Mazda ARC

[skeepe]

So, the Mazda ARC kicks off tonight much to the chagrin of the diabolical Sydney media elite who cannot stomach the fact that the Sydney clubs were not invited to take part. The sooner those that profess to love the game stop taking ill-advised pot-shots at those who attempt to do something positive the better.

Personally I think it will be a fantastic competition, and is one I'm very much looking forward to.

Canberra Vikings IMO are the favourites to take it out, purely on the strength of the forward pack. Stacked with Brumbies, they should hand the Rebels a rugby lesson tomorrow, which will be live on the ABC.

The teams for the first round:

Perth Spirit
1.Pek Cowan, 2. Tai McIsaac, 3. AJ Whalley, 4. Tom Hockings, 5. Sitaleki Timani, 6. Scott Fava, 7. David Pocock, 8. Richard Brown, 9. Matt Henjak, (capt), 10. James Hilgendorf, 11. Ratu Siganiyavi, 12. Junior Pelesasa, 13. Ryan Cross, 14. Nick Cummins, 15. Cameron Shepherd.
Reserves: 16.Luke Holmes, 17.Troy Takiari, 18. Scott Fardy, 19. Will Brock, 20. James Stannard, 21. Scott Daruda, 22. Lachlan MacKay.

Western Rams
1. Benn Robinson, 2. Tatafu Polota-Nau (vc), 3. James Lakepa, 4. Van Humphries, 5. Ben Hand (c), 6. Gareth Palamo, 7. Hugh Perrett, 8. Tom Egan, 9. Josh Holmes, 10. Fa’atonu Fili, 11. Lachie Turner (vc), 12. Chris Siale, 13. Luke Johnson, 14. Ben Martin, 15. Kurtley Beale.
Reserves: 16. Ben Roberts, 17. Aaron Broughton-Rouse, 18. Marty Wilson, 19. Ben Coridas, 20. Dave Rimmer, 21. Filipo Toala, 22. Josh Weeks.



Sydney Fleet
1. Sean Baker, 2. Atonio Halangahu, 3. Dayna Edwards, 4. Will Caldwell, 5. Adam Byrnes, 6. Dean Mumm, 7. Tim Davidson (capt), 8. Chris Houston, 9. Josh Valentine, 10. Daniel Halangahu, 11. Leo Afeaki, 12. Tom Azar, 13. Morgan Turinui, 14. Alfred Mafi, 15. Gavin Debartolo.
Reserves: 16. Dan Lewinski, 17. Jeremy Tilse, 18. Matt Whittleston, 19. Patrick McCutcheon, 20. Arthur Little, 21 Danny Kroll, 22. Andrew Barrett.

Central Coast Rays
1. Ofa Fainga'anuku, 2. Al Manning, 3. John Adams, 4. Cameron Treloar (capt), 5. Chris Thomson, 6. Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, 7. Beau Robinson, 8. Wycliff Palu, 9. Brett Sheehan, 10. Sam Norton-Knight, 11. Jordan Macey, 12. Sam Harris, 13. Ben Jacobs, 14. Andrew Smith, 15. Peter Hewat.
Reserves: 16. Dustin McGregor , 17. Aaron Tawera, 18. Nifo Nifo, 19. Jason Peseta, 20. Steve Evans, 21. Ross Duncan, 22. Jye Mullane


Canberra Vikings
1. Nic Henderson, 2. Saia Faingaa, 3. John Ulugia, 4. Alister Campbell (capt), 5. Adam Wallace-Harrison, 6. Mark Chisholm, 7. Julian Salvi, 8. Jone Tawake, 9. Nick Haydon, 10. Christian Lealiifano, 11. Francis Fainifo, 12. Gene Fairbanks, 13. Matt Carraro, 14. Eddie McLaughlin, 15. Tim Wright.
Reserves: 16. Anthony Hegarty, 17. Dan Raymond, 18. Peter Kimlin, 19. Jack Vanderglas, 20. Anthony Faingaa, 21. Rowan Kellam, 22. Tim Cornforth.

