The guts of the Shute Shield ladder is as congested as we’ve seen in recent times as the competition heads into the middle portion of the season.

Find out the latest from the coaches ahead of round eight this weekend.

Randwick v Manly 

After a week off in round seven, Randwick will look to get their season back on track when they host an in form Manly side at Coogee Oval.

The Galloping Greens started the season with plenty of promise but are ninth heading into the weekend’s clash and in desperate need of a win.

“The week off has allowed us to freshen up and let the boys get over some niggling injuries. We’ve been competitive in our last few games but we’ve just lacked a little bit of execution and patience,” Randwick coach Owen Finegan said.

“We have had a good opportunity to focus on our own game during training last week but Manly showed in the local derby against Warringah how dangerous they can be, so we’ll need to be on our game.

“We need to get the basics right this week.”

Manly saved their best performance of the year so far for last week’s local derby against Warringah and claimed a 34-24 win thanks to a late try to super sub Kotoni Ale.

“We came with a much better intent last week and were able to finish a couple of early chances. It was a tough, close match but we found a way through it,” Manly coach Billy Melrose said.

Despite a relatively inconsistent start to the year, the Marlins are now fourth and Melrose is hopeful last week’s win will give his side the momentum they need.

“We havent been able to put back to back performances together so far this year and unless we turn up to Coogee with our best, I imagine that will continue.”

Melrose has made one change to his side, with former Sale Sharks lock Alex Shaw named at lock ahead of Brad Hemopo.

Parramatta v West Harbour

Parramatta gave Norths a scare at home last week and led 13-11 at half time against last year’s grand finalists before falling away after the break.

“The first half was our best rugby of the season,” Two Blues assistant coach Riley Carter told Rugby News.

“We controlled possession and were able to put Norths under lots of pressure. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to carry that into the second half, hence the result.”

Carter said his side needed to be more consistent and play for 80 minutes if they are to beat West Harbour this weekend, as they did in the correspodning fixture last year.

“West harbour is always one of the biggest games of the year for us,” he said.

“They control possession well in attack and like most good teams live off fast ruck speed. We need to slow that down and we’ve been working on that this week.”

West Harbour confirmed they are genuine contenders this year with a three point victory over Eastwood at TG Millner, a feat very few sides have achieved in the last few years.

Despite that, Pirates coach Todd Louden isn’t getting too far ahead of himself.

“We took confidence from a number of elements that we have been working on. We can see it starting to come together and that the hard work is paying off. But we also realise we still have a lot to work on and are far from the finished product. And that’s exciting,” he said.

While West Harbour will start as short favourites in the western Sydney derby, Louden said he was wary of a Two Blues side with little to lose.

“We rate Parramatta, they’re also a team on the improve and we still need to get better in all parts of our game from week to week. The competition is so tight, you can’t have a poor attitude or a lazy game anytime.”

Sydney Uni v Southern Districts

Sydney Uni scored 14 unanswered second half points to claim a hard fought 27-19 win over Easts at Woollahra last weekend and maintain top spot on the ladder.

“It wasn’t a great spectacle for the spectators but it was a good old fashioned battle. One for the rugby purist,” a relieved Rob Taylor told Rugby News.

With just one loss to their name in 2018, Uni have the best attacking and defensive record in the competition and Taylor’s young side now knows how to close out tight matches.

Paddy Ryan and Brad Wilkin have both been called into the Waratahs squad and will miss Saturday’s clash against Southern Districts, who Taylor expects will bring their best to University Oval.

“Souths have a quality set piece, some aggressive ball carriers and a number of their backs have accurate kicking games.”

Souths claimed back to back wins for the first time this year after beating Gordon at home last week and are suddenly back within striking range of the top three after a slow start to the season.

Apo Latunipulu and Alex Perez will miss the clash against the Students and have been replaced in first grade by local juniors Albert Hemopo and Angus McGrath, while former Scottish U20s No.10 Ben Chalmers will start for the Rebels for the second straight week.

“Ben is a very smart and skilful footballer. He offers a lot to our organisation and game management,” Souths coach Matt Barr said.

Warringah v Eastern Suburbs

Warringah couldn’t match a red hot Manly side in the closing stages of last weekend’s Northern Beaches derby and have now dropped out of the top six after two straight losses.

“Once again we just turned the ball over in attack too many times. We entered their A zone 11 times and turned it over on eight of those occasions. You can’t win tight matches with those kind of stats,” Rats coach Darren Coleman said.

“Manly deserved the win though, they were tough, defended well and played expansively, which we found hard to handle at times.”

Coleman faces his good match Pauli Taumoepeau for the first time this weekend. Taumoepeau coached under Coleman at Easts for two and a half years before taking on the top job at Woollahra in 2018.

“It’s a tricky one. He’s a great mate and I’ve really enjoyed watching his coaching career grow. I guess one of us will be upset at the end of day which is unfortunate, but that’s footy.”

Taumoepeau said his side missed a number of opportunities to beat Sydney Uni at home last weekend.

“We could have had some great continuity in good field position on a number of occasions but made errors. Against the form side of the competition, you need to capitalise on those opportunities and we didn’t.”

There were question marks around the availability of both Mack Mason and Alex Newsome earlier this week, but Taumoepeau said he was more worried about finding a way to play out the 80 minutes at Rat Park.

“We’ve blown a lead in the last 15 minutes two weeks in a row now. We can’t afford to do that again.”

Gordon v Northern Suburbs

New Gordon coach Kolose Feaunati is confident his side can turn their season around and upset local rivals Norths if they can find a way to play for 80 minutes.

The Highlanders matched Souths in the opening half at Forshaw last week but had few answers for the Rebels attack after the break.

“I think our first half last week was the best I’ve seen the side play. If we can play like that for 80 minutes, we’re in with a chance to upset Norths just like we did last year,” Feaunati said.

“The two clubs have a great rivalry and to beat them again would be a huge boost for the club and the players.”

Gordon will celebrate the 20-year anniversary of the club’s last Shute Shield first grade premiership and the 10-year anniversary of the 2008 third grade winning side on a big day at Chatswood Oval that will see the first colts fixture played under lights following the first grade match.

Norths were slow out of the blocks against Parramatta last week but looked like a different team after the half time break.

“We were put under some real pressure in the first half and initially we responded poorly, but I was pleased with the guys ability to lift their performance in the second period to regain control and ascendancy,” Norths coach Shannon Fraser said.

The Shoreman will be without No.8 and captain Hugh Sinclair for up to 8 weeks after he broke his jaw in the match against the Two Blues. Fraser said he was comfortable with the depth at the club though.

“We’ve had 28 different players start in first grade in the first seven rounds, so we are providing plenty of guys an opportunity to compete at this level. It’s healthy for competition and is developing some real depth.”

Photo: JB Photography