By Mark Cashman & Image Clay Cross

Norths and Warringah couldn’t be split at North Sydney Oval on Saturday in a clash that could easily have been a preview of this year’s grand final.

Elsewhere, Manly beat Randwick, Gordon held on against Souths, Eastwood scored late to beat the Two Blues, Easts beat Hunter and Uni were too good for West Harbour.

Northern Suburbs 28-28 Warringah

A long range penalty goal attempt by Northern Suburbs flyhalf Jude Gibbs after the bell fell agonisingly short as the Shoremen and Warringah battled out an intriguing 28-all draw on Saturday.

All the smart money was on Warringah with the Rats on a four-game winning streak that saw them at the top of the Shute Shield ladder and Norths pulled apart by the prop forward injury crisis at the NSW Waratahs.

That meant that George Thornton and Michael Scott were both in New Zealand with the Tahs but the game ended up a fascinating encounter that went to and fro for most of the afternoon.

The Rats held sway for most of the first 40 minutes with Coby Miln kicking off proceeding with a penalty goal and Esera Chee Kam scoring a nice try down the right edge.

Norths got six point break on the Rats just after the break when they led 19-13 but field position and some run of possession to both sides meant that it was always going to be a tight one

The Rats were best served by their bullocking No.8 Chlayton Frans who scored the match tying try, Connor Hickey who was just about unstoppable in the outside centre lane and young half Ben Fuhinu.

Norths best included Luke Gersekowski, young prop Brady Dawson and Gibbs who kicked well throughout the afternoon out of hand.

Manly 31-21 Randwick

The Manly Marlins celebrated the securing of the Bergelin-Sayle Cup with a gutsy 31-21 win over Randwick on Saturday.

The Bergelin-Sayle Cup, named in honour of Manly great Bernie Bergelin and Wicks legend Jeff Sayle, was up for grabs for the first time on Saturday and the home team went about their work with passion and accuracy.

Showing the way was skipper Hunter Ward, who has been holding the tackling bag for the Waratahs for the past couple of weeks, with his hard running and work over the ball critical.

The game went back and forth for most of the 80 minutes with the Marlins only getting a break on the Wicks at the 68th minute when replacement lock Sam Daley muscled his way over.

Other heroes for the home side included Ben Gleeson, winger Fraser Toohey and flyhalf Ben Owen who kicked well and controlled the tempo of the match superbly.

Randwick were best served by skipper Ben Houston, Andrew Keegan, Tristan Reilly and emerging fullback James Hendren.

The win see the Marlins sit in fourth spot on the Shute Shield ladder on 29 points and Randwick looking exposed at eighth on 21 points.

Gordon 40-33 Southern Districts

Gordon stayed well within striking distance of top spot on the Shute Shield competition ladder with a 40-33 win over Southern Districts on Saturday.

The Highlanders have now won six on the trot after dropping their first two games against the Beasties and the Two Blues and with the return of the likes of Tristan Fuli in their front row and the form of Ben Pollack at No.10 and Brandon Quinn on the left edge they are tracking nicely.

Skipper Prez Tufuga got the ball rolling with a try near the posts for the home side on Ladies Day but the Rebels continued to show right through the early moments that they were up for a contest.

Rebels skipper Phil Potgeiter got his side on the board with a try 12 minutes in but two yellow cards and a great scrum got the Highlanders in front 12-7.

The Rebels continued to work away without their full compliment and managed to lead 18-12 at the break.

The lead changed hands numerous times throughout the second half and it was only the try from Fuli that made the home side feel comfortable.

Souths not must be said are coming together with Tom Smith in good form at flythalf and all their hands up front contributing.

Hooker James Douglas did some really nice work throughout the day and his reward was the Rebels last try. The Rebels will win more games this season.

Eastwood 26-24 Western Sydney

Back in the day it used to be “lovingly” referred to as Death Valley and of recent times it’s a tough day on the road but Eastwood managed to do what no other club has done this season and beat the Western Sydney Two Blues 26-24 at The Eric.

Eastwood made their intentions clear early when they scored through James McGregor on the left edge in the second minute but it wasn’t so much the try that signalled that they were up for it on Saturday. It was their defence.

The Woodies continued to work hard when they didn’t have possession and the work that they have done in staying connected in defence was showing some green shoots.

They led 14-10 at the break and within four minutes the Woodies went further ahead with a nice try to JL Bacon on the right edge.

The Two Blues did start the game without their skipper Dan Faleafa who has had a heavy workload in recent weeks but their big men were moved around by the Eastwood attack and as the game ground on it showed.

The home side did hit the front with a little over 10 minutes to go with a rolling maul try to Airi Hunt and led 24-19 but the Woods would have the last word with a try to Ratu Seuseu.

There’s still oodles of work for the Woodies to do to even think about playing finals but a win like the one on Saturday will do their cause no harm.

Eastern Suburbs 41-28 Hunter Wildfires

Eastern Suburbs continued to add some momentum to their season with a 41-28 win over the Hunter Wildfires on Saturday.

The try count ended being five to four in the visitors’ favour but there was some genuine endeavour from the Beasties with the experiment of moving Chris Bell from fullback to flyhalf working well.

Jack Bowen was in New Zealand with the Waratahs and it wasn’t until the 22nd minute when Sitiveni Vahai got the first of his three tries that the Wildfires showed any sort of cohesion.

Archie Gavin was prominent throughout despite his yellow card in the second half and he teamed well with his back row teammates George Gibson and the Englishman Jamie Adamson.

The Beasties did lead 34-14 at the 62nd minute mark but the Wildfires started to come together but silly mistakes continued to plague their afternoon.

Easts now sit in second spot on the competition table one point behind Warringah and must be considered to be a contender for the title even at this early stage.

Nick Murray and Ethan Morgan were good in the halves for the home side while George Noa and Rob Puliuvea worked hard up front while Andrew Tuala carried well in traffic.

Seb Strang and Mosese Tuipulotu did some nice things in an open encounter.

Sydney Uni 52-33 West Harbour

It was far from perfect but Sydney Uni moved closer to the well oiled machine they have been in recent timers with a 52-33 win over West Harbour on Saturday.

The Students scored eight tries throughout the afternoon and had to battle back into the game after conceding two tries early to an inventive and physical Pirates side.

They are playing with what could be described as a fresh deck in 2024 but there were signs for coach Todd Louden on Saturday that things are starting to come together.

The first try of the afternoon to Wests Callum Sirker did see a verbal exchange between Clunies-Ross and Jack McCalman after a bad read saw the Wests winger skip through virtually untouched.

But pretty much from there Uni held the whip hand with a try to Hwi Sharples tieing things up and Sam Allsopp’s five pointer setting the course for the ship.

There would be the occasional incursion by the home side but Uni controlled the day for the vast majority of the afternoon.

Uni’s rookie halves in Sharples and Henry James did well against Drew Sellers and Hunter Hannaford while Eddie Pooleman and an energised Isi Naisarani were influential.

The win keeps Uni close to the top six with their three from five record and 10 bonus points meaning they are only one win from fifth spot.
Wests showed lots of endeavour and would have preferred a better result for their 100 gamer Damien Fleming who was honoured before kickoff.