Shute Shield: Eastwood & Gordon book spots in preliminary finals
Eastwood and Gordon upstaged Manly and Randwick respectively to keep their Shute Shield seasons alive and book preliminary final berths.
Eastwood will now play Sydney Uni before Norths take on Gordon in a massive Shute Shield double header at Rat Park next Sunday afternoon.
Eastwood 32-26 Manly
A brilliant, 79th minute ball and all tackle by Eastwood flyhalf Tane Edmed saved the Woodies season and caused further finals heartbreak for the Manly Marlins.
With the match on the line, Edmed somehow stopped a steaming Aaron Blacklock from grounding the ball and scoring what would have likely been a match winning try.
Eastwood led 7-3 early in the first half after Mark Nawaqanitawase capitalised on a poor Manly clearance kick to score the only try before half time.
The two sides created plenty of opportunities in the first stanza but failed to finish on multiple occasions, instead trading three penalty goals each to give Eastwood a 16-12 lead at the break.
The Woodies capitalised on another Manly mistake early in the second half to extend their lead.
Manly hooker James Hilterbrand missed the mark on a lineout throw close to Eastwood’s line. Edmed then executed a perfect cross field kick to winger George Worth to give his side a 23-12 lead.
Manly hit back with a try from a driving maul midway through the second half but continued to give Edmed penalty opportunities on the back of poor discipline. Eastwood added another two penalty goals to lead 32-19 inside the final 10 minutes.
The Marlins scored another maul try in the 75th minute to reduce the deficit to six points, then came within inches of scoring a match winning try in the dying stages.
But once again, the Marlins fell short in a Shute Shield finals match and exit the competition on the back of two straight finals losses.
After leading the competition earlier in the season, Manly lost their last seven matches.
Eastwood, on the other hand, have now won three straight and will take plenty of confidence into next weekend’s match against Sydney Uni.
Gordon 24-23 Randwick
Gordon led for just three minutes against Randwick on Sunday afternoon but still managed to book a spot in the Shute Shield preliminary final and break the hearts of the Coogee Oval crowd in the process.
At a packed Coogee Oval on a perfect Sydney winter’s day, Randwick raced away to a 10-0 lead following a Ben Donaldson try and a penalty goal.
Donaldson split the defence in the 5th minute and scored almost untouched after throwing a clever dummy to an inside runner.
Both sides added penalty goals later in the half before Christian Poidevin looked to have given his side a 20-3 half time lead on the stroke of half time.
Poidevin lunged over the line in the 39th minute but had the ball dislodged at the last second by a desperate Tristan Fuli tackle.
After trailing 13-3 at the break, Gordon reduced the deficit with a try from a driving maul just minutes into the second half.
Randwick responded with a driving maul try of their own in the 55th minute and looked to be in control of the match, leading 20-10 midway through the second half, before Gordon scored the try of the match.
Attacking deep in Randwick territory, Reece MacDonald linked with Jacob Abel on the eastern touchline. Abel somehow then slipped a ball back to MacDonald through several Randwick defenders to set up his fullback for an important five pointer.
MacDonald then nailed the sideline conversion to reduce the deficit to three points and swing momentum in the visitor’s favour.
Randwick edged ahead with a penalty goal to extend the lead to six points but then welcomed Gordon back deep into their own half.
The Stags came close to scoring from a driving maul, but then spread to ball to Jack McGregor who was tackled high as he attempted to score, resulting in an automatic 7-point penalty try and a 24-23 lead.
Randwick had an opportunity to play for a penalty in the final minutes, but spilled the ball in attack, handing victory to Gordon.
The Stags now face neighbours Northern Suburbs in next weekend’s preliminary final.