by Paul Cook –

The Shoremen got off to a flier into 2016 with back-to-back wins to open their season. But things had come unstuck ever since, with three successive losses leaving them at the wrong end of the ladder than those early victories suggested they belong. Parramatta meanwhile, had gained the admiration of almost every opponent they had faced thus far for their improvements as a team, but had yet to turn that promise into tangible results. Playing a side only two spots above them, and in wet conditions after Sydney’s 24 hour soaking, loomed as a great opportunity to finally get off the mark.

But if the Two Blues were hoping for an error-free start to settle into the game, their intentions came unstuck after only 20 seconds when they conceded an offside penalty, unpunished by the boot of Irae Simone. However, another penalty a couple of minutes later was kicked to touch and when the ball came infield, it was Simone’s well-timed pass that put Jordan Heyer through a hole and past a soft last-man tackle and under the posts.

Penalties killed Parra in the opening quarter, and they struggled to maintain any kind of possession. They were competing pretty well at the breakdown but all the hard work they were putting in to turnover ball, was wasted moments later by a loose carry or a poor kick. And it was off another indiscretion that the Shoremen – and Heyer – grabbed a second.

A terrific hit from blindside Michael Smith on halfway led to the Two Blues being pinged for holding on and Josh Kay promptly kicked for the lineout. The forwards rumbled it up to within five metres and when the ball came back for Angus Sinclair to weigh up his options, he produced an exquisite little grubber in behind, which took out three advancing Parra defenders and sat up perfectly for Heyer to claim his double.

That soon became a hat-trick on 22 minutes, Norths on the front-foot again thanks to carries from five of their forwards that opened the door for flyhalf Sinclair to switch the point of attack. And when the ball went through the hands, it was Heyer who was on the spot again to receive the last pass, a lovely inside ball from Richard Woolf, and dive home for another.

Woolf was away again three minutes later, pouncing on a well weighted kick from a dominant Sinclair to brush off the hesitant attentions of Niko Uele and stride infield. But with options either side of him and the Two Blues outnumbered, he got caught in two minds and the chance went begging.

Parra lost Sione Pusiaki-Fifita to injury just before the half hour, but the explosive flanker had had precious time to shine, such was the levels of possession and territory being enjoyed by Norths. The visitors had barely laid a foot inside their hosts’ 22 and as the first half wore on, they were struggling to even make it outside of their own, as the Red and Black swarm applied a choke-hold and went in for the kill.

Norths had picked up the pace and with Parra a touch lazy around the fringes and being picked off by successive drives, the bonus point try was somewhat inevitable when it came. After patiently building through ten phases, tighthead Lawrance Hunting made the key incision, storming through to pave the way for front-row cohort Sam Kitchen to scoop up and strike from 15 metres, smashing over the last defender to spin and find the chalk.

Simone couldn’t add the extras but a 24-0 lead at the break had the home side firmly in the box seat, and with Parra totally anodyne in attack across the opening stanza, it required an almighty turnaround in both belief and momentum after the break, for the game to be renewed as a viable contest.

It took them only two minutes from the restart to make it further inside Norths’ red zone than they’d managed in the previous forty, but the pattern of self-destruction continued as they promptly turned the ball over and the Shoremen cleared their lines. A lost lineout from a rare penalty in their favour soon followed, backed up by another batch of ill-conceived kicks and spilt pill as the Two Blues conspired to paint themselves as anything but the side that had amassed 89pts in their opening three matches of the season against Randwick, Manly and West Harbour.

It took them until the 52nd minute to build anything like any concerted pressure, a succession of pick and drives from their sizeable loose forwards edging them closer and eventually earning a penalty. A penny for the thoughts of head coach Paul Hardwick then, when his flyhalf Robbie Mate duly kicked the ball dead the wrong side of the corner post, to give Norths a 22 drop out.

That wasted opportunity was made manifest a few minutes later when Norths went up the other end and, playing a penalty advantage, used width and eager support runners to put replacement Larry Hermens over against his former club to effectively seal the deal.

Parra’s day didn’t get any better when fullback John Poe then kicked the restart out on the full, and with the driving rain returning to North Sydney Oval, the visitors suddenly bore the look of a side that wouldn’t necessarily mind hearing the final whistle.

But to their credit, they did lift and set about a far more structured and patient assault on Norths’ line. That they couldn’t muster a morale boosting five-pointer from that rare period of front-foot ball, was due more to the work ethic, discipline and hunger of the Shoremen’s defence, than any profligacy on the part of the Two Blues.

Clearly well-drilled, Norths’ ability to scramble when needed and the desire to keep a donut on the scoreboard – illustrated perfectly by two try-saving tackles from Hugh Sinclair within 20 seconds of each other – will likely have given their head coach Simon Cron more reason to purr than anything they had produced at the other end of the field.

Wing Hermens should have had a second on 67 minutes, when terrific work from industrious skipper Will Miller and then hooker Kitchen, sucked in the Two Blues defence. But when the ball went wide, the winger missed his cue and he dropped, an admittedly dripping wet pill, cold over the line.

No matter, Norths had been playing with another penalty advantage and from the ensuing lineout, they pulled one out of the playbook for Hugh Sinclair to return possession back to thrower Kitchen, who smashed over in the corner for a rake’s double to bring the scoring to a close at 36-0.

Norths were not at their absolute best on the day – they suffered from their own fair share of dropped ball, left a few points out on the field and would be disappointed to concede three penalties at scrum time. But in truth, they didn’t need to be, and they’d have bitten off your hand for a six tries to nil victory before a ball was kicked.

For the Two Blues, their scrum was again a positive but failed to be matched as a platform by a misfiring lineout, while the number of missed tackles will cause defence guru John Muggleton a few headaches during the week. They need to rediscover that early-season promise soon because on this evidence, that elusive first win appears to be somewhat out of reach.

Northern Suburbs 36 (Jordan Heyer 3, Sam Kitchen 2, Larry Hermens tries; lrae Simone 2 cons, Josh Kay con) defeated Parramatta 0