Support those supporting us!

Thursday 28th of Feb. 2019 from 630pm. Enjoy a 3 course meal designed by the talented chefs of The Field at Easts Rugby matched with 5 premium Brokenwood Wines.

Tickets still available! Click HERE to book yours today!

Easts 2019 Merchandise is on sale NOW! Click HERE to check out the range and to order yours today - all orders must be received by the 8th of January 2019.

The 2019 Intrust Super Shute Shield fixtures have been announced! Easts kicks off their 2019 season with an away match on the 6th of April against the 2018 Premiers, Sydney University. Our first home game of the 2019 season is scheduled for Round 2, on the 13th of April against 2018 Runners Up, the Warringah Rats and an exciting Easts v Randwick Round 4 game will be played at Coogee Oval on ANZAC Day this year. Read more about the full draw HERE.

This Weekend at Easts

Woollahra No.1 10am Pasifka Cup 11.30am SWRU XVs Grand Final: Sydney University v Warringah 1.30pm SWRU Grand Final Presentation 1.50pm SWRU 7s Tournament Grand Final 2.30pm NRC Round 3 Sydney Rays v Brisbane City 4.30pm Pasifka Cup Woollahra No. 2 & 3 9.00am SWRU 7s Tournament: pool games until 11am

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SWRU 7s Pool Games / Tournament Venue: Colleagues/Woollahra Oval No. 2 & 3 Kick Off: 9am - 11am Easts Women's 7-aside team will be playing in the Sydney Womens 7-aside tournament at Colleagues (Woollahra 2 & 3) this Saturday morning with the 7s final to be held on the main ground at 1.50pm. Overall the tournament will feature 10 - 12 teams playing 3 games each plus semis. SWRU XV's Grand Final Venue: Woollahra No.1 Kick Off: 11.30am The Sydney Women's Rugby Union 15-aside Grand Final, Sydney University v Warringah, will be held at Easts on Woollahra No. 1 this Saturday. SWRU 7s Grand Final Venue: Woollahra No. 1 Kick off: 1.50pm The Sydney Women's Rugby Union 7s tournament will play it's Grand Final on Woollahra No. 1 at 1.50pm this Saturday after the conclusion of the 7s pool games over at Colleagues in the morning. Pasifka Cup Venue: Woollahra No.1 Kick off: 10am & 4.30pm Teams competing in the Pasifka Cup this weekend are development sides from Tonga, Samoa, Fiji and a combined Barbarians team. Two games are scheduled at 10am and 4.30pm. National Rugby Championships Venue: Woollahra No.1 Kick off: 2.30pm Round 3 of the NRC competition. The Sydney Rays v Brisbane City.

SAVE THE DATE

Easts Presentation night will take place on Friday the 7th of September from 6pm. Presentations will commence at 6.30pm upstairs at the Clubhouse and will run until approximately 7.30pm. The afterparty/ball will then kick off downstairs at The Field Bar at Easts and the after, afterparty will kick on at the Flamingo Lounge in Kings Cross (buses provided)! Players, their families and all Easts sponsors and supporters are invited to join us for the evening. More information on ticketing to come.

JAck Maddocks is set to run out for the Wallbies once again this Saturday night against the All Blacks in New Zealand.

and

Congratulations to our very own BEASTIE Jack Maddocks who has been named in the Wallabies 23 for his debut in this weekends test match against the All Blacks. After being named Melbourne Rebels rookie of the year and top try scorer this year, Jack has well and truly earned his spot for what will hopefully be the first of many Wallabies appearances.

