Image: Clay Cross

Eastern Suburbs, Warringah and Hunter all secured wins, as did last year’s grand finalists Northern Suburbs, who remain tantalisingly close to the top six – just one point behind Randwick and two behind Gordon.

Round 14 saw just one change to the competition ladder, with Western Sydney jumping above Sydney Uni into eight place in search of a last-minute ticket to the finals. 

Hunter 22-12 Eastwood 

Hunter stamped out Eastwood’s strong try-scoring flare in round 14, keeping the home side to just two scores to grind out the win at TG Millner Field.

The Woods started in their typical dazzling fashion, as a grubber kick from Harry Snook found its way to James McGregor, who toed it ahead before diving to ground the ball centimetres inside the field of play for the first try after five minutes.

But the home side struggled to maintain their dominance in attack for the remainder of the match, despite having scored more than 50 points in each of the last two rounds.

Hunter scored their first try after 20 minutes, forming a maul in broken play to rumble it over from five metres out.

And it didn’t take long for more points to come by way of the visitors’ maul, with Philip Talaileva crashing through the middle off the back of a well-worked lineout.

After Hunter took a 12-5 lead into half time, first points in the second half went to Eastwood, as Daniel Stovold found a weak shoulder close to the ruck to score next to the uprights.

With the scores locked at 12-all, a yellow card to Eastwood’s replacement front rower Dion Yazdani shifted momentum in favour of the Wildfires. And it wasn’t long before they took advantage, with flanker Daniel Maiava finding the try line just two minutes into the sin bin.

Logan Love was unlucky not to get his own try and secure the bonus point after he was held up over the line. But the scrum half kicked a penalty goal with six minutes to go to put the game beyond the reach of the Woods and deny them their own losing bonus point.

The win sees Hunter move to just one competition point behind Eastwood on the ladder, but both remain in their positions of third and fourth.

Warringah 32-22 Gordon 

A rapid start at Chatswood Oval saw Warringah run in three tries within seven minutes, with the home side never able to claw their way back in front.

The first try of the day came two minutes into the game, when a cross-field kick was fumbled by the Gordon defence and found its way into Ben Woollett’s hands in the in-goal.

Then Warringah looked to run the ball from deep in their own half, with Jackson Ropata busting the line over halfway, before shipping it onto Woollett who gave the final pass to Lebron Paramore-Naea to score a clutch team try.

And when loose head prop Sateki Latu broke through in mid-field to set up Jake Barnabas to score in the far corner the following phase, a shell-shocked Gordon looked to have no way of stemming the flow of points from the visitors.

Great vision from the Highlanders’ scrum half Harry Emery with an intercept to score from a lineout on Warringah’s line got the home side on the scoreboard. Then Will Kaye secured their second on the left wing to bring Gordon back within one score, but Warringah held control of the game for most of the half.

A penalty goal to Coby Miln made it 22-12 as they headed into the sheds, and extended their lead further early in the second half with another goal kick.

Gordon began their chase with a try to Conor Hickey, before Warringah responded through Ben Marr.

A yellow card to Rats’ second row Sam Thomson gave the home side a chance to fight for the losing bonus point, and they managed to score once again through Oliver Arcus. But with only a minute left to play, they had left their resurgence too late.

Despite both sides scoring four tries each, the boot of Miln made all the difference with three conversions and two penalties, while Gordon’s Kaye only managed one off the tee.

Eastern Suburbs 36-33 Manly 

Manly narrowly missed out on securing one of the upsets of the season, with a courageous comeback seeing them keep Easts without a try scored in the second half.

The Beasties started round 14 with yet another score thanks to their trademark driving maul, before flyer Henry Palmer showed blistering pace down the left wing for his side’s second try inside the first 10 minutes.

The maul was very much the flavour of the half, as the Marlins managed their first two scores to Harry Fry and Ben Gleeson off the back of powerful lineouts, and Moli Sooaemalelagi got his second thanks to the rampaging Easts’ pack.

Fresh from his run out against the British and Irish Lions a week previous, Waratah Jamie Adamson then made a break off the kick off and came within centimetres of the line, before Rob Cobb forced his way over tight to the ruck.

The Beasties managed another try before half time and were in the hot seat with a commanding 33-12 lead.

But the Marlins weren’t prepared to roll over in front of a packed Ladies Day crowd at Manly Oval, showing incredible spirit to hold Easts up over the line in their first attacking set of the second half.

Manly fought back with a great team try finished by Sione Misiloi, then another to replacement hooker Davea Teoteo from a clever trick play at lineout time.

Misiloi found himself in the sin bin not long after his score for a high shot, but so did Easts’ prop Rob Cobb for a shot off the ball in the same contact. The penalty went the way of the visitors, with the successful kick proving their only points of the second half.

