by Paul Cook –

Despite pushing lofty opposition such as Eastwood, Manly and Randwick in recent weeks, West Harbour still came into this clash off the back of three defeats, and were desperate to reignite their season with victory over another side with finals intentions. Warringah arrived at Concord Oval licking their wounds after a brutal derby with the Marlins, a loss that left them in danger of losing touch with the pack. But a side that boasted the third best defence in the competition just needed it to start clicking at the other end of the field in order to assert themselves as a serious title threat.

A game that ended with 77 points on the scoreboard didn’t exactly start off in a manner that suggested ten tries would follow. Two reset scrums in the opening three minutes pre-empted a third collapse and a penalty for Wests, Tayler Adams obliging with the boot. But if you’d told the Pirates that would be the last time they held a lead in the match, I’m sure they would have raised their eyebrows in disbelief.

The Rats redressed the scrum balance at the very next engagement, the pack forcing their opponents back and gifting flyhalf Hamish Angus the space to put Seb Wileman through a gap in Wests’ overly eager defence. The centre’s final pass to Harry Jones was almost intercepted by a retreating Tim Hansen, but the winger’s intervention merely knocked the ball to the ground and back up into the hands of the predatory Jones for the opening try.

The visitors then set up camp inside the Pirates’ 22, a succession of penalties from the home side allowing them to keep their foot on the throat and eventually come away with try number two, Luke Holmes over from less than a metre after his fellow forwards had done the hard yards off his lineout throw to get into position.

Hamish Angus converted both scores and already, the Pirates were staring down the barrel. They needed to score next, and they did, Will Wardlaw running a nice line onto a pop pass from centre partner Kodie Drurry-Hawkins before seemingly putting Tim Hansen away, only for Harry Jones to wrap him up just shy of the line. In came the support and it was skipper Jordan Tuapou who did brilliantly to wrangle the ball off the floor and across the chalk for a swift riposte.

But just as they got themselves back on solid ground, the home side received a major setback, albeit self-induced, when Tayler Adams was shown yellow for a needless trip on Rats prop Rory O’Connor.

The ubiquitous Jones was almost in for a second early in the second quarter, a terrific last-ditch tackle from his opposite number Liam Windon, holding him short. But the Rats were proving clinical with their visits into enemy territory and soon contrived a third five-pointer when scrumhalf Pat Curtin took advantage of some static line defence to grab his second for the club since arriving from Gordon.

To make matters worse for Wests, Cameron Orr was sent to the bin to join Adams for a deliberate knockdown just before the try, referee Michael Hogan having only just warned skipper Tuapou that the next infringement from his side would be duly dealt with. And they may have begun to think the gods weren’t on their side a couple of minutes later when Wardlaw claimed to have touched down off his own grubber, the referee ruling Hamish Angus’ outstretched hand got their first.

Sensibly, Wests took the 3pt option when Warringah strayed offside on the half hour, Drurry-Hawkins stepping successfully into the vacant kicking shoes of Adams and running down the clock at the same time with his side down to 13. But even with Adams’ subsequent return, they couldn’t stop the flow of points in the other direction, Tyson Davis finding a mismatch with Todd Pearce in the backline on 34 minutes and skirting around the hooker for the bonus point try.

Returned to a full complement, the Pirates returned fire and peppered the Rats line with pick and drives. They were playing an advantage when Vaughan Lomax was ruled to have been held up over the line, and when Adams’ quick tap found Hamish Angus guilty of not rolling away, they were awarded another advantage, Cameron Orr making sure this time with a powerful surge and Adams converting to take the teams to the sheds at 28-20 in favour of the visitors.

That the penalty count was now five apiece and the Rats were yet to receive a similar warning, let alone a card, was a debate most of the Wests’ entourage seemed ready to engage in.

A fired up West Harbour drew first blood after the break. The elusive Justin Marsters broke the line with another dynamic burst and when the ball was recycled wide in the hope of creating an overlap, skipper Tuapou decided he didn’t need one as he backed himself to surge past Tyson Davis and dive home.

Adams’ conversion had the hosts back within a point but again, they couldn’t build on it with another score, the momentum passing to their opponents for the rest of the third quarter. The Rats embedded themselves in the Wests 22 but an improved defensive effort from the hosts held them at bay and forced a succession of turnovers. But after almost 15 minutes of knocking on the door, the visitors got their reward thanks to the intervention of an assistant referee.

Sam Ward went over in the corner off a pass from Jack Tomkins but it was unclear as to whether a last-ditch tackle from Wayne Ngaluafe had prevented the score. When the assistants flag went up, most people in the grandstand assumed it was to indicate that Ward had a foot in touch before grounding. But instead, Ngaluafe was called out and shown yellow for a tackle with no arms that was also deemed to have prevented a certain score, and ref Hogan duly marched under the sticks to award a penalty try.

With 12 minutes to go, the Rats were pinged for offside and the Pirates again opted for the 3pts from Adams to get within a converted try and chew a bit more time off Ngaluafe’s absence. But credit to Warringah, every time their hosts got within touching distance, they managed to kick again and gap their opponents.

It was an opportunist try from the backs that did it, a lovely weighted kick from the impressive Tyson Davis sitting up perfectly for Brad Dixon, who put the supporting Harry Jones away for his second of the afternoon. Angus’ sixth successful conversion opened up a 12pt gap with eight minutes to play but if West Harbour can take anything away from this game, it’s the fact that they spent the entire 80 minutes playing catch-up footy, had three men in the bin at different times, and still had the wherewithal and hunger to keep fighting to the very end.

They did get the final say, tidy hands from Jack Corry putting Windon in for his sixth of the season but Adams rushed – and missed – the extras in the hope of saving enough time for a last gasp leveller.

The only blot on Hamish Angus’s copybook was a missed field goal attempt in the final minute but the damage was already done and the Rats saw out their sixth win of the season. That they had been forced to concede the most points of their ten matches in the process, should give West Harbour every reason to believe they can also contest for a finals place, IF they can shore up the competition’s second worst defence and keep 15 men on the field.

Warringah 42 (Harry Jones 2, Luke Holmes, Pat Curtin, Penalty Try, Tyson Davis tries; Hamish Angus 6 cons) defeated West Harbour 35 (Jordan Tuapou 2, Cameron Orr, Liam Windon tries; Tayler Adams 3 cons, 2 pens, Kodie Drurry-Hawkins pen) HT 20-28