Read more about Jacks journey HERE

If one cares to look at the framed jersey in the club showing the names of the 'Easts Team of the Century', the tight head prop is Tarakan Jack (John 'Jack' Baxter). A lot of the team are well known - Gavin, Emanuel, Brial , Payne etc. but who is Tarakan Jack? Forget about fan bleats; the story of John 'Jack' Baxter should be tacked up on every Wallabies dressing room wall as obligatory reading for anyone wearing the green and gold or the red, white and blue of Easts. He was christened Archibald John Baxter. A World War II veteran with the Royal Australian Navy, Baxter was the Wallabies' reliable tight-head prop on their successful 1949 Bledisloe Cup-winning tour of New Zealand. After the tour, Baxter returned to the defence force and was a leading seaman on the supply ship, HMAS Tarakan, that was moored in Sydney Harbour at the naval dockyard - Garden Island. On January 25, 1950, the Sydney waterfront was rocked by an explosion aboard HMAS Tarakanafter petrol fumes from a disused tank between decks were ignited by a cigarette or a spark from an electric fan. Three sailors were killed instantly, while four more later died. Many were injured. Baxter was sighted with his head hanging out of a porthole. Rescuers, who had to cut through the side of the Tarakan to get to those on-board, discovered that Baxter had broken numerous bones, chipped vertebrae and was badly burned on his legs, back, arms and face. He was unconscious for well over a week, and numerous Sydney club footballers, fearing he was going to die, donated blood to help save his life. Of the explosion, Baxter said: "One minute I was doing some work below decks, the next I woke up in a hospital bed." Baxter remained in hospital for nine months, and he was still in plaster when he left. Then an ankle, which could not be set in hospital as it had been too badly burned, had to be rebroken. When he left hospital, he vowed that he would play for Australia again. His friends laughed him off. At the start of the 1951 grade season, Baxter, now known as Tarakan Jack, was training with Easts. By June, less than 17 months after the explosion, he was back in the Test front-row, tussling with the All Blacks at the Sydney Cricket Ground. He played in two more Bledisloe Cup series, and against the 1952 Fijians for South Harbour, Sydney, NSW and the Australian United Services side. Baxter, who played nine Tests, died in 2004.

Tickets are now on sale for the 2018 Instrust Super Shute Shield Qualifying Finals - to purchase click HERE

Check out these links for more info about the upcoming finals: who's in and who plays who:

On Monday night, nine Eastern Suburbs players and coaches took part in the first ever Shute Shield wheelchair rugby exhibition tournament as part of the Wheelchair Rugby World Championships. The tournament consisted of three round robin matches against Parramatta, Eastwood and Southern Districts - each game a gruelling 15 minutes long! Having never participated in wheelchair rugby, the entire Easts team underwent an intense induction by members of Wheelchair Sport NSW. After we had completed some basic training, it was time to put ourselves to the test. The first game didn’t go to plan, Parramatta had taken a different approach to their preparation and fatigue finally got the better of the eager Beasts team with Parramatta taking the points. We were up again straight away against a well-rested Eastwood team and after a brief fight back the Woodies edged us out, but at least this was a far better performance. After a pep-talk and a game of indoor soccer to prepare, we finally had a plan to beat Southern Districts. The plan consisted of giving Jack Nettleton, Holly Gavin, Courtney Mahoney, Rob Shanley and Tom Keft as much game time as possible. Jake Curran enjoyed a brief cameo, but our improvement may have been down to Rhys Ward, myself and Othello Heka (with a flat tyre) spending most of the match on the bench. Some scintillating play from Jack Nettleton and Holly Gavin set up a 10-7 win to the Beasts, but it wasn’t enough to progress to Tuesdaynights final. We may not have left Homebush with the wins, but the group certainly had a lot of fun and left with a real appreciation of how talented wheelchair athletes are. The Championships continue for the rest of the week with the Australian team hot favourites to take Gold over the Kiwis

Check out the official website for more:

View the draw HERE

With Beasties Grade and Colts teams having a bye this weekend, Subbies will be playing their Division 2 Preliminary Finals on Woollahra Oval. There are five games with the first kicking off at 9.45am and the last at 3.15pm.

