By MARK CASHMAN

A two-try effort by fullback Tim Clements has helped Sydney Uni to a hard fought 36-6 win over Eastwood on Saturday.

The try count ended up being five to four in favour of the Students with the intensity of desperation of the contest underlined by the fact that four yellow cards were shown throughout the 80 minutes.

Nick Champion de Crespigny and Jack McCalman (Uni) along with Rhys Sheriff and Michael Icely (Eastwood) all spent time on the naughty chair.

Uni got a real surge midway through the first half when they racked up 22 unanswered points to run out to a 22-7 lead, but this match was never going to lie down quietly.

The Woods came back into it and pushed the score to 22-21 in favour of Uni but unlike last weekend against Souths the visitors managed to close this one out.

Uni coach Michael Hodge was pleased withy the manner of the victory in what has historically been a big game for both clubs.

“Really pleased with that win on Saturday. TG has always been a tough place for us. It was typical Eastwood v Uni battle and both teams had their moments,” Hodge observed.

“It wasn’t dissimilar to last week’s match against Souths actually, but this week we showed much better maturity and closed out the match.

“Tim Clements was again a standout, and it was our forwards who really set the platform for us in both attack and defence.

“It was an important win for us, as we head into the bye this week before taking on a much improved West Harbour side.

Eastwood coach Ben Batger said the side that had negotiated the conditions best got the spoils on Saturday.

“I think the result could have gone either way, but Uni probably played the conditions better and were able to execute in critical areas like set piece and their exits better,” Batger said.

“It was another great battle typical of these two clubs and a really high quality game of football.

“I thought both our wingers – Fabian Goodall and Lachlan Shelley – were dangerous while Willie Leoso really stepped up in the front row and has been a real surprise packet since joining us from Central Coast.”

Of some concern was the fact that they had to play one down for 20 minutes of the clash with Sheriff and Icely both yellow carded.

That probably reflected the intensity of the contest but I am sure that Batger would prefer to be fully manned for the entire 80 minutes in games of this magnitude.

SYDNEY UNI 36 (Patrick O’Doherty, Banjo Travers, Henry Clunies-Ross, Tim Clements 2 tries; James Kane 4 conversions, pen goal) d EASTWOOD 26 (Tim Anstee, Matthew Gonzalez, Fabian Goodall 2 tries; Tane Edmed 3 conversions).

IMAGE: AJF PHOTOGRAPHY