PCS Greater Sydney Rams v Sydney Rays

Macquarie University Sunday September 10 2017

What the Coach thought.... 

It’s not often you get an away game about a few kilometres from home, but that was the case for this derby game against the Sydney Rays. Certainly the crowd seem slightly biased to the RAMS and the basin setup up at Macquarie Uni certainly looked a picture.

The boys were keen to back up their Round 1 performance and get the bragging rights of the NSW based teams and thereby win the Fat Cat Bell (Benn Robinson Bell, awarded to the winningest NSW team)

The performance was hot and cold, but we got there in the end. Defence was scratchy at times and we could have been down a fair bit if it wasn’t for some great try saving tackles by our diminutive halves Gonzalez & Calavassy. The good news was that when we got the ball, we used it well and scored some great tries.

Big Taqele was at his menacing best, while skipper Jed Holloway was superb on the fringes and was rightly awarded man of the match. Roach and Tuisue again proved to be amongst the best on field, while the set piece dominance proved to be a telling factor - Lagudi and Gillespie out pointing their highly credential opposition at scrum time. The lineout drive is starting to see the signs of Ben Hand's coaching and we hope it to be an area we can develop further. It was also great to see Jai Ayoub back on the park after his long injury and we know he’ll be invaluable as we push deeper into this comp. Thanks to the RAMS supporters for coming out to the game and remember- keep our next home game against Fiji on the 7th of October in your diaries – It should be a cracker!

This week we head West to take on competition favourites, Perth Spirit. With a roster full of super players and a fair cause to play for, we know we need to improve on our last outing. The boys are very excited about the trip and playing a highly credentialed team, providing us another opportunity to step up and show what we can do.

Baaaaaa the Rams!

John Manenti

Jed with the Horan-Little Shield which we've retained for another week and Jai holding the Benn Robinson Bell which we think we've won for 2017.

Presented by Nick Wasiliev from Green and Gold who came up with the conceptphoto Serge Gonzalez

You can see all the photos from the game here. Thanks to our outstanding snappers Jeremy and Serge

National Rugby Championship Ladder

photos:Jeremy Brennan

Preview

Rd 3 PCS Greater Sydney Rams v Perth Spirit

McGillivray Oval, Perth

Sunday 3pm AEST September 17 2017

The PCS Greater Sydney Rams have beaten the other two NSW sides and now move onto the current champions who have been widely tipped to go back to back in 2017. The Spirit are always hard to beat on their home turf with the Rams travelling across the Nullarbor for their second road trip game in a row. Apart from the incentive of defending their championship they have the added incentive of showing the ARU rugby is alive and well in the West after the axing of the Force. “What they are going through is a tough situation. I feel sorry for them to be honest. The support they got at the Wallabies test shows their passion for the game and I am hoping they come out and support a good Perth Spirit side this week.” said Jed Holloway. “Our main focus is on adding polish to our attack, while our defence is still probably not were we want it to be. We are close but not there yet. We will look at getting in a couple of good sessions before getting on the plane to Perth. They are the champions and the bench mark in this competition.” he added.

The Rams have picked a strong team to go over to the West for this game of the round as they chase their third win on the trot. “The teams pumped to get a shot at the reining premier, Perth, this week. Though it's nice to get wins over your neighbours, the challenge of taking on a near Super team is a great one for this group.” John Manenti commented. The Spirit will be strengthened with the release of Billy Meakes and Curtis Rona from the Wallaby training squad.

The coaches have made three changes to the side that accounted for the Rays last Sunday. Warringah's Sam Thomson comes in at lock to partner Albert Tuisue with Fergus Lee-Warner returning to the bench. Sam came off the bench last week and now gets his chance in the starting side. The big loss to the side is Matt Gonzalez, who is one of the best defensive half backs going around pulling off a number of try saving tackles last week. Matt has been ruled out for a few weeks and Dion Spice has been called up to fill the vacancy. “Dion Spice comes into the team at number 9. He played the back end of the season for West Harbour and has some good combination with Pirates players. He's from Waikato, New Zealand and was part of their Mitre 10 Cup squad last year. Like most Kiwi half backs, he brings a hard edge at the tackle and likes to boss the forwards around.” explained John Manenti. Daniel Calavassy, who came on for Matt last week, has been named on the bench. The only other change to the starting side is Liam Windon coming in for Stu Dunbar at full back. “Liam is given an opportunity this week, it's never easy pushing your way into a winning team, but he's trained well & earned his chance.” said John. Kodie Drury-Hawkins has been added to the bench as the 24th player to continue with his development.