Melbourne Rebels
1. Scott Cameron, 2. Nick Churven, 3. Heamani Lavaka, 4. Matt Cockbain, 5. Richard Stanford, 6. David Dennis, 7. David Croft (Captain), 8. Dave Haigh, 9. Luke Burgess (Vice-Captain), 10. Dan Kelly, 11. Digby Ioane, 12. Jack Farrer, 13. James Lew, 14. Peter Playford (Vice-Captain), 15. Nathan Trist.
Reserve: 16. Mike Ross, 17. James Hanson, 18. Liam Shaw, 19. Filipe Manu, 20. Jon McGrath, 21. Michael Hobbs, 22. Damon Murphy.


East Coast Aces
1. Tama Tuirirangi, 2. Ole Avei, 3. Rodney Blake, 4. Will Munsie, 5. Luke Caughley, 6. Ben Mowen, 7. AJ Gilbert, 8. Josh Afu, 9. Nic Berry, 10. Ben Lucas, 11. Henari Veratau, 12. Lloyd Johansson (capt), 13. Charlie Fetoai, 14. Andrew Walker, 15. Chris Latham.
Reserves: 16. Jade Ingham, 17. Lloyd Campbell-McBride, 18. James Kriukelis, 19. Bo Paraha, 20. Sam Batty, 21. Quade Cooper, 22. Marshall Milroy.

Ballymore Tornadoes
1. Greg Holmes, 2. Sean Hardman, 3. Shon Siemonek, 4. Ed O’Donoghue, 5. James Horwill, 6. Jared Hanna, 7. Tom McVerry (capt), 8. Scott Higginbotham, 9. Sam Cordingley, 10. Berrick Barnes, 11. Anthony Sauer, 12. Peter Hynes, 13. Blair Connor, 14. Elia Tuqiri, 15. Clinton Schifcofske.

Reserves: 16. Josh Mann-Rea, 17. Ernest Skelton, 18. Daniel Linde, 19. Ray Stowers, 20. Will Genia, 21. David Collis, 22. Tim Sampson

 

[Timbo]

It's a necessary evil.

I'd have preferred a national club competition which retained those Sydney and Brisbane clubs with the most heritage, and added in new regional clubs appropriately. However I guess I'm in the minority on that one.

 

[skeepe]

It's a necessary evil.

I'd have preferred a national club competition which retained those Sydney and Brisbane clubs with the most heritage, and added in new regional clubs appropriately. However I guess I'm in the minority on that one.

Hey I think that'd be great too, but can you imagine the sh*t fight that would occur if that happened? Much better to start from scratch, IMO, than to constantly hear about the injustices of Randwick/Uni/Easts/Eastwood/Parramatta/Gordon/Southern Districts/insert whichever team missing out and even the possibility of court cases that may ensue.

I like the structure and whilst I think some of the team names are a bit contrived, it's a good starting point.

 

[Thomas]

Funny...you don't hear much grumbling about the ARC from north of the Tweed River.

Aces look a fine team on paper...hope they can click.

 

[Timbo]

It seemed to get off to a good enough start.

Give it a few seasons to develop a fan base and some room for expansion and it'll be pretty good.

 

[aussies1st]

Quite the upset by the Rebels to beat the Vikings.

 

[Woods99]

Some really good, entertaining, but tough rugby.


This is the start of something big. But I do not know why the Aces are not called the "Gold Coast Aces"?

 

[meltiger]

Canberra Vikings IMO are the favourites to take it out, purely on the strength of the forward pack. Stacked with Brumbies, they should hand the Rebels a rugby lesson tomorrow, which will be live on the ABC.

:lol: !


Some of you north of the border seem to forget the heart any team associated with Melbourne/Victoria takes onto the field ;-)

 

[NT_Eelsfan]

where is the NT team? my 18s coach is the captain of it, Peter Mayo, he is really good

 

[Thomas]

This is the start of something big. But I do not know why the Aces are not called the "Gold Coast Aces"?

Because the team is an amalgamation of the Gold Coast Breakers, Sunnybank and Souths team.

I really enjoyed the game...I thought the introduction of short arm penalties instead of scrums for crooked lineout throws really helped the game flow.

 

[chileman]

That was actually a pretty enjoyable game between the Sydney Fleet and Perth Spirit on Saturday!

 

[skeepe]

Great day for rugby last Sunday when the Vikings smashed the Tornadoes 53-8. That's more like it Canberra.

 

[meltiger]

Much better day today Skeepe.


Go Melbourne