Saturday’s 50-12 romp over Warringah in Round 11 of the Sydney grade rugby competition at No.1 Oval kept Sydney University firmly entrenched in fourth place behind Eastwood, Eastern Suburbs and Manly.
And the clean-sweep – the Students won the four grade and three Colts matches – kept them at the helm of the Club Championship. Sydney University are on 1590 points, just ahead of Eastwood (1586), Manly (1546) and Eastern Suburbs (1508).
First Grade players wore black armbands on Saturday in honour of former premiership-winning player and coach Dave Brockhoff, who passed away the day before.
The former Wallaby coach would have been smiling as Sydney University ran in eight tries, the first coming 60 seconds after the kick-off when fullback Dave Dillon chimed into the backline to score in the corner.
He attacked up the short side soon after and combined with centre Michael Hodge to send winger Alex Rokabaro over for a 10-nil lead.
That was turned into a 17-nil lead in the fifth minute when flanker Trent Dyer won a lineout five metres from the Warringah line and the Students turned on a controlled rolling maul for second-rower Sam Carter to score. Dillon added the extras.
Sydney University’s bonus-point try came from five-eighth and Australian Sevens captain Bernard Foley, who half-volleyed a loose ball from a five-metre scrum to score next to the uprights. Dillon converted for a 24-7 lead after 30 minutes.
Not content with that, the Students ran in two more tries before the break. The first saw prop Aldy King and Hodge combine to second-rower Tom Heslop over, while Foley grabbed a second. Hodge and number eight Jack de Guingand also crossed for five-pointers in the second half to top off a winning afternoon.
The Students will host Parramatta this Saturday.
Scoreboard
First Grade: Sydney University 50 (Bernard Foley 2,Tom Heslop, Sam Carter, Jack de Guingand, Alex Rokabaro, Michael Hodge, David Dillon tries; David Dillon 4 goals, Bernard Foley goal) d Warringah 12 (David Mason, David Feltscheer tries; Hamish Angus goal) at Sydney University No.1 Oval.
Second Grade: Sydney University 62 (Paddy Ryan 2, Josh Dillon 2, Seb Stegmann 2, James Willan, Will Runciman, Jacob Taylor tries; Jacob Taylor 5 goals, pen goal, Will Runciman 2 goals) d Warringah 0.
Third Grade: Sydney University 40 (Levi Dodd 3, Zumbayr Abrahams, Jeremy Atkin, Harry Marples tries; Jack Macklin 3 goals, Levi Dodd 2 goals) d Warringah 0.
Fourth Grade: Sydney University 54 (Lachlan Rosengreen 2, Josh Koops 2, R Hodgkinson, Connor Foley, Tim Vuniwa, James Cameron tries; James Cameron 7 goals) d Warringah 5 (Benjamin Field try).
Colts
First Grade: Sydney University 32 (5 tries) d Warringah 17.
Second Grade: Sydney University 32 (5 tries) d Warringah 0.
Third Grade: Sydney University 17 d Warringah 0.
