Shute Shield: Warringah Rats ready to play Wallabies
THE Warringah Rats have declared “bring on the Wallabies” in Saturday’s Shute Shield grand final against glamour club Sydney University at North Sydney Oval.
Manly
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THE Warringah Rats have declared “bring on the Wallabies” in Saturday’s Shute Shield grand final against glamour club Sydney University at North Sydney Oval.
Test players Nick Phipps and Tolu Latu will be released from Wallaby camp to boost the Students already star-studded squad for the premiership decider.
While the move has raised eyebrows in some quarters, far from complaining, the Rats players are embracing the challenge.
“Our Rats are tough enough to beat the All Blacks — let alone the Wallabies,” said Warringah coach Darren Coleman.
“We are happy, excited and glad the Wallabies are playing for Sydney Uni.
“If you are going to win this comp you want to win it against the best possible team possible.
“We spoke about this and we all agree, if we want to do this you want to do it right.”
He said Rats stalwart hooker Luke Holmes, who is retiring, gets to go head to head with a Wallabies hooker in his final game for Warringah to win a Shute Shield.
And he said Rats’ matchwinner Josh Holmes gets to mark two Wallaby halfbacks in one game with both Phipps and Jake Gordon in the University squad.
“We don’t see any negatives in it, we want to beat the best to be the best.”
Warringa president Phil Parsons added: “The boys are looking forward to playing the Wallabies basically.
“If Sydney Uni need to throw the Wallabies at us, well good luck to them.
“If they thought the All Blacks were difficult, they are not going to find it any easier on Saturday against the Rats.
“We are a strong village club and the village will be behind us on the day.”
He said Warringah will be turning North Sydney Oval into a “Rats’ nest on Saturday and the team will throw everything at it.
Coleman described last Sunday’s hard fought 25-22 elimination semi-final win over Northern Suburbs as “exhilarating”.
“It was tense and stressful and a good quality,” he said.
He said it was a good preparation for the decider with the glamour University outfit.
“The difference between us and Uni this year is we haven’t been blowing teams away, we have been in the fight for the 80 minutes,” Coleman said.
“I’ll be interested to see how they go when there is 10 to go and it’s a fight.
“We are playing good football, I’m comfortable, I reckon we are going to be right in it.”