Schoolboys win First Test
The Australian Schoolboys side, featuring Sharks juniors Ash Nisbet and Jayden Brailey, withstood a late comeback from England Academy in winning the first Test Match 22-18.
The Australians built up a handy 16-4 half time lead, before the English boys narrowed the gap with an early second half try.
The Kangaroos then extended their advantage to 22-6 early in the second period, before a rear-guard England fight-back saw them score twice to make it 22-14. From there the Aussies held out until the final minutes when a try from their opponents on the siren made it 22-18 at the full time whistle.
For the Australians young Knights five eighth Brock Lamb was man of the match, however the performance of Brailey at hooker also received plenty of praise, with many good judges believing him to be close to the best on ground.
Nisbet, in a well-deserved and outstanding honour, was Vice Captain of the Schoolboys side after captaining the team in their earlier warm-up match against Leeds. Unfortunately Sharks junior Connor Tracey and new Sharks recruit Keenan Yorsten were not selected for the first test.
The second Australian Schoolboys v England Academy game will be played this coming weekend, kicking off at 6.00pm Sunday morning (Sydney time).
Those interested can follow the link to register to listen to the game via http://mixlr.com/live-sports-fm/
Junior Sharks to tackle Souths
The Sharks SG Ball and Matthews Cup teams will play trial matches this weekend when they take on South Sydney at Erskinville Oval on Friday.
The young Sharks have been training hard throughout the summer, with the trial an opportunity for players to get a taste of junior rep football and for the coaches to better assess the talent they have at their disposal.
The Matthews Cup trial begins at 5.00pm, to be followed by the SG Ball clash at 6.30pm. Both matches will be played over three 20-minute periods.
The young Sharks will play three more trials in the New Year, before the NSWRL Junior Representative season begins on Saturday, February 14. The 2015 season draw has yet to be finalised.
A night at the movies
Sharks member and corporate partner Joanne Goudie had some special company at the movies last week when she was joined by a collection of Sharks NRL players at a private screening of the comedy film Let’s Be Cops.
A prize won via an auction conducted at the Sharks Grand Final luncheon, Ms Goudie, family and friends were joined by Luke Lewis, Valentine Holmes, Wade Graham, Matt Prior, Jayson Bukuya and Todd Murphy at Event Cinema at Cronulla for the special screening.
From all reports the group enjoyed the movie, with Let’s Be Cops an American buddy cop comedy which stars Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans Jr. as two friends who pretend to be Los Angeles police officers.
Ms Goudie, from Bridge Street Conveyancing is a corporate partner and a very loyal supporter of the Club.
Also thanks to Sharks Corporate sponsor Events Cinemas, owners of Cronulla Cinema, for making the evening possible.
Bird to fly at Nines
New recruit Jack Bird will represent the Sharks tomorrow at a jersey launch for the 2015 NRL Auckland Nines, with the highly rated youngster set to play a leading role for the Sharks at the unique event next year.
Bird will be joined at the Dick Smith City headquarters by representatives from the other NRL clubs in launching the event which is due to kick off at Eden Park on January 31.
While nursing a minor shoulder injury at present, medical staff are confident Bird will be fit and flying well before the tournament rolls around, with Coach Shane Flanagan giving a clear indication he plans to let his newest young gun loose in the Nines next year.
“Jack has trained well in pre-season prior to the minor setback with his shoulder but he will be fit before the Nines and almost certain to be a part of the squad,” Flanagan said.
So far Flanagan has kept the identity of the remainder of his Nines team close to his chest, with prop Andrew Fifita, recovering well at present from a badly broken wrist, the only player ruled out of the event at this stage.
Draw Monday
Round one has been revealed, with the Sharks to host the Canberra Raiders in a match kicking off at 6.30pm on Sunday, March 8, with the remainder of the 2015 NRL season draw likely to be released Monday.
The Sharks have made their preference of Sunday afternoon and Saturday evening games well known to those in charge and hope the draw is Sharks ‘fan-friendly’ with the day and kick off time allocations are confirmed.
Stay tuned to the Sharks website and social media channels next week for all the news on the 2015 NRL draw.
Sharks in the news
Rugby League News in the mainstream media has diminished to a degree with cricket and summer sport now dominating, however there have been a couple of Sharks related articles on various websites in recent days.
In a Fox Sports website interview with Michael Gordon, the two-time Sharks player of the year expressed his confidence that Sharks fans could be in for a treat when Ben Barba takes to the field in 2015.
Nathan Ryan was the author, see what Gordon had to say.
And on the St George and Sutherland Shire Leader website was a Paul Haigh report on the Sharks Community Forum held at Sharkies last night. Follow the link to see how he assessed the Sharks Fan Forum.
Barba – Fox Sports website – CLICK HERE
Fan Forum – The Leader – CLICK HERE
