By MARK CASHMAN

Northern Suburbs are quickly gathering the reputation of being one of the better attacking sides in the Shute Shield but it was one play without ball in hand that underlined their intent this season on Saturday against Eastwood.

The Shoremen were over for all money on the right edge when Eastwood fullback Harry Wilson picked up an intercept with a 20m start on the chasing defence.

It was one of those “shut the gate” type scenarios but skipper Harry Burey started the chase and metre by metre gained some ground.

But James Turner, the fastest man on the field and perhaps the fastest man in the competition was also part of the posse and pegged him back by the time that Wilson had reached the 22m line.

Not far behind was scrum half Nick Duffy, fullback Max Burey, centre Nathan Russell and backrower Gary Bautz and a game turning situation had been turned around.

From the ensuing scrum a kick pass to winger Reece Mau’u saw play end up down at the other end and eventually opened the door for Turner’s try that pushed the lead out to 19-7.

Norths won 19-14 in the end and continued their undefeated run at the start of the Shute Shield and grabbed a little bit of revenge for the Woods taking them out of the playoffs last year in that extra time thriller at Rat Park.

It was a throbbing contest in chilly conditions at North Sydney Oval and the end result sees Norths keep their spot in second place and the Woodies drop back to fifth.

Norths coach Zak Beer was “pleased and proud” with the way that his side is coming together even at this early stage of the season.

“We continued to play footy even in the dying stages,” Beer told Rugby News.

“When we were down to 14 men we continued to play footy. Whenever we made a line break there was support there. Whenever they made a line break there was cover in defence there.

“So for me as a coach that was pleasing because it shows that this is a side that wants to do well for each other.”

On the great chase Beer added: “Our attack probably had too many options at that stage and if Max (Burey) had carried we would have gone close next phase.

“It wasn’t just JT (in the chase), it was Harry Burey, it was Nick Duffy, we had ‘Bautzy’ there, we had Brad Hemopo.

“That wasn’t the game winner as such but they were acting like the game was very much on the line.”

Woods coach Ben Batger said he was disappointed with the way his side went out there.

“We advanced as a team but we’re just missing that final 10 or 15 percent,” Batger said.

“We’ve lost three games by five points or less so we would be in a different position if we were just a little bit more clinical.

“For 80 or 90 percent of that game we did things right but against a good team (like Norths) you just can’t do that and get the result.

“Norths are a good football side and ask a lot of questions of you out there. They shift the ball around a lot and play to their strengths.

“I wouldn’t call them an overall physical side but they play smart running rugby and they will be around at the business end of the season.”

The Woods tried Tane Edmed and Chris Bell in their midfield and for the most part it worked quite well.

“It’s nice having two kicking options and two of our smarter footballers there,” Batger added.

“That was the first time that we tried the dual playmaker things so it’s still a work in progress. It worked in patches so we will have to see where we go with that.”

The Woods did get some pressure on the Norths scrum at times but overall the home managed to come away unscathed.

And with talk of some returning troops in coming weeks Norths will be better at this vital part of the game.

IMAGE: SERGE GONZALEZ / EASTWOOD RUGBY