Subbies will be charging an entrance fee to the ground. However, Easts members and players can gain free admittance on production of their members cards or players season pass. Following the Subbies, our Women's XV team play Campbelltown at 5pm. They are sitting three points out of the final four and need our support in this game. Let's get around them. Our lower grade teams (3rds, 4ths & 5ths) are playing an internal trial on Colleagues grounds on Saturday.

Uni 7s: Squads announced for second series... Read More

Aon Uni 7s expands to five rounds... Read More

Four of our Beasties Women have been selected across three AON University squads and are due to compete in the AON University tournament featuring 10 universities from around Australia in a five-leg series. Congratulations:

Bella McKenzie - Macquarie University Sydney Rays Holly Gavin- University of Sydney Susannah Cooke- University of Sydney Courtney Frankl -University of Canberra The Tournament schedule: Round 1 - August 25-26 University of Tasmania, Hobart Round 2 - September 8-9 University of Canberra, Canberra Round 3 - September 22-23 University of Queensland, Brisbane Round 4 - October 6-7 Bond University, Gold Coast Round 5 - October 20-21 The University of Adelaide, Adelaide

Towards the end of 90 days in Africa the veterans among the 1963 Wallabies described their experiences as the 'tour of tours'. In those distant, amateur times a long tour was the ultimate rugby reward. After arriving as rank outsiders, they had won two of four Tests against the mighty Springboks, including history's only Wallaby win in Johannesburg. They inflicted the first successive home Test losses on the de facto world champions since 1896.

Although the young Wallabies were hailed as 'immortals', Rob Heming feared they were running out of time by 2017. The team elder asked Mike Jenkinson (Easts player 1958-62 and 1972-73) to 'get our story down before it's too late'. Teammates Dick Marks and Keith Walsham agreed to contribute. So did their '63 opponent Tom Bedford who had political as well as rugby stories to spin. Surviving Wallabies contributed interviews and funding for a self-publishing exercise. A Dangerous Breed emerged as a view from both sides of an unforgettable, amateur sporting adventure in a strange society and a different time. Rugby historian Ian Deihm believes it should be compulsory reading for all new Wallabies.

The '63 team included future Easts players Peter Crittle, Jim Boyce and John Wolfe, as well as Mike (aka Mick). Easts' top colts team in 2018 is captained by Tom Lenehan from the same southern NSW family as the famous fullback, Jim Lenehan. Jim was in the selected squad in '63, but was injured in a Perth game against Western Australia and didn't make it to Africa.

Copies of A Dangerous Breed are now available ($40 including packaging and postage) and can be ordered on Mike's email at mjenk40@bigpond.net.au. Supply him with a postal address and send your money to:

MyState

Account name: Michael Augustine Jenkinson

BSB: 807009

Account number: 30078101

$10 from each book sold through this promotion will be donated to Easts.

Easts Rugby, Annual Fundraiser - 27 July 2018 from 12pm

Eastern Suburbs’ support of country rugby continues with Saturday’s second edition of the Beach to Bush Regional Round in Orange, but just how that passionate commitment to growing the game started will surprise many.

It actually started a long time ago, with two sets of jerseys the Sydney club lent to the Mudgee Wombats.

Mudgee is one of the longest-standing clubs in Australia having been formed in 1874, and in the late 1970s the club’s original, plain, brown jerseys were stolen, rendering the club kit-less.

At the time Tom Sheridan had moved back to Mudgee to play and coach after a stint with Easts, he contacted the club and it happily donated two sets of red, white and blue jumpers, a tri-colour scheme the Wombats adopted and still boast to this day.

Easts president John Murray recalled a time several years ago when a die-hard Wombat thanked him on the sidelines at Warringah one afternoon, also admitting he “couldn’t believe that was our entire contribution to growing the game in the bush”.

”That’s when we really made the decision to move forward with this and try to take a game out to the area, this is now our way of thanking the central west, a region that has given us so many amazing players,” Murray said.

The Beasties return to the central west on Saturday after the “roaring success” of last year’s inaugural Beach to Bush Regional Round against Gordon.

