1899 Metropolitan Rugby Union season

Sydney Cricket Ground Trophy

At the end of the regular season, the top four teams qualified for the Sydney Cricket Ground Trophy. The first week of finals saw these teams play in the Semi Finals for the SCG Trophy. As was expected, Wallaroo easily won their match against Marrickville to proceed to the Final. The form of the victorious team was that which would have rivalled an Intercolonial match. In their Semi Final, Randwick were only able to field 13 players with many unfamiliar faces. Despite this, the team held their own with the Wallaroo players barracking from the sidelines. Sydney won the game with a try in the dying moments to proceed to the Final to play against Wallaroo.^[6]

Agricultural Society Trophy

The remaining four teams played the first games towards the Agricultural Society Trophy. In the first game, the Pirates easily won against the Buccaneers. The winners, like Randwick, also had trouble fielding a team to play with the team fielding many unfamiliar faces. The Buccaneer were eliminated from the final series after their loss to the Pirates. The second qualifying game did not happen as Parramatta forfeited the game and thus the final series. As a result, Sydney University received a forfeit to pass through the first Qualifying Round.^[6]

Sydney Cricket Ground Trophy

The Final for the trophy was closer than had been expected, despite the final scoreline. At the end of the first half, Wallaroo led Sydney by the slim margin of 1 point. And early in the second half, Sydney scored to take the lead 8 to 6. From there, Sydney failed to capitalise on their momentum and, through some mistakes, Wallaroo were able to score twice to win the match and the trophy.^[3]

Agricultural Society Trophy

The two second round qualifying games for the Agricultural Society Trophy were almost forgotten. Even the clubs struggled to field their best teams. Marrickville had only 11 players in their game against Sydney University. They were no match for the Varsity and lost the game by a large margin. The Pirates-Randwick game saw many unfamiliar faces participating. The Randwick team were almost entirely made up of reserves and, as a result, lost the match 6 to 0. The two victorious teams, the Pirates and Sydney University were to progress to the Semi Finals for the Trophy against the two finalists for the SCG Trophy.^[3]

Agricultural Society Trophy

The Semi Finals for the Agricultural Society Trophy were played midweek on Wednesday. Much of the interest in the games had been lost as the football season had drawn on longer than was necessary. There had been calls for the Union to cancel the Semi's and the Final. However, the Union ignored these requests and proceeded with the matches.^[3]

The weather on the Wednesday the matches were held turned out to be wet and windy. The first Semi Final between Wallaroo and University was entirely one-sided with Wallaroo dominating the scoring. The second Semi Final ended in a fiasco. Ten minutes into the game, a Sydney player was ordered off the field for striking an opponent. The player refused to go with the game suspended for approximately ten more minutes. After some discussion, the referee decided to end the match. The entire situation was presented that evening to the Union, who awarded the match to the Pirates. What play was seen during the match indicated that the Pirates were the better team.^[4]

Agricultural Society Trophy

RAS Trophy Final
Wallaroo	0
Pirates	10

The Final for the Agricultural Society Trophy was played between the Premiers, Wallaroo, and the Pirates. The Pirates put a fantastic team in the field, all in sound condition. They had the measure of Wallaroo, demonstrating excellent defence. The team had an answer for each of the plays that Wallaroo had. During the game, Wallaroo had one moment where they were looking like scoring. However, a pass was fumbled, resulting in a lost opportunity. As in previous years, the Pirates had come good at the right time of the year. This was the third consecutive year that the Pirates had won the Agricultural Society Trophy.