To all our beloved sponsors, parents, friends, supporters, doctor, sports physiotherapist, team psychologist, coach, and players, WE’RE BACK for the First Oysters Circular of 2021.

 

Exhibit A: Return to Reef©

We hope everyone is fresh and rejuvenated from a 7-month hiatus, because I know everyone down at Oyster HQ is eager and excited for Season #2, the Oyster Ultimatum, The Oyster Legacyyyyy. After the 5,000 word masterpiece of last season, this year’s writers have changed tack to what will be a succinct, no less sinister summary of the weekends festivities. Yeah look, staying late to poke fun at the opposition whilst pumping up The Oysters tyres is an appealing job we know, but like this season, we’re chasing sustainable success.

With the new year brings a new cup, and us slow steading moving bi-valves are striving for new uncharted waters. The southern comp was fun, a good learning curve we’ll say. But the Oysters have mobilized and are marching North, joining 4th Division to battle it out for the McLean Cup. Fresh from a grueling 6 week pre-season that The Rock would be proud of, the final training session was had at The Oysters’ new training ground at Hugh Bamford Reserve. This beautiful rectangle, kept out of the hands of the East’s developers, is the new training ground thanks to Woollahra Council management, dw driving to Bondi in Peak Hour on Thursdays is a breeeeeeze. I digress, a solid training was had, with many familiar faces combining with some fresh unshucked Oysters from the East. This strength at training was particularly promising after the Oysters previous outing in their trial match, in which both teams got dusted.

“Trial games DON’T COUNT… OKAAAYYYY…” (Settle down Toby).

Game One, Year Two rolled around with a Return to Reef © (Patent Pending) down at Rushcutters Oval (Thanks for the ground Woollahra) and what a glorious day it was. We’ll pass it over to Coach Biscoe who has agreed to a One Year extension in the off season to keep the Oysters Humming.

Exhibit B: Chills, Literal Chills

Coach’s Corner

The Oysters kicked off their McLean Cup campaign in strong fashion on Saturday, taking down Oatley in an extremely clinical performance on the home reef.

The game kicked off and the boys quickly found their groove. Seamus Frost led a number of early raids down the right-hand touch line, linking well with Dan Bottrell to give us early field possession. Oatley were defending well as we had them camped on their own line for the opening 10 minutes. Eventually they succumbed to the pressure and Jack Remond, receiving the ball off the back of the scrum, went himself and sliced through the defence to score under the posts.

Exhibit C: To B(h)ot to Trot

The remainder of the half saw the floodgates open. Our forwards were working really well together as a pack, securing quick, clean ball for the backs to operate on. Tom Mencinsky in particular was a real threat on debut at No.7, constantly putting his hand up for ball carries and attacking the advantage line. I was really impressed with the shape the boys were playing with, from 1-15. Things we'd worked hard on at the training ground were paying off as guys were always running different lines, hitting holes and making the defenders make tough decisions. I thought the halves combined really well, Thomas Taylor and Jack Remond both controlled the tempo and were always scanning for attacking opportunities. The halftime score reflected the dominant opening 40 from the boys as we led 59-0.

Nick Stubbs was on absolute heater and he continued this form in the second half. Accelerating into any contact, Stubbs consistently broke the line and linked well with his teammates outside, en route to bagging some meat of his own. More debutantes took the field and did themselves proud, birthday boy Jimmy Hindle defended well at 13 & Ryan Campbell was not to be outdone, finishing a great try to close out the game. The final score ended up being 78-5.

Exhibit D: They say opponents wake up on Friday night picturing CG’s Do-not-argue

Exhibit E: Tatey mixing Ballet with Rugby, turn it up TT.

A special shoutout to Mack Bowman who scored a hat-trick on the wing. Chook showed excellent finishing ability and was unlucky not to bag a fourth try. We now turn towards a massive game this week against last year's Meldrum Cup champions, the Manly Savers.

Coach Boone

Sponsors

With a new year, we have the chance to bring on some new sponsors as we look to continue building our bonds within the community. We thank you for your commitment to the 2021 season and look forward to seeing you down at our games. We know that 2020 was a tough year for everyone and appreciate the support. There is simply no way we would be able to have the kit, equipment or ground hire without the valued contribution of our sponsors and for that we are grateful.

Season Schedule

 

 

Exhibit F: Who Won Today?... OYSTERS!!!. Note. Next week’s opponents included in score summary, what a game we have this weekend.

Exhibit G: Lifeguard better be ON DUTY for the Ferry Cup©

As always, have a fantastic week, go the Oysters, and above all, SHUCK ‘EM!

Sydney Harbour Rugby Club