This weekend is building on that further, with Easts set to face the Parramatta Two Blues in three grades – the Intrust Super Shute Shield, second grade and the women’s grade.

The Sydney clubs will face-off in conjunction with Orange Emus’ blockbuster Blowes Clothing Cup fourth round fixtures against Forbes, the top grade being a 2016 and 2017 grand final rematch.

“We’re really excited, all the logistics have been locked in now and it’s all very exciting,” Murray said.

“We try and tell every club that they should do this. It’s good for the clubs, and it’s an opportunity to actually do something for rugby union outside of your own postcode and the sport needs that, it needs people to actively help the game.

“And it certainly isn’t a chore, it’s an absolute pleasure. We love coming to Orange, without Orange City Council this wouldn’t happen, and we’d love to see some other clubs go to Bathurst or Dubbo, or of course Mudgee.”

Easts return to Wade Park this weekend in a very different situation to last year. In 2017 the Beasties had won just one game from six starts, this year they’re three from four and sitting third.

“They’re going along really well, hopefully that continues against Parramatta,” Murray said, the Two Blues are 10th with just one win.

“It won’t be easy though, they’re trying to build into their season so we’re expecting a tough battle.”

This year’s edition also gives the likes of Orange products Jack Grant, Cody Walker and Ned Yeomans a chance to return, along with Bathurst’s Charlie Clifton. And that’s just in the top grade.

“We have a lot of other guys from this area playing huge roles within our club, guys like (Bathurst’s) Luke Cullinane and (Orange’s) James and Dan Donato,” Murray said, although it’s unclear if they’ll be named in second grade yet.

There is one big change to this year’s edition though, instead of the Central West Rugby Union clubs’ top grades playing under lights at Wade Park after the televised Shute Shield game, it’ll be their under 17s taking the field.

That’s something both Murray and Emus president Steve Fergus are absolutely stoked about.

“All our first and second grade coaches are going to be there and there’ll be some kids in that fixture that will definitely come under their observation, and the Parramatta coaches’,” Murray said.

“It’s a double benefit because they get the chance to play under lights in front of, hopefully, a really big crowd and we’d also get a look at a few kids that could end up playing with the likes of Cody, Jack, Charlie and the other guys from this region.”

“Last year we had an under 17s game under lights at Endeavour Oval, and I think it was the game of the season,” Fergus said.

Waratahs squad flyhalf Mack Mason tallied 22 points for Easts, with a try, seven conversions and a penalty, playing alongside NSW teammates, Ryan McCauley and Cody Walker.

NSW squad lock Nick Palmer was part of a Norths side that clinched a four-point thriller, with Irae Simone in the centres and JP Sauni coming off the bench.

Former Aussie Sevens and Rebels utility Pama Fou started for Eastwood again, playing outside centre in a dominant display over Parramatta.

Matt Sandell and Tolu Latu combined in Sydney Uni’s front row, with loose forward Brad Wilkin at openside flanker, as they piled on 97 points against Penrith.

Rookie Waratahs backrower Maclean Jones was yellow-carded playing for Warringah, though it didn’t hinder them much, on the way to a 46-19 win against Andrew Kellaway’s Randwick side.

Shambeckler Vui was at tighthead for Southern Districts, who went down by just seven points against West Harbour.

RESULTS

Gordon 0 - Easts 52

Manly 21 - Norths 25

Parramatta 12 - Eastwood 37

Penrith 0 - Sydney Uni 97

Warringah 46 - Randwick 19

West Harbour 33 - Southern Districts - 26

The remarkable story of how two rugby fans bought the media rights to a dying club rugby competition, the Shute Shield, and turned it around against the odds.

After years of neglect, rugby fans Nick Fordham and John Murray couldn’t take it any longer. Sydney’s premier club rugby competition, the Intrust Super Shute Shield, was in the doldrums and about to lose the limited exposure it received on the ABC.

