Campbelltown made a good start to the year with an away win over Kiama by 33 – 22. It really is hard to get any sort of line on form at this stage but this week I’ll go for Vikings to get home at Kiama, Shamrocks to win at Ocean Park over Campbelltown, while Shoalhaven will be too strong for Camden in Nowra. I’ll tip Avondale to finish ahead of Tech Waratahs at Saunders Oval. As for Super Rugby, I’ll tip Brumbies, Reds, Hurricanes and Crusaders.

All opinions offered in this column are the opinion of the author. They should not be considered to represent the views of the IDRU.