Dally Bird scored in the far corner with 12 minutes left to play to bring his side back within three points, but the Beasties managed to hold off the Marlins’ final rampage to cling onto the win and break the hearts of a passionate home crowd.

With their 13th win of the season, Easts remain top of the ladder with a six-point buffer, while Manly look out of the running for a late finals call up in tenth.

Randwick 33-24 Southern Districts 

A 21-point lead at half time had Randwick in the hot seat at Forshaw Rugby Park, before a standout two-try performance from lock Alan Ferrie gave Souths a fighting chance.

The Wicks scored early through prop Oliver Adkins, but the home side responded quickly with a powerful maul to give Thomas Gibb the chance to dive over.

Randwick then turned up the intensity, picking up tries to Joe Howard and Matias Jensen, before Souths lost flanker Mason Duke to the sin bin.

And it wasn’t long before the home side also lost scrum half Josh Noonan to the bin, shortly after conceding Randwick’s bonus-point try, giving the Rebels a mountain to climb in the second half.

And climb they did, led immediately by Scotsman Allan Ferrie, who forced his way over after Souths regathered the kick off when play resumed.

The former Melrose man was one of the best on ground all day, and secured his double a few minutes later with a powerful surge from the base of the ruck.

The Rebels scored once more to close the gap on the scoreboard to just two points with five minutes to play, and showed far more desire to win than the tired Randwick outfit.

But it wasn’t to be, as Galloping Greens replacement Ben Sugars found his way to the try line in the dying minutes to put the game out of Souths’ reach.

The win sees Randwick maintain their sixth position on the ladder, while Souths sit bottom despite showing they have more than enough skill and heart to compete with any team in this competition.

Northern Suburbs 35-24 Sydney Uni 

An important win away from home for Northern Suburbs saw them remain within one point of the top six, while the loss meant Sydney Uni drop down to ninth.

Heading into round 14, just two points separated Norths in seventh and Sydney Uni in eighth, and a win was crucial for both sides as they looked to stay in the hunt for finals places.

Tensions were high in Camperdown, with first points going to Uni by way of a penalty goal after a hungry Norths’ defender played the scrum half.

The Shoreman found their groove by the midway point of the half, as Callum Sirker was put through a gaping hole for the opening try.

Then it was a brilliant individual effort from Reece Mau’u who stripped the ball from the Uni blindside flanker on his own 22-metre line and raced 80 metres to the try line without a hand laid on him.

A clean break off set piece from Norths’ flyhalf Max Burey looked far too easy as he put Josh Barr in for their third try, before Uni scored themselves just before half time through Clement Halaholo to make it 21-10 at oranges.

Burey got his own five pointer early in the second half, but momentum shifted in favour of the home side when Norths were handed their second yellow card of the day.

Steaming back from inside his own half to return a line dropout, Halaholo found Norths flanker Boston Kerapa and set him flying, before lock Tom Everard piled in to stop his opposite number and caught him with a shoulder to the head, earning himself a stint in the sin bin.

Uni immediately capitalised on having the extra man in their pack with a try off their rolling maul and looked to be mounting a late comeback.

But the advantage was short-lived, when winger Toshiki Kuwayama was also sent to the sin bin for tackling Tom Bacon in the air.

Burey, who was dominant in attack all day, secured Norths’ fifth try shortly after, and the Students also picked up one more before the clock ran out. But it was the visitors who managed to hang onto their lead and take the much-needed win.

Western Sydney 35-30 West Harbour 

A close-fought battle of the west made it hard to pick a winner halfway through this match-up, but a hat-trick to Two Blues winger Cody Nordstrom proved just enough for a home side victory at Eric Tweedale Stadium.

The Two Blues opened the scoring through Abel Magalogo, who strolled through the Pirates defence, taking a tip pass from 20 metres out to go in under the posts.

But Wests responded in almost identical fashion soon after, with an offload to Jarod Byrnes giving him a clear 30-metre sprint to the line.

Both sides scored twice more in the first half, including a double to Nordstrom, with goal kicking the only thing separating them at half time as Western Sydney led 21-17.

Two early penalty goals via the boot of Tongan international James Faiva saw the Pirates take the lead for the first time, before Hosea Saumaki secured his side’s bonus point try.

Nordstrom scored his hat-trick at the midway point of the half, sniping around the ruck and beating two defenders to extend the home side’s lead to 12 points.

Then Faiva forced his was over with 10 minutes to go for the final score in the match. The Tongan playmaker couldn’t have done more for his side, scoring 20 points himself including two tries, but it wasn’t enough to get them over the line and Wests were forced to settle for the losing bonus point.

The win sees Western Sydney climb above Sydney Uni into eighth position on the ladder, and puts them a few wins away from a potential last-minute finals berth.