Broadcast on Aunty for more than 50 years, the public broadcaster had lost its appetite for the Shute Shield, beleaguered by budget cuts and a waning interest in live sport.

In truth, the Shute Shield has struggled for attention and commercial backing since the introduction of Super Rugby in the mid-90s, which not only sucked out some of the competition’s leading stars, but also took with it media and commercial interest.

The competition, which first kicked off in 1923, was also being starved of funds by the sport’s administrators, whose primary focus was to invest more into expanding the provincial completion, Super Rugby, than the grassroots – Shute Shield and other tiers of club rugby.

The move away from the ABC at the conclusion of the 2014 season was viewed by some quarters of the rugby fraternity as another nail in club rugby’s coffin, but not by Fordham and Murray.

“When it was coming off the ABC – the ABC was giving up on outdoor sport – we said, ‘Okay, this is a great opportunity to get it off the ABC and get it on commercial television’,” says Murray, a stock broker and president of Easts Rugby Club.

“I think it's fair to say that a lot of the rugby establishment were against that and they were partitioning the prime minister to keep broadcasting the game on the ABC. We kept saying, ‘No, this is a wonderful opportunity to promote and commercialise the sport and to make it a success’.”

Fordham, the CEO of leading sports and entertainment talent management agency The Fordham Company, viewed the ABC’s departure as an opportunity to revive the fortunes of the Shute Shield and club rugby and joined forces with Murray to launch a bid for the media rights to the competition.

“The Shute Shield wasn't in the strongest state at that stage but fundamentally, the core of it was a great thing,” he says.

“We knew that there was a great product there that had just probably been neglected. Considering it was on the ABC and you couldn't have any commercial sponsors or partners or integrations, we just thought if it had that love on a commercial free-to-air network, who knows where it could go.”

Read more at http://www.adnews.com.au/news/sponsors-and-fans-flock-to-club-rugby-following-miracle-turnaround#SyfUsB1fucIM5zKK.99

Connal McInerney was "ripping into a parmi" at a Sydney pub when all of a sudden he stopped and sat in silence for the rest of the night.

The Canberra-raised hooker was watching the ACT Brumbies play against the Melbourne Rebels and saw Josh Mann-Rea's body bend and twist in a way it was never made to do.

Connal McInerney has joined the Brumbies on a four-week contract.

His phone started lighting up with messages and his stomach filled with nerves. Then, just months after fearing he'd fallen off the Brumbies radar because he moved to Sydney, he got the message that could spark a Super Rugby career.

"I was sitting at the pub with my cousin, we were watching the game and then I realised it was [Mann-Rea] who got injured ... my cousin tried to talk to me and I just went quiet," McInerney said.

"A few people started sending me messages asking if I was watching the game. I started trying to get my head around it, but I didn't know if the Brumbies would message me.

"The next day I woke up to a message from [coach Dan McKellar], packed my things straight away and came back to Canberra."

McInerney has been drafted into the Brumbies squad on a four-week supplementary contract after Mann-Rea's hamstring snapped off the bone and prematurely ended his season.

Robbie Abel's rib injury meant McInerney was thrown straight into a Super Rugby debut against the Durban Sharks last week and he's on the verge of playing in a blockbuster rivalry clash against the NSW Waratahs.

The 23-year-old thought his Brumbies dream was over when he left the capital earlier this year. He had been training at Brumbies headquarters since he was 15, but never got a chance to take the next step.

So McInerney, a former Australian under-20s rake, packed his bags and moved to Sydney to join Eastern Suburbs and scored a job delivering new cars to businesses around the harbour city.

But he was never too far from the Brumbies minds and they called him back to the Canberra for pre-season trial matches.

"I'm still pinching myself. I thought the Brumbies book was closed and I'd have to make a claim in Sydney," McInerney said.

"Injuries are a funny thing. I've always wanted to play for the Brumbies. I still remember watching the 2013 grand final hanging all of my jerseys around the TV trying to get around the boys.

