International 9s Cabramatta – Round Up

By Daniel Andruczyk

Saturday the 6th of February saw the annual International 9s played at Cabramatta’s New Era Stadium. Twenty one teams from the Bundy Red Cup, Australia and from overseas turned up to play, including an Australian Indigenous team and teams from Fiji, New Zealand and all the way from Japan. After playing initial round robin matches the teams were ranked and quarter finals played out. Windsor defeated Balmain in the Cup final to be crowned the champions.

Drama Before a Ball is Kicked!

Before a ball was kicked there was drama. Many would not have been aware of the torrential downpour that Sydney was experiencing that weekend and the days before that. I was worried it may get called off but a quick call to NSWRL’s Tas Baitieri confirmed we were still on. Sweet!

9:30 saw the Managers and coaches briefing on the days events and how things would run, it was a great insight in seeing how a professional tournament is run and the things that need to be taken care of. The Rugby League folks and volunteers sure did an amazing job.

Tas Baitieri talking at the managers briefing before the tournament.

Work came through at about 9:45 that the The Entrance’s bus had blown a tire and was stuck on the freeway, contingency plans went in with a few people going up to pick the players up as I understand. They had the third game of the day and managed to just make it in time.

Japan the Crowd Favourite

A good crowd turned up for the day with an estimate in 1500. It was hard to really compare as many people cam and went through the 12 hour tournament. Obviously there were many fans for the local Bundy Red Cup teams and several NRL stars, past and present, turned up. David Peachy was there with the Barefoot Rugby League program and several Parramatta players including Fuifui Moimoi also came for a couple of hours. Kevin McGuiness and Andrew Walker all played for the Indigenous team as well as the Cook Islands had a few players from their successful Pacific Nations Cup campaign.

Through the day the crowd favourites were Japan. Despite coming up against last years champions the Australian Indigenous and a strong Cook Islands outfit they played with a lot of heart and won the biggest cheer from the crowd whenever they crossed over in any match. The Japanese all came over from Japan on their own expense and are keen to return next year. Their aim is to win one match for the next tournament.

Japan in action against the Australian Indigenous team

Summary of Results

Short of having to write out every result, here is a link to the results and team lists from the NSWRL.

http://www.nswrl.com.au/news/article.php?id=856

Team Pool 2	P	W	D	L	Pt
1. Mounties	2	2	0	0	4
2. Wentworthville	2	1	0	1	2
3. Penrith 2	2	0	0	2	0

Indigenous and Cook Islands in action during the pool matches

Team Pool 3	P	W	D	L	Pt
1. The Entrance	2	2	0	0	4
2. Penrith 1	2	1	0	1	2
3. Campbelltown 2	2	0	0	2	0

Team Pool 4	P	W	D	L	Pt
1. Windsor	2	2	0	0	4
2. Cabramatta 1	2	1	0	1	2
3. Campbelltown 3	2	0	0	2	0

Japan and the Fiji(Nadera) Panthers in action

Team Pool 5	P	W	D	L	Pt
1. Aust. Indigenous	2	2	0	0	4
2. Cook Islands	2	1	0	1	2
3. Japan	2	0	0	2	0

Team Pool 6	P	W	D	L	Pt
1. NZ Tonga	2	2	0	0	4
2. Cabramatta 2	2	1	0	1	2
3. Fiji Panthers	2	0	0	2	0

Balmain up against the Entrance

Team Pool 7	P	W	D	L	Pt
1. Fiji Australians	2	2	0	0	4
2. NSW Maori	2	1	0	1	2
3. Canley Vale	2	0	0	2	0

Finals

The Bowl final was between Campbelltown 2 and Penrith Brothers 2. The match opened up quite quickly in the 1st minute. Penrith were the first in. The South-West boys then ran in the the next two try’s to go into the break 8-4. The second half featured some good attacking play from both teams but also some ferocious defence and neither team could break each others lines. The scores remained a 8-4 and so Campbelltown went away winners of the Bowl and a $800 pay check.

In the Plate final Campbelltown 1 featured. It shows how strong the south west is having two of their three teams feature in the finals series.  Once again it was a quick opening with the Seagulls scoring. Cabramatta then pulled one back soon after. In the 6th minute Cabramatta went in once more to lead 8-6, but all that was undone when a knock on near the Campbelltown line allowed them to swoop and run 80 meters to score and take the 1st half points 12-8. The second half was fairly uneventful as the rain started to come down and mistakes dominated the match. The Final score was 12-8 with no extra points being added. So Campbelltown take their second final of the tournament and $1500 pay check.

Windsor and Balmain-Ryde fought out the Cup Final

The Cup final features two of the Bundy Red Cup powerhouses. Balmain-Ryde and Windsor. From the start of the day many of the experts were going for Balmain since it was their third final in a row they made. But Windsor had other ideas scoring two quick try’s in the 3rd and 5th minutes to take a surprising 12-0 lead at the break. In the 12th minute Balmain went in to take the score to 12-6 and it looked like a remarkable come back was on the cards especially when Windsor went to 8 men with Ben Vengoa being sin binned but some silly mistakes cost Balmain and they never clawed the lead back. Windsor were champions and $3000 richer.

The International 9s Cup winners Windsor Wolves

Teams after the pool matches were ranked 1-21 and were selected to play in either the Bowl, Plate or Cup finals series. The prize money started at $3000 for the Cup finalists and went down to scale accordingly to $200 for the 21st team which was Japan.

Daniel Andruczyk’s email: daniel@rugbyleagueinternationalscores.com