Manly and Eastwood both came from behind to claim important wins on Saturday and have created a logjam at the top end of the Shute Shield ladder.

Just five competition points now separates the top six sides heading into the final third of the season.

Randwick 38-24 Gordon

Randwick scored four second half tries to claim a much needed 14-point win over Gordon to keep their slim finals hopes alive.

Boosted by the return of Aussie 7s forward Sam Croke and Waratahs No.9 Mitch Short, the Galloping Greens scored twice early but Gordon quickly responded and levelled things up at 10-10 at the break.

The Highlanders grabbed the lead early in the second half through winger Sam Frankham, but it was mostly one way traffic from there.

Ben Starkey crossed to level the scores, before Croke and Short both scored while Gordon had a player in the sin bin to give Randwick a 31-17 lead. Christian Yassmin then put the result beyond doubt in his first match on the wing this year.

Randwick are now three bonus point wins outside of the top six heading in to next weekend’s bye and will most likely need to win four or five of their final five matches to reach the playoffs.

It won’t be easy, but it’s certainly not impossible.

Eastern Suburbs 46-24 West Harbour

Easts overcame a slow start and scored 41 unanswered points to claim a crucial victory over West Harbour at Concord Oval.

Todd Louden unveiled a new look backline featuring Tongan international James Faiva at No.10 and Sam Malcolm at fullback and it looked to have worked early.

Malcolm thrived with the extra space and scored two first half tries to help his side take a 24-5 lead to the half time break.

But the second half was a very different story. With their spot in the top six on the line, the Easts backs turned it on and scored four of their sides six second half tries, including a double to fullback Archie King.

The win sees the Beasties hold on to sixth spot, while West Harbour drop down to eighth following their second half slip up.

Easts travel to Camperdown to play Uni next weekend while the Pirates take on Southern Districts.

Manly 24-22 Sydney University

Manly also came from behind to stun Sydney Uni and claim top spot on the Shute Shield ladder heading into the final third of the season.

The Students looked dangerous early and scored twice through outside backs Eddy King and Guy Porter before the Marlins hit back with a brilliant set piece try started from deep within their own half.

A set piece penalty try on the stroke of half time gave Uni a 19-5 lead at the break but Manly looked like a different side in the second half.

The Marlins big men stood up to the Uni forwards and scored two tries through Gunz Fuavao and Alex Humphrey to reduce the deficit to just two points.

James Kane kicked a penalty goal to give the Students a 22-17 lead with eight minutes remaining but the Marlins weren’t done yet.

As he’s done many times before Denis Pili Gaitau crossed in the 75th minute to level the scores before Sam Lane added the extras to secure a hard fought two point win.

The Students have now lost three of their last four matches and face another tough test on Friday night against Easts.

Manly have won six straight games and will take plenty of momentum into next week’s derby against Warringah.

Warringah 52-14 Parramatta

Warringah have returned to form with an eight try bonus point win over Parramatta to move back into the top three ahead of next week’s local derby against Manly.

After a sluggish performance against Gordon last week, the defending premiers jumped out of the gates quickly against the Two Blues and scored five unanswered tries to lead 35-7 at the break.

Rats No.9 Josh Holmes scored a first half double to jump to the top of the competition’s leading try scorers list and appears to be back to his best heading into the pointy end of the season.

Parramatta hit back early in the second half through lock Tui Kioa, but they couldn’t match Warringah, who crossed for three more tries to seal a bonus point win.

While the Rats will be without Maclean Jones for the remainder of the season, coach Darren Coleman still has a number of first graders to return in the coming weeks.

Eastwood 29-22 Northern Suburbs

Eastwood fought back from 17-3 down early in their clash against Norths to beat last year’s grand finalists in front of a strong country crowd in Cowra.

The Shoreman were clinical in the opening exchanges and took their chances to jump out to an early lead.

Eastwood scored their first just before half time and although Lochie Creagh extended Norths’ lead early in the second half, a Jai Ayoub led Woodies outfit came home with a wet sail.

Hugh Roach scored off a well constructed driving maul before winger Fabian Goodall found space and passed to Mick Snowden, who scored next to the posts to level the scores.

With the match in the balance, Ayoub split the defence in his return from injury and took play into Norths half.

He then reappeared at first receiver on the very next phase and threw a lovely cut out ball to Roach who scored the match winner.

After three straight losses, Norths are now level with Eastwood on 42 competition points in fourth place.