I remember talking to the boys way back in 2011 in the pre-commencement nights about our expectations and their parents expectations when they come to Joeys. I recall telling them that not everyone can be the best. Not everyone can be in the A team or be in the top classes. What everyone can do, however, is give their best effort. I remember saying “if you come to Joeys and give your best effort then your parents will be very proud of you and so will the College”.

A couple of weeks ago I was fortunate to see quite a few U13 rugby games over at Newington – something I don’t often get to do due to my own team playing. I saw a couple of wins and a couple of losses. What I was so impressed by was the way that the boys played the games. They gave one hundred percent effort and were able to display great sportsmanship in defeat and humility in victory. It was just awesome to see boys giving their best, no matter their team.

I asked Lachlan Markey (Coonamble) to write a short summary of his own team and when he sent it through to me I couldn’t help but notice the positive approach that he is showing towards the opportunities here at Joeys – exactly the approach that I remember speaking about late last year. His report is below.

The 13Ds played well as a team today. We played Scots but they were just too good for us as they had players running hard through our defensive line. During training all week we had been working on our tackling and rucking after our game against Newington. We try to play a game against the C’s each day to improve our rucking and tackling. 

I thought that the 13Ds played well as a team. Our tackling and rucking has definitely gotten better because last time we versed Scots we went down to them by about 20 points. Our try scorer for today was Mitchell Tanzer who scored two great tries (one off a penalty and one just running straight through the opposition and under the posts). Scots got the better of us, as the score was 12-29,  but I believe that if the we train hard at training then we will definitely beat them next time.

Thanks to Lachlan for a very positive approach to his sport and it certainly appears that the boys are moving forward step by step. This is all we can ask and indeed they are doing us very proud.

Photo 1:  Darcy Lyne (East Roseville) gets in front of his Newington opponent in the line-out.

Photo 2: Adrian Ang (Artarmon) gives the blunt “don’t argue” to the Scots defence.