Gordon v Randwick

Gordon came agonisingly close to causing the upset of the season last weekend against Warringah at Rat Park but had their hearts broken by a Myles Dorrian penalty goal in the dying stages.

Highlanders coach Kelose Feaunati said the 27-26 loss was tough to take but was pleased with the majority of what he saw last weekend.

“I really felt for the players, they came so close to causing an upset but I think they will learn from it,” he said.

“Things are certainly starting to come together though and our focus is now on Randwick this weekend.”

Gordon have just one win to their name so far this season but are full of confidence ahead of Saturday’s clash against a Randwick side playing for their season.

“We stuck to what we spoke about during the week and focussed on our work ons from previous games.

“We’ll need to turn up with the same attitude and confidence against Randwick though. They’re coming to our home ground, so we’ll be ready.”

Randwick gave Sydney Uni a run for their money last week but couldn’t match the competition leaders over 80 minutes.

The Galloping Greens are now three bonus point wins outside of the top six and must win this weekend to keep their slim finals hopes alive.

They’re expected to be boosted by the return of rookie Waratahs halfback Mitch Short for the crucial clash at Chatswood.

West Harbour v Eastern Suburbs

An understrength West Harbour side couldn’t match Manly at Concord Oval last weekend and dropped out of the top six after suffering their second straight defeat.

“We only had five forwards in the pack so it was always going to be tough to get some rhythm. The disappointing thing is though, we didn’t play anywhere near our best rugby in a number of elements of the game. In saying that, credit goes to Manly,” Pirates coach Todd Louden said.

West Harbour host an in form Eastern Suburbs side on Saturday and Louden has made changes to his side ahead of the clash between the competition’s two biggest improvers this year.

“Sam Malcolm will plat at No.15 and that will open up the backfield a little in both counter attack and field position. James Faiva will play at No.10 and comes back from the Tongan team that just beat Fiji. He provides plenty of energy.”

Easts claimed their second big scalp in as many weeks to leapfrog West Harbour into sixth spot after beating Eastwood 36-27 at Woollahra.

“It was a solid win but it didn’t come without issue,” Beasties coach Pauli Taumoepeau said.

“I thought our attack looked organised and our defence was great for 68 minutes, but Eastwood scored two tries in the last 12 minutes which really annoyed me.”

Easts are likely to be without Tom Staniforth and Alex Newsome for the clash after the pair were both named on the Waratahs bench to play the Rebels on Friday night.

Taumoepeau’s side are yet to string three consecutive wins together this season but will like their chances heading into Saturday’s clash after beating two sides ahead of them on the ladder in the past fortnight.

“We need to front up defensively, they’ve got some damaging ball carriers. We can’t get bored of tackling for long periods, I think they’ll come hard at us in waves.”

Manly v Sydney University

Manly host Sydney Uni in a blockbuster clash on Saturday afternoon that could crack the race for the minor premiership wide open.

After an 11 point win over West Harbour last weekend, Manly are now equal with Norths and just four competition points behind the table topping Students. If Eastwood and Warringah win this weekend, we could have five teams within one win of the top of the ladder.

“Last week we managed to stem the tide of Wests’ big ball runners,” Marlins coach Billy Melrose said.

“We were far from perfect but again without much ball, the boys fought hard and found a way to get it done. That was pleasing.”

Sydney Uni belted Manly 45-13 when the two sides met back in round six and Melrose was happy to admit the Marlins were beaten by a better side that day.

“Sometimes you lose a game and sometimes you get beaten.

“Uni beat us well last outing. The only thing learnt from that is that they lead the comp on merit, they are the current barometer and if we bring the same as we did last time we will likely get the same result. The challenge is right in our face.”

The Students broke a two game losing streak but were still far from their best in a 28-10 victory over Randwick last week.

While coach Rob Taylor was pleased with his sides defence, he knows they’ll need to improve this weekend.

“We are expecting a tough encounter at Manly Oval, vocal crowd, lots of kicks and the ball getting into Josh’s (Turner) and Dennis’s (Pili-Gaitau) hands a lot,” he said.

“We’ve got to be accurate and take our chances, you’ll probably only get a few opportunities in the game so we need to execute.”

Warringah v Parramatta

A Myles Dorrian penalty goal at the death helped Warringah avoid what would have been a costly defeat to Gordon last weekend at Rat Park.

“It wasn’t our finest performance last week. Our tackle quality and clean out was the worst it’s been all year, which I think points to poor attitude. Full credit to Gordon they played well,” Rats coach Darren Coleman said.

“In this comp you’ve got to “turn up” or you’ll get your pants pulled down. To take a positive out of a a lot of negatives though, we did stayed composed in the last play of the game to get the win.

The Rats welcome back Sam Ward, Seb Wileman and Tyson Davis from injury this week but have lost Maclean Jones for up to eight weeks after he broke his arm tackling Taqele Naiyaravoro at Waratahs training on Thursday.

Warringah head to Merrylands to play a Parramatta side who were beaten convincingly by Southern Districts last week.

“We were extremely disappointed with our first half performance against Souths. On field we decided to throw out our defensive structure and tried to play ad-lib footy, which just didn’t work,” Two Blues coach Paul Hardwick said.

“In the second half, we changed our attitude and we started to play the way we know we can.”

Despite Warringah’s poor performance last weekend, Hardwick doesn’t think the defending prefers are vulnerable, however he still likes his side’s chances.

“Warringah are very good defensively and can create try scoring opportunities from anywhere on the field. We’ll have our work cut out for us, however, we’ve trained with high intensity this week and are ready to go.”

Eastwood v Northern Suburbs

Eastwood and Norths head to beautiful Cowra in Central West NSW for a match that could define both side’s seasons.

The Woodies scored two late tries to add some respectability to the scoreline but were beaten fairly comfortably by Easts in round 11.

“We were very disappointed with our performance and attitude. Easts were strong, but we knew they would be so there were no excuses,” Eastwood coach John Manenti said.

The Woodies are now fifth and could drop out of the top six if they lose to the Shoreman on Saturday.

“Norths are a quality team and a proud team, they will be determined to bounce back and have

some quality back in their side to help them do that.”

Norths were undefeated after eight rounds, but after two losses and two byes in June, the second placed Shoreman now haven’t won a match in over a month.

“We’ve worked hard as a group over the past fortnight and focused our energy on reaffirming our strengths and confidence in our ability,” Norths coach Shannon Fraser said.

“Eastwood are, in my mind, the form team of the competition over the past four or five weeks. We’ll need to nullify there set-piece and stop their big boys getting over the gain line.”

Manenti said the push to take a match to Cowra came from Eastwood club patron Rob Milner.

“Rob has a property at Cowra and has pushed us for years to take a game to the bush. We’ve also had a cricket game between Eastwood and Cowra rugby that has run for years – so finally we get to bring the Woods to Cowra and we’re all really looking forward to it.”