Pic 'n' Drive

01/06/2026

OK, we get it! Campbelltown Harlequins are a pretty good side, but the Bowral Blacks didn't need to play them in three of the past four matches to find that out.

Such are the bizarre circumstances of the Illawarra District Rugby Union's First Grade draw.

Bowral fought to the end but a few defensive lapses cost the visitors dearly, resulting in another Quins' victory, this time 31-21.

Bowral's Second Grade side fought back from what looked an impossible position to level the scores at 19-19 late in the second half, only to see Campbelltown kick a field goal in the last play of the match.

Since the season opening win over Vikings, Bowral Firsts have played defending premier Kiama, grand finalist Shoalhaven, and now Campbelltown three times. All of which makes it tough for the coaching staff to get these youngsters mentally up for such games.

The fact that the Blacks have shown such grit in each of those past four encounters is a credit to the team management and the club supporters have plenty to look forward to as the season progresses and the draw opens up a few more opportunities.

The King's Birthday weekend will see no local rugby this weekend, but the next game at Eridge Park on June 13 should be a beauty against Tech Waratahs, who managed to put 24 points on Shoalhaven at the weekend and now stand fifth (behind the Blacks in Fourth) on the ladder.

11/05/2026

A day of mixed fortunes for the Bowral Blacks on Saturday, with First Grade playing two games of 20-minute halves against Camden and Campbelltown in what the Illawarra District Rugby Union called a Gala Day.

First Grade took to the field against Camden as firm favourites after a couple of recent promising but disappointing results against competition front-runners Campbelltown and Kiama.

In a tough encounter, Bowral ran out 17-7 winners after dominating the second half whilst their next opponents, Campbelltown, watched on from the sideline.

With no more than 10 minutes to prepare for the second match, Bowral began strongly but the loss of a prop and scrum-half and the class of the home team proved decisive. The Quins led led 14-0 at half time, went on to record a 21-0 victory.

Bowral's Second grade had earlier overwhelmed the Camden Rams to win 25-0.

Whilst conceding that the Campbelltown First Grade side was clearly better on the day, the format of the Gala Day was decidedly unfair. The Quins had a home-ground advantage and were able to take the field fresh against a team that had already played 40 minutes of hard rugby in 25 degree heat.

This Gala Day format would work well as a pre-season tournament that would allow clubs to trial all their aspiring talent, with no competition points at stake.

But competition points were at stake. The IRDU is faced with real difficulties with a seven-team first-grade competition and a 10-team second-grade comp. At present we have representative players playing second grade because their clubs are not represented in First Grade.

Yes, the draw is a nightmare, but the integrity of the competition is sorely tested by Gala Day formats such as the one we've just seen. It was a different story in Wollongong where the remaining First Grade clubs -- Vikings, Tech Waratahs, Kiama and Shoalhaven -- all competed on equal terms on two fields where games were played simultaneously.

Another Gala Round -- this one involving all seven first-grade clubs with all but one club playing two matches -- is scheduled for June 27.

Interestingly enough, the home club, Shoalhaven, is scheduled for just one match -- against Bowral -- after the Blacks will have had just 10 minutes to recover from a game against Kiama.

That means that the two Gala Days will have seen the Blacks playing four matches, three of which will be against Top Three teams of Campbelltown, Kiama and Shoalhaven.

Go figure!

02/05/2026

A disappointing result, but the Bowral Blacks took plenty away from their 21-27 loss to Campbelltown at Eridge Park on Saturday.

A try to Campbelltown a minute before the break left Bowral trailing 0-20, but coach Gus Anderson assured his team there was plenty to play for and that victory was no pipe dream given the circumstance.

His words resonated and for the second week in a row, the Blacks won the second half -- three tries to one -- but couldn't quite do enough to take the competition points.

