BY MARK CASHMAN

EASTERN SUBURBS V SYDNEY UNI at Woollahra Oval

Timing is everything in this world whether it be buying that dream home, moving jobs or asking that special someone what they are doing once the Shute Shield season has moved.

I wrote in Rugby News late last week that defence was the best gauge about who is going to win the Shute Shield.

A total of 19 of the past 23 titles have gone to the team that has been able to repel the hordes without the ball.

Keep it stingy and the rewards will come, the wise ones suggests!

All research from Gain Line Analytics and the former Wallabies prop Ben Darwin.

Well the Beasties had a searching examination of their defensive capabilities on Saturday when they managed to squeak past Sydney Uni to grab a peace in the grand final.

They won 38-31 and had to endure an excruciating 10 minutes at the end of the preliminary final at Woollahra.

Their line remained intact during this time and it must have given the group a reminder that there are going to be times when they are going to have to do the hard yakka.

Uni went into this game feeling they were more than a battlers’ chance and that’s the way it turned out.

They had beaten the Beasties in the two times that they faced them in 2026, the last at Woollahra that snapped a 21-game winning streak for the locals.

It was a high quality game from the start with the Beasties going to the rolling maul from line out to get the first score but every time that happened in the first half the Students managed to hit back.

Invariably they went to their man on the left edge Benjy Joseland and in the end he would finish the day with a hat-trick of tries.

The score was 26-17 at the break and the home side would get a critical break when Sid Harvey snaffled a ball in midfield and ran 50 plus metres to score under the posts.

It would go back and forth for much of the rest of the half with more joy for Joseland and we arrived at the final scoreline and the drama of the final minutes.

The Beasties it must be said deserved to play on the final weekend of the season and they would have loved the efforts of rookie lock Tom Girle.

He scored a try and made several line breaks and has learned much from his time with his arm around Josh Bokser.

WARRINGAH V GORDON at Pittwater Rugby Park

The news of a big out in the Warringah side was swirling around many of the junior sport sidelines on the northern beaches on Saturday.

Big Rats lock Sam Thomson had sustained a compound fracture of his finger at training on Thursday night and would not be leading the way against Gordon later that afternoon.

The cry was a familiar one at Rat Park in recent months in the wake of injuries to hooker Wes Thomas and Ben Woollett as well as the moves overseas of Boston Kerapa and Hudson Creighton.

Oh no not another one – we don’t deserve this!

The reaction though had an important edge to it – next man up and let’s get around him and have a red hot crack.

Rugby News spoke to Rats skipper Ben Marr in the weeks leading into the season and he spoke of the desire to win the club championship.

Winning the Gregor George means there is real depth at a club and that has been shown this year at Narrabeen.

But when you’re down on troops you need a “follow me” style of guy to get stuff done and that man was Rats No.8 Luke Reimer.

We’ve been used to seeing Reimer in cameos at Super Rugby Pacific level but his effort in the Rats 46-19 win over Gordon was a minute one to minute 80 effort.

I rewatched the game on Sunday and his value to the home team was simply enormous – big carries, good line out work, big defence and just making a real pest of himself at the breakdowns.

He managed to shepherd his team through a testing first 15 or minutes when the Highlanders had oodles of possession and field position.

But they got through that and the wheel turned to favour the home side.

There wasn’t a flourish of points or anything like that but you could see the light bulbs go on above the Warringah players’ head.

It was a real “we’ve got this” moment and from there the Rats dominated most aspects of the game as the injuries for the Highlanders mounted.

The home led 17-5 at the break and the large home side crowd at Rat Park was starting to come into play.

Things would tighten up with Gordon Milan Basson getting a try from a pushover try but that man Reimer was far from finished.

He scored from a nicely worked move and then the vastly experienced Tyson Davis would take some tension out of the scoreline.

The cheery on top would come from youngster Riley Whitfield who scored in the corner with only a couple of minutes left on the clock.

As Stan Sport commentator Will Davies said as full time was called: “Book the buses Warringah.”

And they won’t be there to make up the numbers.