It's Club Finals Time! Ruan Smith and GPS are Rearing to Go

With another exciting round of club finals coming up, I decided to head down to GPS Rugby Club in Ashgrove, ahead of their Premier grade knock-out game against Uni this weekend. (If you're interested in looking at my Jeeps club profile, from this time last year, click here.)

They went down to Brothers last week, but they have another chance at making the finals, this Sunday (11th August)… and the winner of that game will progress to the finals the week after, against Brothers! 

To mark the occasion, I wanted to try and catch up with GPS and Reds prop, Ruan Smith. Thanks Ruan for making some time, especially when you had a long drive back to the Sunny Coast ahead of you!

Hi Ruan,

How did training go with GPS tonight?

It went well Tommy, it went smooth. A lot of mistakes, we’ve been working on a few things, coming to this weekend, we want to change… but that’s why we’ve trained so we can fix the mistakes. We’ve got another run tomorrow night and we’ll smooth it out from there.

It’s do or die against Uni this weekend. What’s the mindset of the team this week?

Exactly that - I know it’s an old cliche… but we did there same last year, lost our first game and had to beat Uni again, so it’s the same team again. Whoever wants it more, like the old cliche goes. Hopefully Jeeps aye!

How’s JP at the moment?

JP had surgery on Tuesday morning. He’ll be out a few months. He had a tear in his knee tendon. So what they did is they went and cut it and had to let it bleed and heal properly. So he’ll be out for a while. But he’s recovering, hopefully good. He’s doing nothing... Eating, growing fat.

You’ve been back in Queensland now for around 2 seasons. What’s been your highlight, playing rugby here so far?

Mate, my highlight is just being back at my club, where it all began in 2011. This is the club that gave us the opportunity, this is where it all happened. So that’s my highlight, being back here at Jeeps.

You must be proud of the GPS boys season so far...

Oh, for sure. But all the hard work has to reflect in the next two games. If we don’t win anything, it doesn’t mean much does it. I’m proud of them doing well and I’m excited to be part of it now.

Are you looking forward to NRC starting back up?

I am mate, I am. I think the City team this year will be a lot of fun. Instead of focusing on being too professional and having a bit more fun and enjoying it.

Thanks for giving so much back to club rugby. I’m still very glad you and your brother are playing here in Queensland.

Awesome Tom. Always good to see you and always a pleasure my friend. Are you coming this weekend?

I’ll be there! [Sidenote once again for readers: Ballymore Stadium Sunday, August 11th, 3:05pm]

Perfect we’ll see you then. And hopefully in 2 weeks, you’ll get a picture with the trophy.

🙂

Alright, I’ve got to run back to the Coast to take care of JP, because he can’t do anything…

No problem. See you on Sunday at Ballymore!

It was also great to run into Bryce Hegarty, who's also pumped for this weeks game!