Ball security is a worrying problem that will need to be sorted before a return fixture against the Harlequins in Campbelltown next Saturday. Time and again ball carriers were stripped of possession at the breakdown just when Bowral's attacks seemed most threatening.

The home team's lineout was problematic but was operating functionally by the mid-point of the second half.

Goal-line defence was again impressive and the creativity of Bowral's tries, two of which came from determined chases after smart kicks, gave locals plenty to cheer as they closed to within a converted try of victory with only two minutes left to play.

21/04/2026

Not sure when the last time Illawarra District Rugby Premiers Kiama played 65 minutes without scoring a try, but that's what happened when they met the Bowral Blacks at Kiama Showground last Saturday.

It was a frustrating day for the visitors, with several blown opportunities in the first half, including a disallowed try, so going to the break 0-12 was more than an acceptable result.

Unless, of course, you were Blacks' head coach Gus Anderson, who made his displeasure known in no uncertain terms. He is not one for the halftime rant and it must have shocked the team into action, because when they changed ends, they were more than a match for the home-town favourites.

Joe Cipolla's try late in the game took Bowral to within striking distance, after Corey Martin's superb conversion in difficult windy conditions, but an even later penalty goal gave Kiama a well-earned but nervous 15-7 victory.

There is no rugby this weekend due to Anzac Day celebrations, but the Blacks will be at home for the first time in 2026 on May 2, against Campbelltown. The match will pit 2nd on the ladder against 3rd, and should be a beauty.

13/04/2026

12/04/2026

Couple of great wins by Bowral Blacks who were away to Vikings in Wollongong on Saturday.

Second grade won 14-7, despite a scrum that was pushed all over the park in the second half, and First Grade survived a few scares before running out 38-29 victors.

The Blacks have a backline in 2026, scoring with elegance and elan while defensively, they showed great character against yet another side that was much bigger and required real determination post-contact and at the breakdowns.

A dramatic tight-head scrum win with less than a minute remaining showed that this team knows when it is time to show up and play.

Blacks take on KIama in Kiama on Saturday before the club's first home game against Campbelltown on May 2.

This is a rugby club on the move and fans can be assured that results such as the one against Vikings will not be seen in isolation this season.

16/08/2025

Just for the record, it is 2.50am and I've stayed up and watched the Wallabies win at Ellis Park Jo'burg for the first time since 1963.

04/05/2025

The Wollongong Vikings pulled of a daring smash and grab mission to plunder the Bowral Blacks at Eridge Park on Saturday.
Vikings showed a remarkable resilience for a club that was on the verge of folding just 12 months ago.
Their desperate goal-line defence stood up to countless home-team incursions to concede only two tries while taking advantage of three of the few opportunities that came their way to set up an upset 21-15 victory.
Vikings hit the lead in the 13th minute with a try to scrum half Tom Sawden, who continued to created problems for the Blacks throughout the match.
Bowral hit back just three minutes later when No 8 broke from a scrum and ran wide to feed winger Hamish Pinn for the first of his two tries in the corner.
Vikings open side flanker David Capp caught Bowral’s defence napping five minutes later to beat two tacklers and barge over for a try beside the posts, which, with the conversion, gave Vikings a 14-5 lead.
There was little panic in the half-time huddle for Blacks as coach Gus Anderson stressed the importance of discipline, and a need to shut down the opposition playmakers early.
The Blacks seemed to have taken that message to heart when Pinn scored in the 47th minute, again in the corner, and again after good lead-up work from Connors. The conversion by Corey Martin took the home team to within two points at 12-14.
Both sides settled into a willing forwards battle for the next 25 minutes until a Vikings infringement gave Martin the chance to put his side into the lead, a chance he duly converted, putting Bowral ahead 15-14.
But an arm injury to prop Ben Lewis proved critical and his loss from the scrum gave Vikings a crucial edge in the final nine minutes, culminating in a match-winning try to centre The Kauri Henare, who had troubled Bowral’s defence throughout.
The Blacks had one last chance with a late penalty that took them deep into Vikings territory, but the visitors withstood the onslaught and came away with a well-deserved win.
Bowral coach Gus Anderson was full of praise for Vikings.
“The were really good and we’ll just have to get better,” Anderson said.
He singled out Connors, Lewis and replacement forward Waisake Lala as Bowral’s best. Connors was everywhere, setting up his team’s two tries, enduring a nasty knock that saw him blood-binned for a short time, and generally leading from the front.
It was a game of lost opportunities for Bowral. Countless forays into the opposition quarter came to nought through ill-discipline and over-enthusiasm, giving the coaches plenty to work on before next week’s crucial game away to Camden, who beat Campbelltown 23-19 in a thriller at Camden Rugby Park.

