Eastwood v Eastern Suburbs – Live on 7TWO

Reigning premiers Eastwood were beaten by the Students in a try-fest at University Oval last Saturday, however new coach Stu Woodhouse still found plenty of positives in the performance.

“Obviously it wasn’t the result we were aiming for, but there were numerous things that we were happy with,” he told Rugby News.

“Our set piece continued to improve against a tough Uni pack and that gave us a good base to attack from.”

The Woodies add John Grant and Max Page to their starting XV for this weekend’s clash against Easts, who fell just short against Warringah in round one.

“They look to be a much improved side from last year and have got plenty of speed so I think they may look to threaten us with that,” Woodhouse added.

Easts coach Darren Coleman was disappointed not to get the points against the Rats last weekend, but was also happy with his side’s showing.

He’s named an unchanged team this week, something Easts failed to do at all last year and is looking for a more clinical performance against Eastwood.

“Our scrum will need to improve against Eastwood, they are always strong upfront. Our execution and composure in the A Zone is also important,” Coleman said.

Randwick v Gordon (Friday, 3pm)

Randwick got out of jail with a late try against Parramatta last weekend to claim a 25-20 victory over the Two Blues at Granville.

Parramatta led for the majority of the match, but were reduced to 13 men in the closing stages.

“Last week’s performance certainly reinforced a number of area where we need to continue improving. Having said that, I was pleased with the character we displayed to fight until the final whistle,” Shannon Fraser said.

“I thought we used the ball well and the balance in our ball usage reflected out philosophies for 2016. Regardless, we’ll need to improve our set piece consistency and discipline against Gordon as well as our physicality at contact,” he added.

Gordon overcame a slow start to begin their 2016 season with a 39-7 victory over Penrith in round one.

“Jeremy Paul has done a good job at Penrith and they have definitely improved certain aspects of their game,” Highlanders coach Geoff Townsend told Rugby News.

“But we need to improve out first half efforts. In our trials and against Penrith we were slow out of the blocks.”

Henry Carmichael will start for Gordon at flyhalf with Tui Tuivasaii also receiving a late call ahead of the Randwick clash.

“Randwick have made noise about playing an expansive style from yesteryear, so we are expecting a free flowing game with plenty of footy played,” Townsend added.

Parramatta v Manly (Friday, 3pm)

Despite almost causing the upset of round one, Two Blues coach Paul Hardwick thought his side was scratchy against Randwick last weekend.

“There was certainly marked improvements from last year but we have to move from last year. We need to be looking forward and constantly evaluating our performances because we know that while improvement is needed, it is wins that will have other teams talking about us,” Hardwick said.

He wants his side to focus on their own performance against Manly on Friday afternoon and said execution and sticking to the game plan for the entire 80 minutes will be key.

“It doesn’t get any easier this week against last year’s grand finalists. We know that we are in for a very physical encounter. Manly like to bend your line and pounce on any lapses in concentration to score points. We need to be on our game.”

Marlins coach Damien Cummins was clearly disappointed with his side’s performance in a narrow loss to Souther Districts last weekend.

He’s named an unchanged side for the Good Friday clash.

“Parra will be big and physical and have good fast line speed, so we will need to improve our defence and create more go forward.”

Warringah v Northern Suburbs (Friday, 7:30pm)

Both Warringah and Northern Suburbs will look to back up opening round wins when they meet under lights at Rat Park on Friday.

Rats coach Greg Marr rated his side’s performance a 7/10 and was happy to claim the points after defending for much of the match.

He has a few injury concerns on the back of a short turnaround, but is hopeful of fielding an unchanged side against the Shoreman.

“Norths are coming off a big win over West Harbour last weekend, so they are obviously playing good football and are well coached. It will be a tough match, particularly up front,” Marr said.

After round one, Norths lead the competition on the back of a 59-12 bonus point victory over West Harbour last weekend and are looking to replicate their strong start to the season in 2015.

Simon Cron acknowledged that his side will face a tougher challenge against Warringah this weekend but is confident that they can go 2-0.

“It was a great start last week, the boys played some really good footy. We could probably be a little more selective in when we offload though,” he said.

Penrith v Sydney University

Penrith showed improvement in the opening match of Jeremy Paul’s reign at Nepean, but were unable to match Gordon, eventually going down 39-7.

“Our commitment was there for 80 minutes but we let ourselves down with our execution. 35+ missed tackled, 2 yellow cards and 20+ penalties. It’s hard to win with those numbers,” Paul told Rugby News.

For the second straight week, the coach said his side isn’t worrying about the opposition or the result.

“They are an amazing club, very well organised and have threats right across the park. We just have to concentrate on improving each week and their isn’t a better opportunity to do that then against a classy outfit like Sydney Uni,” he added.

Sydney Uni christened their new oval with an impressive 46-39 victory over Eastwood last weekend, proving that the Students will be a force to be reckoned with again in 2016.

Tim Davidson has named an unchanged team for Saturday’s match.

West Harbour v Southern Districts

West Harbour were thumped by Norths 59-12 in their opening match and will need to improve quickly if they are to challenge Souths this weekend.

“Norths came out punching against us and caught us out. They built early momentum but we didn’t help ourselves with two yellow cars and 20+ points scored while we had players in the bin,” West Harbour coach Neil Tunnah told Rugby News.

The Pirates welcome back Wayne Ngaluafe at scrum half and Graeme Kolomalu for Saturday’s clash and will be eager to continue their dominance over the Rebels, after beating them in the final round of the regular season last year.

“Souths will come at us hard with a strong pack of forwards. Guys like Marcus Carbone and Jake Douglas give them really good go forward ball and Sean Doyle at No.7 will be looking to slow our ball down.

“Our defence will need to be 100% better then it was last week.”

Southern Districts have also named an unchanged side and will be looking for an 80 minute performance this weekend. The Rebels led Manly 17-0 at half time of their round one clash, but let the Marlins back into the match, before holding on for a tight 23-17 victory.