The Spirit come into the match with a win and a loss. They had an impressive win at home against Melbourne Rising 45 – 33 first up, but fell to Canberra Vikings in Canberra last Sunday in a thriller that saw the Vikings score two tries in the last ten minutes to take the win 33 – 26. Vikings lead 19 – 5 at half time before the Spirit scored 21 unanswered points in the second half showing you take them lightly at your own peril. The Vikings showed they are not unbeatable and the Rams coaching staff will be formulating a game plan to nullify their main threats and capitalise on their weaknesses.

While the Rams will be looking to make it three from three the Spirit will not want to make it two losses in a row and so the battle up front should again be entertaining. The Rams forwards could be accused of false identity as they are hunting like a pack of well drilled wolves rather than a flock of sheep. It has been a team performance with all eight doing the job and you can only hope the Waratah brains trust is watching. One of the finds this season is Tight Head Rob Lagudi in his first year in the NRC. He will more than likely be up against Wallaby squad member Tetera Faulkner in what will be an important contest in determining the outcome at scrum time. The Spirit have a number of danger men in their pack and the clash of the two best number eights in the NRC will be one of the many highlights of this game. The Spirits number 8, Isi Naisarani, took a lot of stopping last week while Rams Jed Holloway has been one of the Rams best leading by example in both attack and defence. Albert Tuisue is another one the Spirit will be looking to contain. Albert has been in fine form and is proving a handfull.

In the backs the clash between Jono Lance and Mack Mason will be one to watch. Our centres and back three have been in fine form and can create a try out of nothing. They will be a up against some talent but will be up for the challenge.

The Rams are building into a well balanced unit and will welcome this game against the favourites which is full of Super Rugby players. With attacking threats across the 15 they will capitalise on any defensive lapses from the Spirit. Defence will again be decisive in the outcome. The Rams have the best defensive record of the sides who have played twice and have conceded 17 less points than the Spirit. It is the game of the season against two sides out to make a statement in 2017.

Paul Treanor

Match reports from last Sunday's game

Green and Gold :" By the looks of things, there seems to be a new attitude over at Eastwood that the Rams are taking compared to previous years. And it’s working." Rams claim Benn Robinson Bell with Rays win

Behind the Ruck: "They came into this year’s competition as a bit of an unknown given the coaching and ownership changes, but the Greater Sydney Rams won’t be able to hide under the radar for much longer if they continue in this vein" RAMS LATE SURGE DOWNS WASTEFUL RAYS

Rugby.com.au: Rams take the sting out of Rays and team of the week.

stats and  videos: down the bottom of this page

and our own legendary report from Paul:   Rams Make it Two from Two

The RAMS are backed by some terrific sponsors

PCS have been the naming sponsor of the RAMS for the past 3 years and are back again this season to keep the RAMS firing.  Joydeep Hor and his team are strong supporters of rugby at all levels and the RAMS are pleased to renew our partnership   You can read about PCS here

They're joined this season by Brookfield - a major international property and Investment firm: another organisation that is a strong supporter of rugby.  Brookfield's details are here  

Look who's back!!

ba-ba-ba-bababaranne

Here's the RAMS schedule for 2017.  

You can download a copy of the full draw here

Our U15s Greater Sydney Rams side celebrating a 49-7 win over South Australia last weekend!

This weekend they've got a double header in Canberra. On Saturday they will take on the NSW Country Eagles and face off against the ACT team on Sunday. All the best boys!! #ramsrugby