An upset in Newcastle saw Hunter drop to third, leapfrogged by Warringah despite their own loss in round 10.

Close results kept the rest of the ladder unchanged, with the gap between second and eighth now sitting at just eight points.

Manly 33-15 Southern Districts 

Manly got the win over Southern Districts at Manly Oval, with late tries to the home side extending a score line which doesn’t do justice to the closeness of this match up.

Aussie Sevens veteran Simon Kennewell got the scoring underway for Manly, charging down a would-be clearance kick after Souths fought hard to turn over the Marlins’ driving maul.  

The visitors then capitalised on Manly’s own error, with a kick through from fullback Isaac Kneepkens bamboozling his opposite number, allowing Struan Hutchinson to pounce on the ball in the far corner.

Another try each made it 14-12 at half time in favour of the home side, but there was little separating them as they headed into the sheds.

The Rebels came out firing in the second half, attacking the Marlins’ line and forcing a penalty which saw tight head Maka Mafileo sent to the sin bin and the visitors take the lead for the first time in the match.

Manly hit back with another rolling maul try, but the game remained tight until the final 10 minutes, when winger Wilson Dulieu squeezed through a gap to score on the edge of the paint.

A runaway try to replacement hooker Davea Teoteo added salt to Souths’ wounds, but the visitors showed plenty of promising attack despite the late inflation of the scoreboard.

The win sees Manly edge within a bonus-point victory of Western Sydney in ninth on the ladder, while Souths remain bottom with only six points.

Gordon 31-6 Hunter 

Fifth-placed Gordon shocked Hunter in round 10, keeping them try-less for the first time this season to take a bonus-point win in Newcastle.

The home side took first points via the boot of Logan Love, but Gordon had all the ball in the opening phases of the first half.

Testing the Hunter line with consistent phases, the Highlanders eventually broke through with prop Tristan Fuli muscling his way over in close quarter attack to take five points.

Another penalty goal to Love initially kept the Wildfires within one point, before Brandon Quinn finished off a cracking team try for the visitors, giving them an eight-point buffer.

Gordon went down to 14 with a man in the sin bin for the last 10 minutes of the first half, but Hunter’s uncharacteristically dull attack was unable to capitalise on the overlap.

Much was the same for the second half, as the Wildfires rarely looked dangerous with the ball, bar an early disallowed try where winger Frankie Nowell was ruled to be in touch.

The visitors dominated the remainder of the half, scoring 17 unanswered points to secure an important win and move them up to within one point of the top four.

Hunter will no doubt put this one down as a character builder, and will need to find their spark once again if want to remain on the pointy end of the ladder moving into the back half of the season.

Randwick 33-31 Warringah 

It was a genuine game of two halves at Coogee Oval, with no one expecting it all to come down to a kick on the bell after Randwick ran in four tries in the first half.

Randwick’s best start of the season so far got underway just six minutes into the game, as fullback Gage Phillips plucked a Coby Miln cut-out ball from the air inside his own 22, showing blistering pace to race 80 metres and go untouched as he crossed under the black dot.

Then it was former Wallaby Isi Naisarani who snuck over for the Galloping Greens, just minutes before the cunning no.8 picked the ball from the middle of the ruck and made a storming break to set up Joe Browning to make it three tries in 20 minutes.

The Randwick winger secured his double and the bonus point to make it 28-0 with five minutes to go in the half, but points finally came for the visitors as the bell sounded, with Miln crossing and converting to give the Rats some hope of a resurgence.

The half time spray from Josh Holmes clearly fired up Warringah, as they looked a completely new side when play resumed.

Quick tries to Tyson Davis and Archie Saunders kept it alive for the Rats, then a brilliant 90-metre effort from Waratah’s academy product Jackson Ropata brought the score to 28-all with 15 minutes to play.

When a penalty goal to Miln gave Warringah the lead for the first time, a sense of panic started to creep around the stands at Coogee Oval.

Randwick reclaimed the lead with a try off the back of a splintering rolling maul, but the missed conversion meant there was just two points separating the two sides in the dying minutes.

And when the Rats were awarded a penalty just inside the Randwick half, they had the opportunity to seal one of the comebacks of the season.

Unfortunately for flyhalf Miln, who had kicked with precision all day, he saved his worst nudge for last. Clearly outside his range, the ball never looked like going over as it fizzled off the tee, along with Warringah’s hopes of stealing it at the death.

