Grayson Hart crossed for the Rebels opening try but it was a tough day at the office for Souths – Photo: seiserphotography.com

by Paul Cook –

Southern Districts have joined Manly and Northern Suburbs as the only sides left with a 100% record in the 2013 Shute Shield, after a hard fought 28-27 victory over Eastern Suburbs at Forshaw Park. In a see-sawing game where neither side dominated and attacking forays came in fits and starts, a yellow card in the closing stages of each half cost the visitors dear but it still took a penalty from Rohan Saifoloi five minutes from time to seal it for the Rebels.

While disappointed with his side’s disjointed performance, Rebels’ coach Cam Blades took positives from the fact that they still came away with a win, when clearly not at their best. “We started pretty well, the defence was enthusiastic and then we just lost our way a touch. The attitude and the mentality are right, we’re just not quite executing and that’s resulting in turnovers and lots of defensive efforts. We’ve set standards and that was probably well below them so to be below par and come away with the win is pretty pleasing but we don’t want to be doing that too often.”

Despite the frustrating loss, Easts showed a marked improvement from the previous week’s defeat by Norths and assistant coach, Campbell Aitken, was enthused by the nature of the performance, if not the final result. “Obviously, if we’d kept fifteen players on the field, that makes a massive difference and they took advantage of that but we showed a lot of heart. There’s not many teams that will come down here and push Souths as much as we did so we take lots of positives from today. It was definitely a step in the right direction but there’s a lot of work to do.”

Scrum-half Luke Irwin played his part in a vastly improved performance by the Beasts
Photo: seiserphotography.com

The opening quarter belonged to Souths, their pace, movement and offloading prowess finding half-breaks and keeping Easts on the back foot but a few missed first up tackles from the Beasts certainly aided their forward momentum. However, a combination of poor execution from the home side and some important turnovers from the visitors, kept Souths to a mere penalty from Saifoloi to show for their efforts.

The Rebels grew frustrated with their lack of reward, which only hastened their urgency to score, and a host of forced passes and handling errors were the result. Conversely, Easts took comfort from the scoreboard and started to build their own pressure, getting some pay by going straight up the middle through their forwards.

The pressure paid off when they levelled through an Angus Sinclair penalty before good phase play that spanned both flanks and stressed the Rebels defence, ended when centre Mark Murray straightened, stepped and got within inches of the chalk and prop Sione Kolo was on hand to scoop up and drive over.

Sinclair converted to give the visitors a surprise 10-3 lead but the try acted as a ‘wake-up’ call for Souths who subsequently camped themselves in the Easts’ 22 for the remainder of the half. Constant pressure led to four penalties, three scrums and a yellow card for Easts’ flanker, Ryan Hodson and it was his absence either side of the break that afforded the home side a chance to not only recover, but also build an advantage.

The Beasts kept an eight man scrum for the next play after Hodson’s departure but couldn’t stop Lopeti Timani spinning off the back, powering forward and popping a short ball on his inside to Grayson Hart, who streaked over.

Saifoloi’s conversion made it 10-10 at the break but Easts paid the price for their lack of numbers again soon after the restart when prop Duncan Chubb went over from in close and Saifoloi added the extras once more. 14pts conceded with a man down was punishment indeed.

Former Tongan league international Andrew Leota is in his second season at Forshaw Park – Photo: seiserphotography.com

At 17-10, you felt that Souths had finally found their mojo; the passes were beginning to stick and the slick rhythm of their play when they are on song was returning. However, staring down the barrel of their second defeat, great credit must be given to Easts for their refusal to lie down.

Once Henry Hudson had reduced the arrears with a 51st minute penalty, the rest of the game developed into a roller coaster ride of counter attack where defence often went out of the window and neither side could muster enough dominance for a sustained period of time to see off their opponent.

Saifoloi restored the 7pt gap with a 54th minute penalty, only for some deft passing inside the 22 from Easts a few minutes later to create space out wide for replacement Kuki Ma’afu to stride over. Hudson’s boot made it 20-all.

On 63 minutes, the Beasts were roaring again in the opposition half before a turn over and some quick hands released replacement Luke Smart away into open field and he didn’t need a second invitation.

The missed conversion from Saifoloi however, left the door open and Easts walked right through, impressive centre Murray popping up off the floor to Luke Irwin who raced away and fed Ma’afu off his shoulder for his second. A penny for Cam Blades’ thoughts at that point.

A terrific sideline conversion from Hudson gave Easts the lead at 27-25, it was now a question of holding out. Were it not for a controversial call from the assistant referee, which led to winger Anton La Vin being sent to the sin bin for a deliberate trip – he vehemently protested his innocence – they may well have.

As it was, Saifoloi was left with a shot for glory from the resulting penalty and the 21yr old held his nerve. He was pleased to have risen to the occasion. “Towards the end of last season I missed a lot of kicks in big moments,” he explains. “This year, I’ve put the effort in and worked a lot harder on my kicking and so far, so good.”

Easts still had a chance to snatch it when patient phase play got them within sight of the posts after the bell but they panicked and went for a field goal when Hudson simply wasn’t deep enough in the pocket to get off a clear shot. His effort ricocheted off a flailing Rebel arm, rolled harmlessly into the in-goal and Souths let out a sigh of relief.

Southern Districts 28 (Grayson Hart, Duncan Chubb, Luke Smart tries, Rohan Saifoloi 2 cons, 3 pens) bt Eastern Suburbs 27 (Kuki Ma’afu 2, Sione Kolo tries, Henry Hudson 2 cons, pen; Angus Sinclair con, pen)