RUGBY: 13 JANUARY 2017

GrainCorp rugby draws announced but questions of equity may remain

The Central West Rugby Union has announced draws for its 2017 GrainCorp Cup competitions, and there are a couple of questions that have to be answered.

Once again, initially three conferences — Northern, Central and Southern — will play among themselves.

Northern — Geurie, Trangie, Coonabarabran, Coolah, Wellington, Narromine

Central — Molong, Yeoval, CSU Orange, Blayney, Canowindra, Condoblin

Southern — Temora, Cootamundra, Harden, Grenfell, West Wyalong

Then, after 10 rounds, on 8 July, Molong, Yeoval and CSU Orange will join the Northern Conference and play a further six rounds.

At the same time, Blayney, Canowindra and Condoblin will join the Southern Conference and play a further seven rounds.

What Molong Online couldn’t initially figure is how the competition would overcome the inequities of teams having different numbers of matches and byes within the same divisions.

In the Northern Conference, the second phase of play will see all six of the original Northern teams have byes. This means that Geurie, Trangie, Coonabarabran, Coolah, Wellington and Narromine will each play 15 games and have one bye while Molong, Yeoval and CSU Orange play 16 games each.

In the Southern Conference, matters are even worse, with each of the original five Southern sides having two byes in the first phase of the competition. Hence, Temora, Cootamundra, Harden, Grenfell and West Wyalong will each play 15 games, while Blayney, Canowindra and Condoblin play 17.

The Central West Rugby Union plans to even out the situation by allowing the Central Conference Clubs to shed their worst results from the first phase of the competition (one game each for Molong, Yeoval and CSU Orange, two each for Blayney, Canowindra and Condoblin). I’m not sure if that will work out equitably but at least it seems like a plan.

Anyway, the opening round on 8 April sees Temora v Cootamundra, Harden v Grenfell in the Southern Conference (West Wyalong have the bye); Geurie v Trangie, Coonabarasbran v Condoblin, Wellington v Narromine in the Northern Conference; and Molong v Yeoval, CSU Orange v Blayney, Condoblin v Canowindra in the Central Conference.

There are general byes on 29 April for the NSWCRU Championships and on 10 June for the Queen’s Birthday Long Weekend … and seemingly on 15 April as well.

Major and Minor Semi-Finals are set down for 26 August in both Northern and Southern Conferences, with Finals to be played on 2 September and Grand Finals on 9 September.