The last whistle of the 2025 regular season echoed across the Yass Rugby Park, a sound heavy with finality.
The scoreboard, stark against the Saturday afternoon sky, read Cooma 21, Yass Rams 14. For the home team, it was a bitter pill, made all the more difficult by the presence of a strong contingent of Yass Rams Old Boys, gathered to celebrate their club’s enduring spirit. As the sun dipped lower, casting long shadows across the field, Rams manager Bronson Sainsbury surveyed the scene, a mix of pride and disappointment etched on his face.
“It was a little bit disappointing to go down,” he admitted, his voice carrying the weariness of a long season. “The boys had quite a few chances to score a few tries there towards the end.” He paused, a shrug in his voice. “But it was no shame losing to Cooma. It was a pretty good game and pretty close for most of it.”
For Sainsbury, this final match encapsulated a season that promised much but ultimately fell short of expectations.”As the team manager, my takeaways from the season would be that we’ve got a team that has a lot of potential. We have got a lot of young players there.” “It was probably a bit disappointing as we made the finals last year. I was sort of hoping to go one better this year, but we didn’t quite click. We had a pretty tough draw at the start of the season, which didn’t help us. It just took us too long to get into the season.”
Looking ahead, Sainsbury identified clear areas for improvement. “I think the thing we need to work on is our basic skills for next year, really, just that ball handling and better decision making. There’s some green shoots there, and there’s a lot of potential for next year.”
The conversation then shifted to the broader landscape of country rugby, a topic that weighed on Sainsbury’s mind.”In terms of the level of competition, it’s a very strong competition. It’s a one-team comp. It’s always a bit of a mixed bag. There are always two teams that are strong in there, then there’s the middle, and then there are always a couple of teams that are struggling.”
A sigh escaped him. “So it was disappointing this year to see Taralga and Braidwood drop off. That’s a bit of a worrying sign for the health of country rugby overall in our area.” He delved into the specific challenges faced by clubs like Taralga.”Crookwell and Goulburn have traditionally been their bread and butter. They have relied a lot on the last couple of years, getting some of the guys that work at the abattoirs, a lot of the Pacific Islander group. I think Taralga is an interesting one. The town itself, I think, the demographic out there is changing. It’s a lot of older people, and there are a lot of people who buy a weekender in Taralga and don’t live there during the week. So there is probably a lack of younger players that would have been around the town 20 or 30 years ago.”
Braidwood’s absence was also a mystery to him.”I don’t know what is going on in Braidwood. I would have thought they would have had the numbers to get through, but that’s an interesting one. I don’t know enough about what’s happening out there, but it would be good to see both of those towns back in the comp next year, hopefully.”
The Rams themselves had faced similar existential challenges. “Yass folded for a year, I think three years ago. We just didn’t have the numbers, so we just had to fold it up for a year, but we just spent that year working hard on recruiting for the next season.” It had been a difficult period, he recalled. “It is tough when you have to have a year off, and it’s a pretty nervous time as you do wonder if you are going to come back or not. It worked out that it was the best thing that we could have done at the time, but it’s a tough call to make.”
That year off had an unexpected ripple effect. “I think the year that we had off, a lot of people were shocked. We had a women’s team that year, but we didn’t have a men’s team, and I think a lot of people were shocked that Yass didn’t have a team in the comp. A lot of our guys went off and played league for the Brahmans out at Binalong. Then the following year, the Brahmans had a year off, and we had a few of their players come and play us, so a bit of a swap around that happened there.” The risk, he acknowledged, was that players might not return. “It is always hard because there is that potential that they go and hook up with other clubs, and they don’t come back.”
As for any talk of playing with Binalong for the remainder of this year, Sainsbury quickly dismissed it. “I haven’t heard any talk about that. I’m not sure if I will, but I wouldn’t begrudge them if they wanted to go and do that, but I think a lot of them have got through this season and are looking forward to a few months off now.”
Later, as the last of the Old Boys departed and the field grew quiet, Sainsbury found himself performing the familiar, melancholic ritual of securing the shed.
“I was locking up the shed there for the last time, as we knew we weren’t making the finals, and it seemed like it was a bit early.” “The seasons are starting to change a bit. Usually, by the time we are finished, it is a bit warmer of an evening, and it just seems like we are still in the middle of winter, and the footy is over. “The earlier start to the season and the lack of byes had compressed the schedule. “I think we did start a little bit earlier this year, and there were no scheduled byes throughout the year. It was going to be a bit of a quicker season. The season went a bit quicker than what we would have liked, that’s for sure.”
Despite the premature end to the season, Sainsbury remained optimistic for the future. “I think we will keep the core of the team together. I think most of the guys we’ve had this year will be coming back. We are having conversations with a couple of potential players for next season. We are going to bolster ourselves in a few positions, mainly in the back line, really, but we are also always on the lookout for front rowers. We will be looking to get some new stock in.”
The lights of the Yass Rugby Park clicked off, plunging the field into darkness. The 2025 season was officially over for the Rams, but the spirit of the club, nurtured by managers like Bronson Sainsbury, was already looking forward to the green shoots of next year.
– Tully Potts
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