Eastern Suburbs 26-24 Eastwood 

A quiet second half saw Eastwood succumb to Easts at TG Milner, despite a first half hat-trick to flyer Isaac Crowe and a 12-point lead at the break. 

The visitors scored first through David Vaihu, but the Woods quickly responded when scrum half Lachlan Albert went quickly and ducked under the Easts defenders to cross the paint.

The Beasties were reduced to 14 men soon after when an aerial contest between former Aussie Sevens teammates Henry Palmer and James McGregor saw the Woodies fullback come off second best.

The overlap hurt the visitors, with winger Crowe crossing for two tries while Palmer was off the pitch, including his most impressive of the day which left Wallaby Darby Lancaster staring on in disbelief as the youngster turned him inside out with a killer right-foot step.

And Lancaster’s day only got worse as he copped the fruits of repeated team penalties and was sent to the sin bin shortly before the half way point of the match.

The Beasties maul proved reliable once again for their second try, before Crowe secured his triple to make it 24-12 at oranges.

A much slower second half saw Reon Lowery force his way over after several phases of tight attack around the ruck, then a break by former Connacht and Ireland under 20 flanker Ciaran Booth saw the visitors take the lead for the first time.

Despite nearly 20 minutes still left to play, Eastwood struggled to find their groove in the final quarter and weren’t able to better their score, forcing coach David Telfer to settle for two losing bonus points in what he would have hoped was shaping up as an upset over the competition leaders.

Easts now sit five points clear of second-placed Warringah, while Eastwood remain fourth but only a point ahead of Gordon.

Sydney Uni 38-19 West Harbour 

West Harbour looked renewed in their first game with coach Ben Rutherford at the helm, but a Sydney Uni team bolstered by seven Waratahs proved too strong for the Pirates at Uni Oval.

The Students came close to maxing out their player points quota in round 10 thanks to an influx of Super Rugby talent, which may explain the absence of NSW prop Dan Botha from the game day team sheet. Initially named on the bench, Botha would have been the eighth contracted player to take the field for the home side, versus one in Ale Aho for the visitors, which would have no doubt added to the pressure already felt by the Pirates.

But Wests rose to the challenge in the first half, despite conceding early tries by Sam Allsopp and Benjy Joseland. Pirate Onehunga Kaufusi showed once again that he is among the most powerful ball carriers in the competition, with the Uni defence barely slowly him down as he cruised through from seven metres out to get his team on the board.

Then it was individual brilliance from Senijiale Dawai who made it 12-all as the first 40 came to a close. The Pirates winger raced away from the middle of a ruck on his own 22, kicked through to beat two Uni defenders, then regathered and launched himself over the line.

Uni’s maul overcame the Pirates defence to get the first points of the second half, before scores to Jack Matthews and Joseland all-but sealed it for the home side.

Another try apiece made little difference to Uni’s winning margin, who now sit equal sixth with Norths and Randwick.

Despite another disappointing loss, the Pirates showed plenty of clinical attack and a renewed desire to compete in what will hopefully be a launchpad for a stronger second half of season 2025.

Northern Suburbs 29-24 Western Sydney 

Norths had to fight hard for the win at home over Western Sydney, with a spirited comeback in the second half testing the Shoremen’s determination to remain inside the top six.

The home side got off to a flying start at North Sydney Oval, as Waratah Henry O’Donnell broke the line on half way to set up the ever-present flanker Marshall Le Maitre for first points of the day.

Then a driving maul got James Margan on the scoreboard once again, before Western Sydney hit back for their solitary score of the half at the 30-minute mark.

Norths touched down again through Baden Godfrey when play restarted, as the Shoremen continued to find holes in the Two Blues’ defensive line.

But Western Sydney came into the second half with much more enthusiasm than the first, pushing their passes and creating opportunities which eventually saw Hosea Saumaki score his 12th try of the season.

Saumaki narrowly missed out on a second, before Cody Nordstrom bagged his own double to give the visitors the lead for the first time in the game.

But a penalty goal and try to Norths fullback Tom Bacon proved enough to wind down the clock and put the game out of reach for the Two Blues.

The losing bonus point puts Western Sydney within one four-try win of Norths on the ladder, as only five points separate them in ninth and sixth respectively.