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Rupert Guinness
June 5, 2009 - 12:42AM
THE gap in top-level competition after the scrapping of the Australian Rugby Championship is close to being filled by the club rugby finals, according to Eastwood coach, Brian Melrose.
Melrose was a big supporter of the ARC and coached of one of its teams - the Western Rams - but the former Waratahs backs coach believes that since the ARC's demise after just one season, in 2007, the Shute Shield has grown stronger, even though some struggling clubs like Penrith might not agree.
Either way, club rugby is no longer the third-tier competition. And that is thanks to the professionals having been made available to play for their clubs more often after the ARU's move to cut its Australia A program and encourage players to return to their clubs when they are not needed by their professional sides.
The Shute Shield talent pool has also been boosted with the Western Force and Brumbies players returning to their clubs of choice in Sydney.
Melrose believes last weekend's exciting 10th round was just a taste of what is to come in the semi-finals.
Asked if teams in the Shute Shield were of ARC standard - or approaching it - he said: "That's a really tough question. I'm a little biased because I was involved in it [the ARC], but it was magnificent football. Let's not get into the rights and wrongs of the concept, but I think when you watch the finals of the [club] competition this year it will be like the ARC with the added benefit of the tribalism of the clubs.
"So, in a lot of ways, you might then have a final series which will be magnificent because you'll have some real good squads, star factor on the field and the tribalism of the club teams and supporters."
Melrose's Eastwood team has reached the halfway mark of the competition in second place after their 27-17 win over Gordon at Chatswood Oval last Sunday.
The Woodies had two Wallabies - props Ben Alexander, who will play off the bench against the Barbarians tomorrow, and Matt Dunning, who is on the comeback from a torn Achilles tendon suffered in last year's fiery Barbarians game at Wembley.
The international domestic season and Tri Nations will mean the very best players miss club rugby but, because the ARU no longer has an Australia A program, there will still be up to 26 players who would have made up the Australia A squad remaining in the club ranks in Sydney and Brisbane.
This has also bolstered the ability of those clubs, with such players to develop their cohesion and combinations and eventually be stronger for it.
"Without the Australia A program, a lot of players that would have played in that program were pushed straight back to club rugby," Melrose said. "The Australia A program also often went for four to six weeks, so it could be quite a while before they came back."
Melrose believes the selections of several club teams this year has shown a marked change in depth. "Come finals, they will be very strong teams - probably as strong as, or stronger, than what has been in club rugby for years," he said.
? This weekend is a bye round in the Shute Shield for all clubs except Eastern Suburbs and Warringah whose first-grade sides will play tomorrow at Woollahra Oval.
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/spor...0605-bxd2.html
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