13/04/2025

Apologies to Blacks fans as due to work commitments I was unable to stick around for what was clearly a thrilling second half of yesterday's first grade match against Shoalhaven at Eridge Park.
For the past few years, the Back-to-Bowral day has seen our boys up against seasoned unbeaten premiers like Shoalhaven, so despite a creditable first-up win over Shamrocks in both grades last week, the portents were still there for a lopsided encounter, particularly in first grade.
But how wrong can you be?
A couple of defensive lapses in the closing stages of the first half saw the Shoalies ahead at the break 19-15 after the Blacks had led comfortably early on.
In the end it was Shoalhaven's day, scoring four tries to three, for a 24-22 vicotry, but Blacks fans came away knowing that after five solid years of a rebuilding phase, there is no longer a team in the Illawarra District Rugby Union competition the need to fear. First or Second grade!
Coach Gus Anderson has taken on a young and willing side that has continued the growth that was set in train over the past few seasons. Yes, folks, big things are possible in 2025!
Second Grade went down fighting 33-39 in a thrilling grand final replay, in a match in which two penalty goals proved the difference, both teams scoring five tries.
The competition takes a week off for Easter before resuming on April 26 when Bowral will take on University in Wollongong before Vikings visit Eridge Park on May 3.

02/02/2025

I could spend several paragraphs talking about the rugby at Eridge Park on Saturday, in which the NSW Waratahs drew 36-all with the ACT Brumbies in front of more than 3500 fans.
Rugby afficionados who weren't at the ground will have read the media reports by now and those who were there would be only too aware that both sides came away with plenty to look forward to in 2025.
As someone who has been covering the sport in Bowral on and off since the 19080s, it's hard to imagine that there has ever been a better day of rugby at Eridge Park.
And there seated amongst Bowral Blacks friends and club stalwarts on the eastern touchline, gazing across the field at the clubhouse with a stand named in his honour, was one Robin Croker, club patron and one of the prime movers who established the Bowral Rugby Club in 1972.
Gazing around the packed ground, he could not help but think of how far rugby in Bowral had come since the first Blacks team took to the pitch 53 years ago.
In that time the club has won trophies, nurtured and developed Wallabies, but more importantly, during some really bleak times, not the least of which was during the Covid-19 pandemic over recent years, it kept the spirit of rugby alive when it was metaphorically in intensive care.
Saturday's Super Rugby trial was a testament to the club, its board of directors, its army of volunteers and the people it co-opted to present a simply wonderful event, from the carparking attendants, to the barmen and women, those sizzling sausages and everyone else doing all those jobs that never seem to get a mention because they are all done so well. Congratulations one and all.
So yes, the Waratahs and Brumbies came to town for the second time in three years, scoring six tries apiece. Plenty of entertaining rugby, a fair bit of worrying defensive lapses for both coaches to fix before the first round of Super Rugby in two weeks. Worrying injuries for Jake Gordon for the Tahs and Ben O'Donnell for the Brumbies, but apart from that, not much to be taken from the result, other than it was a great day for rugby in the Southern Highlands, and hopefully a game that could become a regular feature of the pre-season calendar for both clubs.