McKibbin to Lance. A potent attacking force on Saturday as Easts beat West Harbour. Photo: Fabio Trippa

by Brendan Bradford –

With a couple of Waratahs and a standout performance from Seilala Lam, Eastern Suburbs steamrolled a depleted West Harbour outfit 34-18 at Woollahra Oval on Saturday.

Headed by an expert display from Jono Lance who was aided and abetted by halfback Brendan McKibbin, back rower Tala Gray and flyhalf Sam Windsor in his first game since returning from Leinster, Easts scored four tries to two to leapfrog Northern Suburbs into ninth place on the table with 22-points.

Lance wasn’t so much heavily involved as he was influential whenever he touched the ball, scoring one try and throwing the last pass for another while McKibbin kicked six from six for 14-points and Lam smashed everything that moved.

“With Jono, it’s just his general leadership, he talked really well before the game and during the game and that’s what we’ve been missing,” said Easts coach Campbell Aitken.

“Some of the young kids tend not to talk too much, so someone like Jono coming in really makes a difference and gives the whole side a boost.”

Aitken praised the way the team lifted even after losing fullback Darcy Etrich just before kick-off and singled out hard-hitting hooker Seilala Lam for a stellar performance.

West Harbour win this one, but Easts were dominant at lineout time all afternoon. Photo: Fabio Trippa

“I thought Lala was outstanding today, quite easily his best game he’s had for us,” he said.  

“We’ve been putting quite a lot of pressure on him to up his game and he responded well today and that’s what we expect from him every week so it shouldn’t be a one off. Just his general work around the park and leadership really improved and he’s come to a new club which is hard but he’s responding really well to what we’ve been telling him. You definitely wouldn’t want to be running at him.”

Playing without Dave Harvey was always going to be tough for West Harbour who missed the playmaker’s game management and left boot. Alofa Alofa performed admirably in an unfamiliar position while Rory Sidey had a stint at flyhalf in the second stanza before replacement Sai Vakarau made a massive impact off the bench.

“Alofa’s effort was fantastic and we’re just trying a few things around that ten position,” said coach Matt Briggs.

“I can’t fault his effort and we mixed it up in the second half. Sai Vakarau did well, he’s had a lot of first grade experience and I think we’ve got enough information to pick a side next week at home against Randwick.”

With captain Tom Games forced off after 20-minutes and just a pair of penalties on the board at halftime, it always looked like an uphill struggle for the Pirates who didn’t score a try until the deficit was too large to peg back.

“We didn’t maintain enough ball and almost every time we fired a shot, we turned it over and that set the pattern for the day,” said Briggs.

“Losing our skipper in the first 20-odd minutes was tough and I think we’re the first team to play a full strength Easts side this year. We were up for it, but there were too many mistakes and our lineout struggled without Tom on the park, but credit to Easts, they did well.”

A 24-hour dose of rain always threatened to turn this weekend’s matches into low-scoring slogs and that looked to be the case at Woollahra Oval despite the sun appearing just prior to kick-off.

Early penalties were traded with McKibbin slotting the first after just 30-seconds and Waratahs teammate Alofa Alofa levelling the scores five minutes later.

Alofa Alofa played flyhalf for the first time in a while. Photo: Fabio Trippa

Another McKibbin penalty followed before West Harbour captain Tom Games was forced from the field for the rest of the match after being levelled in a tackle heard around the ground.

With ball retention an issue for both sides and the tight-five doing a mountain of work in attack, the wealth of talent out wide barely saw the ball in the opening stanza. It was fitting that a forward, Lam, made the decisive break on halfway that put Lance in some space to draw the last defender and put Anton La Vin under the posts for a 13-3 lead at halftime.

Alofa got the ball rolling in the second half with an early three-pointer, but Easts extended their lead by putting a kickable penalty into touch and mauling over for a try to Ben Willis to take a 20-6 advantage as the Pirates couldn’t keep control of their own ball and failed to get out of their half for the next ten minutes.

Easts’ third try was almost a carbon copy of the second, but on the right hand side this time for Clay Brodie to score with McKibbin converting again for a 27-6 lead.

The bonus point wasn’t far off as Jono Lance put the finishing touches on a nice team move before the Pirates finally scored though Tito Mua for a 34-11 score line with 15 minutes to play.

With an injection off the bench, the Pirates finally managed some continuity, but a confident Easts defence refused to commit too much man-power to the ruck and kept the visitors at bay despite losing La Vin to a yellow card for a deliberate infringement.

A brilliant chip-chase and no-look pass from replacement Sai Vakarau put Alofa under the posts for a 34-18 score but it was too little too late for West Harbour who maintain their seventh spot on the ladder on equal points with Southern Districts and one behind sixth placed Randwick who the Pirates host at Concord Oval next week.

Easts have another tough task away to second placed Warringah but should have Mitchell Chapman in the side for the first time this year.

Eastern Suburbs 34 (La Vin, Willis, Brodie, Lance tries; McKibbin 4 cons, 2 pens) bt West Harbour 18 (Mua, Alofa tries; Alofa 2 pen, Vakarau con)