Waverley Rugby Club has enjoyed its best outing of 2010 winning an impressive four out of five games against Newport, on a perfect winters day in Sydney.

After weeks of crappy weather rained off Waverley’s Round 7 – May 22nd clash, Waverley made the most of its June Long Weekend encounter against fellow seaside club Newport, with The Palace 2nd Grade the only team to go down.

And what a great day it was. Perfect sunny skies, but with cool temps, made it the perfect way to make up for a missing out on a weekend of rugby, and even better was the impressive display by all teams to take it up to our higher ranked opponents.

The successful round marginally increases our margin over last placed Hornsby, but only marginally because Hornsby also had a successful weekend too, with an upset win over finals contenders Kings Old Boys in the Barraclough Cup. Maybe this is a good sign for Waverley, that it can build on it’s two wins on the trot in 1st Grade, to challenge those teams higher up the ladder.

Props Wanted

Read today’s other news article, Want to be a Waverley Prop Star. Waves is in desperate need of some front row blood, so if you’re aware of any potentials, or want to have a go yourself, let us know.

Match Reviews

Reading through the preview from last week (brr it’s cold…), the predictions were largely (and thankfully) correct.

For Waverley, the round represents the half way point of the Home and Away, and is a good chance to see where we are sitting and what finals hopes we may have. Unfortunately four other clubs are still one round behind and with Hunters Hill two rounds behind, thus making real comparisons difficult.

But we’ll try!

Cardsmart Consulting Colts

Waverley walked out of the day with a thrilling 12 to 11 point win over (then) 3rd placed Newport. As the only team to have beaten 1st place Barkers Old Boys, this is a great result for Waverley, and vindicates a lot of effort put into the squad in recent weeks.

Unfortunately, the margin should have been higher, with Waverley about to secure another try when the ref decided that advantage had been played, so called Waverley back to a penalty.

I know, Waves may have fouled in the interim period, but don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story.

Unfortunately I can’t tell you who the try scorers were, as the team sheet shows Michael Hatten, Steve Fairburn and Matt Hamilton all scoring tries, despite Waverley only securing 12 points.

The result leaves Waverley in 9th place (as opposed to the 14 we should have been on had we not forfeited against Oatley), making the task of qualifying for the finals very difficult.

With Waverley ~14 points off the top four (but one game ahead), it is still theoretically possible for Waverley to make it through to the finals, but it will be a massive ask, with Waverley needing to win virtually every game here in.

Alexander Associates 4th Grade

In a top of the table clash Waverley continued it’s unbeaten run, and firmly entrenches itself in top position.

The next four weeks sees Waverley play the balance of the top six teams. If past performance is an indicator Waverley is unlikely to be knocked off it’s perch.

Waverley remains odds on favourites for back to back Premierships

Final score 26-0, with tries to Tainui Wynyard, Anthony Collett and Rob Pryor.

3rd Grade

Storming into its 2nd win of the season in the Blunt Cup, Waverley sits on equal points with Hunters Hill and St Ives (two and one games down respectively), with a great chance to move itself out of 10th place in coming weeks.

Like Colts before them, Waverley scraped through with a narrow one point (20 – 19) win over Newport, with tries to Steve Hearn (2), Mark Lee, and Bobby Hopper (WTF, three out of the four tries came from props, no doubt sea gulling).

It was an important win for 3rd Grade, because despite sitting in last place, they have a very realistic chance of making the finals, being just 13 points (and same number of games) as 3rd placed Barkers Old Boys.

With nine rounds to go, Waverley needs to continue its recent good form, and it will be in a shot of making the finals. The next few weeks will be critical for Waverley’s success.

The Palace 2nd Grade

Last week we tipped this as the match of the round, with two top billing sides battling for a position in the top four. Unfortunately for Waverley, they went down 20 points to 12, plus missed out on an all important bonus point.

In the end, this dropped Waverley out of 2nd place, down to 6th place, which just shows you how competitive the Stockdale Cup is again this season, with just seven points separating the top 7 teams.

While Waverley remains in a strong position to secure a finals berth, the next few weeks sees Waverley take on the top four sides. Waverley needs to use these matches to build for a possible premiership, plus to keep traction in the Divisional Championship (2nd Grade are still carrying the rest of the club in this regards).

Both tries to rampaging No. 8, Hepa Gillies.

The Palace 1st Grade

Last week Waverley recorded its first win of the season. This week, Waverley secured its second win with 19 – 14 point win. Woot!

Lead by Luke Kelly, who walked away with all the plaudits (winning both 3 coaches points, and three referee points), Waverley managed to secure three meat pies (Karl Gaule, Stu Allen & Adam Short) over the one time leaders of the Barraclough Cup.

Two wins on the trot is just the medicine that Waverley needed, and may be enough to spur us up the competition table. Still we remain in 9th place, and 15 points out of the top four (and one game ahead), possibly leaving our run too late for a finals berth. Still anything is possible, and Waverley’s quest to keep us out of the relegation zone, may bring some unexpected surprises.

Upcoming Round

This weekend, Waverley’s men are back on the Frog and Toad, with some tough opposition and the women looking to secure their second win of the season over Penrith at home.

Grades 1 to 4 and Colts take on Divisional heavy weights at Turramurra (where they are doubly strong), and Fifth Grade taking on Mosman (TBC, sorry working from memory).

Stay tuned for more details.