By MARK CASHMAN

Hugh Margin stepped out from the shadow of his older brother Jack on Saturday at Rat Park as Warringah got their Shute Shield season off to a positive start with a 29-12 win over Randwick.

The 22-year-old, he turns 23 in August, had been cooling his heels in reserve grade at the Highlanders for much of the past two years since coming up from Gordon colts.

All the time the ‘big bro’ was the one in the spotlight helping the Highlanders to their first Shute Shield since 1998 under the guidance of Darren Coleman.

But for Hugh, who played Australian Under 20s in 2018 and 2019, the question remained was he good enough to be a consistent first grader in Sydney?

Rats coach Mike Ruthven came knocking to see if he wanted to get some clear air and an opportunity at Narrabeen.

“It wasn’t easy to move that’s for sure,” Margin told Rugby News.

“There were numerous discussions with Mum (Tiffany) and Dad (Mark) and my brothers (Angus, Hugh’s twin, is also at the Rats this season) about heading down to play at the Rats, but right from the get go it has felt like my footy home.

“Of course there has been the sledging from my mates (at Gordon) about leaving Chatswood Oval but it’s all been good fun.

“I’m a lock and Jack plays there too so in terms of seeing where I could go with my footy it just made a lot of sense.

“After the game it took 30 minutes to get from the dressing room to where Mum and Dad were at the after match function – people kept stopping us to talk about the game and congratulate us.

“Before that when we went over to thank the Hillbillies on the other side of the ground I just knew that I had made the right decision.”

Warringah scored four tries to two and would have been happy with their first outing of the season.

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They jumped out of the blocks quickly and for much of the first 15 minutes had just about all of the field position and possession.

Their first try came from a charge down from flyhalf Dean Blore and had jumped out to a 10-0 before the visitors replied through a try from Christian Yassmin.

Winger Charlie Tupu added to the home side’s lead with a nicely take try that saw skipper Ben Marr play a role.

“That was a really positive start to our season and we defended really well and that I thought was the cornerstone for that victory,” Ruthven said.

“We wanted to get off to a fast start and to play some genuine attacking footy from the get go. That’s our style and getting out quickly gets us in the right frame of mind to play that sort of footy.

“Just before halftime we probably let them back into the game by giving them some field position and possession which is something that you cannot afford to do against good sides.

“The scrum has been a focus for us through the pre-season and making sure that we were solid there but overall I was happy for us to start with that.

“Hugh (Margin) was great for us out there and made some huge plays,” Ruthven added.

“Before the game we spoke about following ‘Marrsy’s (skipper Ben Marr) lead and not dying on any of our plays and he did just that.”

Randwick looked off colour throughout the match and the bedding down of a new midfield with Ben Donaldson called up to start for the Waratahs was problematic.

“Yeah we had a new 10, 12 and 13 and it was always going to take some time to come together,” Randwick coach Ben McCormack said.

“It’s harder to manage something like that at this time of the year than it is later on but it is what it is.

“We shouldn’t have let that contribute to the whole performance out there but collectively we let ourselves down.

“Our side thrives off quality first phase ball and good ruck speed and there just wasn’t any of that but that said we’ve got to be good enough to win games that turn ugly like that.”

Margin added: “When the coach says that it’s great but it’s just the first step in our season.

“Our training week was great and we didn’t drop a single ball in our 30 minute warm up – winning for Tyson Davis in his 100th game was what was on everyone’s mind.”

It’s one game at time but Warringah’s showdown with Gordon at Chatswood Oval on May 24 has already been marked in highlighter pen.

“That’s when the family can decide who sits at the head of the table,” Margin quipped.

Can’t wait!

IMAGE: KAREN WATSON