"I've always been a fan, always loved the Brumbies. But even up until a few weeks ago I never thought I'd get one cap let alone have this opportunity.

"You can never just be happy with three minutes [in my debut]. Hopefully I get a few chances and can go forward."

The Brumbies will play one of their biggest home games of the past two seasons when the Waratahs return to Canberra for the first time since 2016.

David Pocock is poised to make his comeback from a knee injury, but Mann-Rea is out and Abel is fighting to be available for selection.

If Abel doesn't recover in time, it leaves former Australian under-20s teammates McInerney and Folau Faingaa as the Brumbies' hookers for a Waratahs showdown.

"Connal's come through our pathway system and he's good enough [to play Super Rugby]. He's made some improvements and that was probably his challenge," McKellar said.

"He knows our players, has always wanted to play for the Brumbies and knows our club. He deserves this opportunity.

"It's a chance for him, with Robbie under a cloud as well, to make it clear and obvious to us that he's ready for this level."

The Brumbies will return to training on Monday after McKellar ordered players and staff to get away from rugby in the club's bye week.

Pocock will need to prove his fitness at training early in the week, with McKellar weighing up a back-row reshuffle for his return.

Monday evening at our Annual General Meeting it was unanimously voted that Graham Boyle, more affectionately known as Greybeard be awarded an Honorary Life Membership to ESDRUFC.

Graham's involvement with the club ranges back to the 90s but it has been since the mid 2000s that he took up a manager's position at the club. Graham's unwavering loyalty to the club has made him an integral part of our great culture, whether it be filling up water bottles on a cold winters night to being the first man there to help set up at 7:30am on a game day.

Many congratulations to Graham, it is truly deserved.

The 2018 Shute Shield Draw has been announced and the return to Woollahra Oval is just 8 weeks away!

You can view the draw in its entirety here. A draw with Easts Major Dates will be released in March.

Andrew Ferris and Tom Mahony have touched down in Hong Kong to play for Valley Rugby Club and work for Societe Generale.

From Valley Rugby Club:

Societe Generale with Valley RFC are excited to announce the arrival of Andrew Ferris and Thomas Mahony. Andrew and Thomas are going to integrate the teams of Societe Generale’s Global Markets Division in Hong Kong and will be part of the premiership squad for Valley RFC. This initiative is part of an association we have with the Sydney Easts rugby club, which is also sponsored by Societe Generale. Andrew Ferris, who is 23 years old and a former Australian Schools representative, is a halfback and a Sydney University graduate with a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Finance and Commercial Law. Andrew will be a great asset to the club. Tom Mahony, 20 years old is taking time away from his studies to take this opportunity on. He is currently midway through his Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Finance, and is an industrious 7 who will be great in the tackle and breakdown. Guillaume Depauw (COO for Societe Generale Markets Business) commented “It is a great way for Societe Generale to find talented juniors who can demonstrate their commitment and team spirit both on the trading floor and on the rugby field.” Chairman Brett Stewien commented : "This is an exciting project that we have launched with Societe Generale, and to link with their club in Sydney is a great development for both clubs. We are very appreciative of the work of Toby Lawson and Warwick Jones to make this happen. Societe Generale are a great rugby sponsor and we look forward to seeing Andrew and Tom enjoy not only what the club has to offer but also Hong Kong in general. We hope that we will be able replicate this great initiative, as well as to exchange a few Valley players to Sydney in a similar theme in the future."

After a year off Rugby the former Bayonne and Tongan Prop returns to the famous Woollahra Oval.

In 2017 Ofa took a much earned year off Rugby upon his return from Bayonne in the French Top 14. Not shying away from his love of Rugby he was a part of the coaching team of our Colts program which was our most successful campaign for many years.

Former team mate and now coach Pauliasi Taumoepeau is thrilled with the addition to the squad, "Ofa will bring strength, both physical and in knowledge to our pack in 2018 and we are very excited to have him back in the Red, White and Blue".

We look forward to his return to Woollahra Oval in 2018