Norths, Warringah, Manly, Eastwood and Easts all claimed important wins to give their hopes of playing finals footy a big boost, while Souths and West Harbour made life difficult for themselves over the weekend.

Catch up on all the action from round 15.

Northern Suburbs 21-18 Southern Districts 

Southern Districts blew a perfect opportunity to move back into finals contention at North Sydney Oval on Saturday.

Souths dominated possession and territory for the majority of the match but errors and poor decisions in their own half cost the Rebels in the three point loss to Norths.

The Shoreman defended brilliantly in the first half, then made the most of the limited opportunities they had and scored three tries through winger Richie Woolf against the run of play to lead 21-10 heading into the final 20 minutes.

Southern Districts were dominant at scrum time, but struggled to win their own lineout ball all match. Norths prop Ezra Luxton received a yellow card with 10 minutes remaining but Southern Districts turned down an opportunity to kick an easy penalty goal in front of the posts.

Winger Rowland Kotobalavu finished off an impressive team try in the 76th minute and while Souths continued to keep the ball in hand and attack after the full time siren, they weren’t able to find a way through to score the winning try in a match they really should have won.

Norths remain in second spot following the hard fought win and should secure a top three finish if they can win two of their final three games against West Harbour, Easts and Randwick.

Souths are now under the pump and will need to beat Uni, Gordon and Warringah and hope other results go their way in the weeks ahead.

Eastwood 73-10 Gordon

Eastwood showed they’ve still got plenty of points in them without veteran playmaker Jai Ayoub in a 73-10 victory over Gordon.

The Woodies scored three quick tries to jump out to an early 21 point lead and didn’t let up on a perfect afternoon for running rugby.

Fullback Liam Windon bagged a double in the bonus point win, which saw eight Woodies separate add to their 2018 try scoring tally.

They can book their spot in the playoffs if they can beat Warringah at Rat Park next week ahead of a bye in round 17. If they don’t, they’ll most likely need to beat Manly in the final round to keep their season alive.

Gordon host a desperate Southern Districts side next week at Chatswood.

Manly 23-14 West Harbour

Manly proved life without Dennis Pili Gaitau may not be as tough as first thought and scored two first half tries to set up an impressive 23-14 victory over West Harbour.

Billy Melrose shifted Josh Turner to outside centre to replace Pili Gaitau and the move looked to have worked early when the flying Kiwi linked with an illusive Sam Lane to score the home side’s first try.

The Manly forwards then took control of the match and taught the Pirates big men a lesson in the back end of the first half. West Harbour had no choice but to collapse a well constructed driving maul near the Marlins try line and concede a penalty try to hand Manly a 20 point lead at the break.

The Pirates forwards lifted a gear after a half time spray from Todd Louden and scored two tries from close range in the second half, but the result was never in doubt as Manly moved a step closer to booking a home final on the opening weekend of the playoffs.

West Harbour are seventh with three rounds remaining and will need to improve ahead of clashes against Norths and Warringah in the coming weeks.

Warringah 32-24 Randwick

Warringah were forced to play for 80 minutes to secure their bonus point victory over a much improved Randwick side at Coogee Oval.

The Galloping Greens dominated possession in the first half and kicked three penalty goals on the back of a dominant scrum to lead 9-5 early in the second half.

Randwick moved further ahead when Sam Croke scored off a charge down but momentum started to turn after that, as Warringah finally earned some possession.

Giant forward Manny Meafou made a big impact when he came off the bench in the 60th minute and scored a brilliant individual try to give Warringah the lead.

Seb Wileman scored soon after and when Luke Holmes crossed to give Warringah a 29-17 lead, the result was beyond doubt.

Randwick earned a late penalty try, but will be disappointed to lose another match that they easily could have won.

They’ll look to spoil arch rivals Easts’ finals hopes when they meet next week in the Eastern Suburbs derby.

Warringah host Eastwood in an important clash for both sides in the race towards the finals.

Eastern Suburbs 43-24 Parramatta

Easts moved one step closer to ending their finals drought after a bonus point win over Parramatta.

The Beasties started brilliantly and jumped out to a 14-0 lead early following tries to Ned Yeomans and Jack Grant.

That woke the Two Blues, who hit back with two tries of their own before Archie King scored his first of two five pointers for the afternoon to give Easts a 21-12 lead at the break.

With their spot in the top six on the line, Easts took control of the match in the second half and scored four tries to establish a comfortable lead.

Parramatta scored a consolation try in the final minutes, but it wasn’t enough as Easts took maximum points home from their trip to Lidcombe.

The Beasties are sixth and will spend the week preparing for a crucial local derby against Randwick at Woollahra on Saturday.