Foreword
Hello to all and thanks for joining us for another edition of The Circular! Oh and what an edition it is and what a week it was! Where to begin you might be asking? Well for oysties far and wide our week began in the torrential downpour at Moorepark Mondays Netball Arena, supporting Oysters netball of course; a newly crafted team of wives, girlfriends and acquaintances of the Sydney Harbour rugby community. But despite the arctic-like conditions of this weeks game, the players were grinning from ear to ear; excited, for christmas was only 5 sleeps away! That's right - the inaugural Pearls’ day was imminent. A chance to dress-up, socialise, drink, be merry and watch some champagne harbour rugby. Fast-forward to Thursday training, and lo and behold, there was a full colony of Oysters putting in the hard yards! One Hwilly was seen doing 10 coathangers and 500 burpees just as a warmup. It was like they were trying to show off, to impress, why could that be?? I guess we’ll never know…
Saturday FINALLY rolled around and it was time to get to it. An advance party marched on down to Andrew Petrie oval and got to work! Our skipper assumed the role as bride for the day, running around like a headless chook to cut up coupons, set up barricades and position Bisley Jeep Cherokee’s amidst the deluge. Everything had to be just right! Build it and they would come. And after many hours of toiling (Brenno et al. needed some physio on their thumbs pre game for overtime arts and crafts) the stage was set! But first, there was a game to be played….
Exhibit A: S.Brennan earning himself landscaping duty after many hours of arts & crafts in the lead up to Pearls' day.
Coaches Report
Round 9 versus Epping Rams;
The Greek God of the Oysters Lachy Argiris was extremely disappointed that he was away on his European business trip missing out on this top of the table clash, that he decided he would unleash what can only be described as a significant weather event to make sure that his presence was well and truly felt.
Exhibit B. Due to said weather event we didn't get any shots of the action. This is the best we got. The Oysters enjoying their wet warm up in the distance.
The start of the game showed that it was going to be a very clunky game due to the conditions with a lot of drop ball and not much opportunity to play expansive rugby for both sides. Epping really came out hard in defence with some bruising hits early and in attack, the Rams made the most of their positive defence and hard ball carrying by stringing a lot of offloads to catch out the Oysters defence and score the first try. As the rain continued to well and truly bucket down, the mistakes from both sides continued, with the oysters having the majority of the field position and managed to strike back quickly after conceding with James Manns going over after some nice hands from Jack Remond. Very much history repeating itself with another mistake off the kick off, leading to an Epping scrum and two phases later they stroll over to score their second try of the match.
As the rain kept tumbling and dulcet tones of Toby handing out prizes for the ladies for ladies day, the oysters managed to up the tempo of the game with a slick lineout move leading to a nice run by Dan Bottrell, which set up Angus McClelland to take the next run, scoring next to the post and converting to take the lead into half time.
Exhibit C: A selection of warm, dry Pearls enjoying the afternoon
The second half started and it was a sight only the Greek God of Oysters himself would’ve been proud of, nothing but torrential rain and wind battering the always picture perfect Woolahra oval. The game really didn’t live up to much in the second half with Epping controlling the field position, however both sides where their own worst enemies with continuous errors, the Epping side late in the half had multiple opportunities to win the game with a drop kick hitting the cross bar and an attempt at penalty goal that would’ve been close to 55m with the wind behind it, which missed off to the right of the posts. Genuine heart in mouth finish, but the final whistle went and the score from half time remained.
Huge credit to the Epping lads for sticking around and enjoying themselves, it was great to see you at the club house.
Massive credit to the Oysters boys who didn’t play and helped out with the ladies day festivities but also individual shout outs to Dave Robertson, Justin Warton, Tom Taylor, Nick Clifton and Duncan Hood who all braved the elements by warming up and sitting on the bench without getting game time, thankyou gents.
Onto next week against Macquarie Uni.
Epilogue
As the sun set over Andrew Petrie Oval, a highly valuable and well-earnt 4 points in the pocket, the Oyster community of players, friends and family were about to set the night on FIRE. Despite the reef and Sydney metropolitan being submerged under water, Woollahra fire brigade authorities quickly rushed down to the fire danger-meter, and flicked the dial to CATASTROPHIC. They knew that those lucky folk down at Easts clubhouse were about to set the dance floor a-light! But first, the firemen wanted to know the score from the game, how nice it would’ve been to see the harbour emblem reflecting the 12-10 victory. Unfortunately for our Treasurer Edeeeeen-TWR, earlier that afternoon he had been controlling the scoreboard, but then lost a game of tic-tac-toe to a 3 year old, who insisted the electronic scoreboard be turned off to save a few mega-watt hours during this energy crisis.
Exhibit D: Despite the 100mm of rain the fire danger meter remained at catastrophic
Anywho, back to the postgame hoe-down. It was emmy award winning, it was spellbinding, it was magical, it was Pearls day presented by Sydney Harbour Oysters rugby club! The vibes were infinite/10. Boys and girls, young and old, co-existing on a starry night. Champagne, pizzas, laughs, David Jones and Barrys Bootcamp giftcards were flowing - it was all happening! And it was only 5:59pm, the night was oh so young!
Exhibit E: Treasurer E.Taylorwood-Roe looking for revenge after his loss in tic tac toe.
But then - as the clock struck 6, silence. Boots clunked across the floorboards, the camera panned and zoomed out to reveal a guitar, a microphone, and those flowing black locks. People gazed on in awe, it was bloody Johnny Cash! And he had strolled in from the heavens to play them the best set of songs you will ever hear! There were no Folsom Prison Blues in this town, it was upbeat, groovin and high octane! The hair stands on the back of my neck still just thinking about it, shivers traverse down my spine, this was pure, authentic entertainment. The Pearls danced the night away, all wishing they were June Carter. Beachclubs in hand - IT.WAS.GLORIOUS. Those moments, they will be cherished forever by all that were there.
The curtains closed on a truly epic inaugural Pearls day. A great day in the club’s history. We can’t wait to do it all again next year, bigger and better. A massive thankyou to all who helped out - in particular Nicole Hele and her finance Harri Greville for their fantastic efforts throughout the day.
Up Next
- 9th July - Oysters v Macquarie Uni @ Lyne Park, Rose Bay
- 16th July - Hawkesbury Ag College v Oysters @ College Oval Richmond
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23rd July - Oysters v Northern Saints @ Lyne Park, Rose Bay (FINAL HOME GAME)
Sponsors
Thank you to all of our great sponsors of Oysters Rugby
